Undisputed Attitude

It's comical how many puns you can make referring to both this album's song titles and the quality of the actual music. So, after a 2 year break and one of their more renowned tours, for a good reason, Slayer decide to release a cover album, which is kind of stunning since nobody can replicate Slayer's music apart from Slayer, and none of their early influences, like Mercyful Fate or Iron Maiden, would really fit on a Slayer album in the context of 1996. On top of this, it's a cover album consisting of exclusively hardcore punk tracks! Seriously through, Free Money, Leeches, Can't Stand You, I Don't Want To Hear It, it feels like they picked these tracks on purpose like some sort of fucked up self-deprecation.

Anyway, it's about what you would expect. Tom's vocals are barely intelligible shouting over some mediocre power chords that don't really go together. I understand how Verbal Abuse or T.S.O.L, great bands in their own right, inspired the speed aspect of Slayer, but it sounds so antiquated and redundant for the mid 90s, because there's nothing worthwhile about covering tracks that were outdated, even a decade prior to this album. What's the point in trying to emulate bands that were a huge step back from yourself in terms of both speed and songwriting? I'll give it to them, Abolish Government is pretty enjoyable, since it's already one of the best punk songs ever written, and Slayer do it justice with the attitude of the gritty guitar tone, but apart from that, there really are no standouts here.

They also decided to re-record a track from Jeff Hanneman's old band, Pap Smear, with Can't Stand You. This is one of the most irritating slabs of blue waffle on this miserable album, with nothing redeeming. As a whole, the drums are mixed obnoxiously loudly in the mix, and the constant skank beat gets old very quickly. I'm Gonna Be Your God in particular is another cringeworthy track. "Now it's time to bury my face, between your legs with my tongue in that special place." 13 year old me thought those lyrics were clever and funny, years before I'd actually seen a vagina in real life. It's just a waste of time, with more pointless aggression that isn't backed up by strong song structures.

To wrap it up, Slayer bring the sole original track on Undisputed Attitude, Gemini, and it's one of their most egregious filler songs to date, although calling a song on Undisputed Attitude filler is like saying the UK government has a couple of dickheads in it. Again, there's nothing interesting about the closing track, the downtuned minimalistic riffs isn't memorable or cool, and each verse has Tom Araya droning annoyingly. This essentially foreshadows the next album, and I hate to say this, but the worst is yet to come.

So Slayer finally made a covers album. I had enjoyed their previous cover of "Dissident Aggressor" on South of Heaven, and that cover of Venom's "Witching Hour" from the Live Intrusion DVD was pretty cool, so it's not like Slayer couldn't pull off other people's material. The problem is that all of the songs on here are punk songs. Every goddamn last one of them, save "Gemini."

There are three things that I like about this album: the two songs by Hannemann's old punk project, Pap Smear, which was rounded out by Rocky George and Dave Lombardo, and the one original song, "Gemini." Of the Pap Smear songs "Ddamm" is a fun laugh riot--a pro-drunk driving song about some drunk dude trying to find booze late at night and not get arrested. "Gemini" is a super slow, almost hypnotic number with mesmerizing vocals and some great Bostaph drumming, although when the song picks up speed the wheels get really wobbly. Tom starts doing that whiny, rapid fire delivery that was probably copied by Corey Taylor and copied from Jonathan Davis. It heralds the sucky, late 90's era of Slayer that would culminate in the poop bukkake extravaganza known as God Hates Us All after the merely cringy Diabolus in Musica.

Oh, I guess there are four things I enjoy, because the lyrics to "I'm Gonna be Your God" are hilarious. Any references to cunnilingus in metal songs are awesome. There should be a ruling on Metal Archives that states as much.

But let's return to the elephant in the room: the other covers. None of these are bad songs in themselves, they're just plain when delivered in a reasonably bland fashion by a bunch of dudes in their mid 30's who have all the best production of the times available to them. Punk is a lot like black metal, in that the poor production values and lack of musical ability make something truly exciting when combined with raw ambition. This is about as clinical as it comes. Plus, the fact that there aren't any of their metal heroes represented is just a testament to how bullshit the 90's could be. Sure, it's not as bad as Load/Reload or Risk, but this was Slayer's way of distancing themselves from metal and one can't be blamed for taking it as betrayal. Just as an EP this would have been better, but to pass it off as a full length was a real slap in the face.

1996 can go fuck itself. Having this tepid hunk of dog dookie and the androgynous snoozefest of Load was a one-two punch of teenage heartbreak in my life. Luckily, Storm of the Light's Bane was still in heavy rotation, reminding me that like my recently departed farm girl two years my senior, there would always be newer and better ones to take the place of the once mighty who were going through some sort of retard midlife crisis.

As competent as the performances on here may be, it sounds like Slayer had become hopelessly addicted to opium suppositories and synthetic marijuana for how uninspired and banal this album is. Whoever pushed Slayer into doing this album should be sentenced to death for taking advantage of thrash heroes who had found themselves in a compromising position.

I get the idea behind this record. Slayer became a legendary band in the 1980s and sort of completed the thrash game. With nothing more to prove, they could instead experiment to a larger degree. With the punk cover record Undisputed Attitude, Slayer was able to pay tribute to bands that had fallen somewhat into neglect. Some of them even originate from the same area as Slayer.

So here we have a slew of punk/hardcore songs, sometimes with two tunes crammed into one track. I grew up with some of these songs, and listened to TSOL and Minor Threat before I listened to Slayer. Now, I'm not saying that TSOL and Minor Threat are musical gods, not even remotely so. In fact, I would say that Slayer slay them all. However, they slayed more in the 1980s and 1990 than in the mid-1990s.

For me, Undisputed Attitude falls somewhat flat, owing to two flaws. First, Slayer's sound doesn't necessarily translate super-well into punk, and on this record they even did the opposite of augmenting (disaugmenting?) their sound. In particular, the vocals are atrocious.

A thick layer of distortion was added to Araya's vocals in the production. This "trick" was probably borrowed from the contemporary groove and industrial music that thrash had devolved into by 1996. I don't like sound that this production yielded; I don't see that it adds anything to his voice; and when Araya's vocal input is as one-dimensional as it the case here, it doesn't rectify the situation either. He screams and screams throughout most of the record. He ends up as sounding naggy, rather than brutal, heavy or menacing.

The punk acts which Slayer cover here were hardcore bands, who played fast, but at the same time their soundscapes weren't an all-out sonic attack. The original songs were more playful and didn't insist on being so hard all the time. Listen to "Abolish Government", for instance. I just think the original has a more interesting sound than the screamfest we're treated with here. The low point is "I Don't Want to Hear It" which gets mumbly, repetitive and boring. I'd much rather listen to The Suicide Machines' ska cover of the tune.

Right after said low point, though, starts a string of better tracks. On "Spiritual Law", "Mr. Freeze" and "Richard Hung Himself", Slayer treat us with more variation in song structure and vocal style. The record might have been better if these, and maybe 1-2 in the same vein, were more scattered throughout the record.

In addition to the covers, two of the songs were written by Slayer members for punk side-projects. One of them is decent, while "Can't Stand You" is lame with lyrics dumber than usual. Lastly, there is one "real" Slayer song on here, the last one, "Gemini". It would not be out of place on Seasons in the Abyss, with its eerie vocals.

Without bashing on punk in any way, I must say that "Gemini" is the best written song on here. Also, while i'm sure the guys had fun blasting out this record, they fail to present a compelling reason why we shouldn't just listen to the originals.

Throughout the nineties, numerous thrash metal veterans walked off the beaten path and experimented with different soundscapes leading to quite controversial results. Slayer opted to cover hardcore punk tracks on Undisputed Attitude which would turn out to be an excellent choice. The relentless energy of the original material isn't a far cry from Slayer's own pitiless thrash metal soundscapes.

The record starts without taking any prisoners as Verbal Abuse's ''Disintegration / Free Money'' is aggressive, fast and liberating without any experiments and lengths. However, Slayer manages to expand its soundscapes on this record without losing its relentless guiding line. D.I.'s ''Richard Hung Himself'' for instance comes around with a rather catchy and melodic chorus despite the grisly lyrics and energetic musicianship. Punk rock classic ''I'm Gonna Be Your Dog'' by The Stooges received a refreshing treatment with slightly modified lyrics and a faster exceution which blends in perfectly on this output.

This release includes two songs of Pap Smear, a short-lived punk side-project of Jeff Hannemann, Dave Lombardo and Rocky George from Suicidal Tendencies. These two tracks are clearly inspired by the groups covered on this output and blend in perfectly. It's great that Slayer is giving the side-project of two of its members some attention.

The album also includes a brand-new Slayer tune with ''Gemini'' which is something of a mixed bag. On one side, this is one of Slayer's greatest tracks with its gloomy oppressive atmosphere, slow and thunderous musicianship and unusually long running time of nearly five minutes. However, the track doesn't really blend in with the rest of the material on this album. It should have been released as a separate single or perhaps on a different studio album. Being tacked onto the end of a cover record doesn't do this underrated gem justice.

At the end of the day, American thrash metal veterans Slayer offer a half hour of power with relentless hardcore punk covers that take no prisoners. Hidden between relentless drum patterns, bumblebee bass guitar sounds, sharp riffs and raw vocals are occasionally melodic passages and catchy choruses that keep the record entertaining without watering it down. Despite its experimental approach, Undisputed Attitude can be considered an above average output in Slayer's discography. It's not a classic but should please fans of the band and anyone who likes hardcore punk music and brutal thrash metal.

I don't understand why this release is praised so much on here. Alas, that's something I have to live with and express my distaste for this full-length by writing a review on it. "Undisputed Attitude" is Slayer's attempt at crafting punk inspired thrash metal, running at around 35 minutes long in total. Even though you should never judge a book by its cover, the cover art of this musical atrocity is equally atrocious and should, in this case, be used considered as an appropriate presentation.

Most of the songs are too fucking short to develop more than a couple of ideas for each "song", However, in hindsight, there isn't much variety between each of the 14 songs on this release. Most guitar work is restricted to power-chords with occasional thrash inspired riffs here and there just for the sake of keeping some sort of ungodly balance to this utter madness. Most of the solos are extremely well-executed and crafted masterfully and they're one of the two main factors in this album which helped in me endure the struggle that is listening to this full-length until the end. Most songs are really upbeat and the lyrics are dumbed down enough to have very sing-along choruses in every song. Tom's Voice sounds lifeless and void of energy. This downgrade would prove to be short-lasting because no other later release managed to sink to such a low level as "Undisputed Attitude" does so liberally. The bass work is really proficient and the few bass leads that are sprinkled here and there are enjoyable and frequent enough to merit a passing mention. The drumming on this release is the second saving grace for this album as it is really solid, well mixed and kept things fresh when all else failed.

The overall essence of this release is quite puzzling and this is because it sounds like a blatant cash grab and anomaly in Slayers' entire discography. The foundation upon which this release seems to be based on is what I sense to have been a constant drive to stay relevant in an increasingly fast-moving music scene. The painful irony about this entire situation is the fact that even though this release seems to have been an attempt by Slayer to stay relevant, it has been pushed to the wayside by the better quality of subsequent releases and seems to have been largely forgotten about by most fans. The music on here doesn't age well and the level of understanding Slayer had of "hardcore punk" at that certain point in time is frankly embarrassing. The level of creativity of most songs on here is shameful for a band that had released some legendary albums. At least I have the privilege to claim this release as an exceptional anomaly because I've always enjoyed all other releases from Slayer for the most part.

That intro scream of Tom Araya pretty much sums up the feeling of this release. Punk-fueled thrash metal, built to destroy, straight from a basement rehearsal room somewhere in Los Angeles. Only that the band in the room is fuckin' Slayer! In case you didn't figure it out by now, I'm in love with Slayer.

Minor Threat, T.S.O.L., The Stooges, Verbal Abuse, D.I., Dr. Know and hell, even Texas crossover gods D.R.I. get their Slayer treatment. But that's not about it: 3 originals by Slayer are added as well. Can't Stand You and DDAMM were to be something in Pap Smear (Hanneman/Lombardo/Rocky George crossover project that never released anything), definitely different from what Slayer have ever done. Plus one trademark twisted Slayer song: Gemini. Slow as death itself, with Tom sounding sinister as hell, as if he wants to cut your throat when you least expect it. The 90s were the times when Slayer sounded sinister in a different way than the one we were used to in their 80s works.

The album flows smoothly and can be easily loved by any old school punk/hardcore fan, not just thrashers. This is just Slayer's way of saying "thank you" to some of the old school punk stuff that influenced them to go faster and harder and play like there's no tomorrow. And since we're talking punk and hardcore, it's got that raw feel that I truly love about this release and that's what makes it so special in the Slayer catalogue. Another note on my part, I love how they have given lots of credit to D.R.I. for their, lest we forget their first albums' influence on Slayer's "Reign In Blood" (listen to the "Dirty Rotten LP" and "Dealing With It" one more time) or Lombardo wearing D.R.I. t-shirts ever since the "Show No Mercy" days (check Combat Tour videos).

Lastly, since we're reviewing a fuckin' Slayer record, there couldn't be a lack in controversy, now could it? On "Guilty Of Being White" (Minor Threat), a song about reverse racism issues in ghettos, they deliberately changed the final line to "guilty of being right!" as an example of extremely provocative sense of humour. Don't know about you, but I love some political incorrectness once in a while.

No more words, just enjoy this 33-minute-long thrash/punk/hardcore fest! SLAYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!

I think we all agree that "Undisputed Attitude" is Slayer's most exceptional album. Its concept is questionable. Even almost 20 years after the release, I am still slightly confused about the offering of "Gemini", that does not fit into the scheme. It seems as if Slayer did not trust their own concept. Or - worse still - they wanted to create an additional purchase incentive at the expense of their integrity. "Yes, we want to cover raw and violent punk classics. But come on, let us at least take one new Slayer track so that everybody has to buy the album, if he wants to have a complete Slayer collection" - this was seemingly their train of thought. To add insult to injury, the slow-moving "Gemini" stands in sharp contrast to the other songs and it does not reach the expected level of aggression and velocity. The solid but fairly weary composition fails to enrich the catalogue of Slayer sustainably.

Apart from this minor conventional flaw, the band cannot be blamed for half-heartedness. Slayer have internalized the spirit of the songs and they express it in a furious manner. An acoustic amok run reminds us that the fucked up universe also knows good extreme music which cannot be labelled as metal. I freely admit that the pretty harmless Ramones are the only punk band that I really love. By the way, their best track is "Garden of Serenity" from "Halfway to Sanity". But that is another story. I just want to say that I am no expert for punk music and I do not know the original tunes. This said, the here presented attacks have absolutely nothing in common with the musical approach of the forefathers of punk. The songs barrel along as if there is no tomorrow. Even if the band slows down the pace, the aura of stubborn resistance stays the same. Song titles such as "Guilty of Being White", "Violent Pacification" or "Richard Hung Himself" show impressively that Slayer know how to play the game of provocation. And I do not think that we have to discuss about these lyrics. From my point of view, they should not and cannot be taken seriously.

The adrenaline rush seems to be unstoppable. After having performed the first high velocity eruptions, the band does not get out of breath and the level of harshness remains unaffected. For example, "Spiritual Law" is one of the most intense orgies of the album, although it has a mid-paced middle part. Furthermore, it is remarkable that this song, as well as the majority of the other tunes, considers the necessary amount of melody lines. The crude authors of the original versions knew their business. Compared with their working results, the two punk-influenced creations of Jeff Hanneman (R.I.P.) do not leave a lasting impression. To play punk songs means more than killing your instrument within 90 seconds.

Despite the forceful and mainly clean sound, the album transmits the crusty character of typical hardcore / punk eruptions. Tom Araya's vocal performance is an important component in this context. He sounds less demonic than on the regular albums. Instead, he seems to scream permanently "piss off", while using mysteriously other words for that friendly invitation. Anyway! "Undisputed Aggression" has its own charm. Enjoy slayerized punk anthems and don't give a damn about the political - or naive? - lyrics. This is punk! (As a marginal note: the second CD offers three live tracks, among other things a cover version of Venom. Nice, but unspectacular.)

Undisputed Attitude is an interesting album. Despite being an album comprised nearly entirely of covers, the songs the band chose to cover here means that they fit very snugly with a lot of their original material, and it's a very consistent listen unlike the compilation-like nature of something like Garage Inc.. On this album, the band covers some 17-19 songs from punk rock and hardcore acts spread across 13-15 tracks, depending on your version. There are numerous names here; TSOL, D.R.I., Dr. Know, The Stooges and perhaps most notably Verbal Abuse, who show up a whopping 5 times in the track list. These bands had a major impact on Slayer's sound and thrash metal as a whole; specific examples being how hardcore-leaning a lot of Divine Intervention is and the stripped down nature of Reign in Blood. The latter is particularly evident when listening to this as Undisputed Attitude is the closest the band ever got to rekindling the spirit of their 1986 magnum opus.

These songs benefit greatly from being performed by Slayer, who are more technically proficient than any of the punk musicians that inspired them (they had been at it for 15 years by this point and they do play more demanding music, so that is to be expected) and it benefits just as much from major label production courtesy of Rick Rubin. The music is altogether very tightly performed and the sound is a clear and punchy one, with the guitars and drums simply being much heavier and louder than what those old bands could achieve. Paul Bostaph improved from his occasionally sloppy and somewhat off-time performance on Divine Intervention here; while the beats here aren't too complicated the speeds he plays at while keeping time properly is impressive. The riffs are tighter and heavier than ever and are the backbone of the album, giving each and every song a new lease on life. Tom's vocals are similar to how they were on Divine Intervention, a very hardcore-ish yell that while a tad monotonous on that album perfectly fits the shorter songs here. His voice is often distorted with a filter, but he still sounds angry and has a lot of power to his voice which is what is needed for this kind of music. As he proved back in 1986, he can deliver the lines on even the fastest songs in a ranting and rapid-fire fashion, with a lot of precision and control.

Even during the album's most mid-paced moments the music is furious and driven, whether that be the rather dark and humorous re-write of The Stooges' 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' in 'I'm Gonna Be Your God', the menacing as hell cover of Dr. Know's 'Mr. Freeze' or something as simple as Verbal Abuse's 'I Hate You'. These songs give a nice amount of variety to an album in a genre not known for it, though most of the rest of the material here is savagely fast. Blasts of noise like D.R.I.'s 'Violent Pacification' or Suicidal Tendencies' 'Memories of Tomorrow' are utterly lethal and go toe-to-toe with a lot of material from Reign in Blood in terms of intensity. 'Disintegration/Free Money', a pair of Verbal Abuse covers, form an amazing 1-2 punch to kick the album off (the opening shout of 'Disintegrate you bastard!' is the perfect way to initiate the onslaught that follows), and the Pap Smear (a band formed from Slayer and Suicidal Tendencies members in the mid '80s) cover of 'DDAMM' mixes up wonderfully ugly, staggering mid-paced verses with a truly violent hook.

Despite this being primarily an album of covers, there is an exclusive original song here too. 'Gemini' is a very unusual track for the band as it is in fact a sludge/doom metal song; it's as if the band looked back on their influences on this album and then took those influences in a totally different direction. Combining a fairly laid back but still ominous vocal performance from Tom with a set of droning sludge riffs, the song is a drudging and dark lyrical journey about the Zodiac Killer. Towards the end the song explodes in a violent fit of thrashing while Tom shouts 'Feel the pain that stares at the center of your heart, reflections of my soul, reflections of the dark!' before settling down into the introduction riff. It's a dark and powerful note to end the album on, and it's a shame the band would never again explore this direction as this is the last truly atmospheric song the band would ever write and is one of their all-time great songs.

Undisputed Attitude is a fast, fun, angry and violent album, one that is a look into the DNA that makes Slayer's music (and thrash metal as a whole) tick. It's a passionate celebration of their influences; instead of this sounding like 4 ageing men playing the songs of their youth to try and recapture it, it sounds like a group of musicians who clearly take great joy in playing the classics they listened to growing up, so much so that they beat out a good chunk of their original material while doing so. This is an essential album for any fan of Slayer or hardcore punk; in particular the Japanese version as that features the most material.

Undisputed Attitude came out the summer before my senior year in High School and remained firmly ensconced in my cassette deck throughout that summer as my friends and I drove to hardcore punk and metal shows throughout the Central New York region. Like Reign In Blood a decade earlier, this album was everywhere and everyone listened to it: skate punks, heshers, crusties, straight-edgers, etc. Slayer brought us all together, hanging out and headbanging to what seemed to be a match-made in hell: Slayer covering hardcore punk, particularly some of the elite of the genre, bands like D.R.I., Minor Threat, and Verbal Abuse, all of whom we loved anyway.

Listening to this album is like peering behind the veil of what made Reign In Blood so iconic a decade earlier. That album took the ferocious anger and purity of intention that was hardcore and embalmed it in evil, taking an already speedy genre and amping it up to eleven. Hearing Slayer blaze through such classics as Minor Threat's 'Filler' and 'I Don't Wanna Hear It' is literally breathtaking, in that they retain the essence of Minor Threat's self-righteous anger while still retaining their own signature thrash aggression. Slayer can only sound like Slayer in the end, even when performing a near-Xerox caliber cover.

And the bands selected here were all vital influences in the early architecture of Slayer. Hell, two of the tracks on here ('Ddamn'; 'Can't Stand You') are from Pap Smear, Dave & Jeff's short-lived punk band with members of Suicidal Tendencies. Which makes Dave's lack of appearance here on drums all the more disheartening. Paul Bostaph is a perfectly adequate drummer but Dave would've rocked the shit out of these tunes. The rest of the band sounds good enough, though Tom's vocals sometimes take on an over-distorted tone that swamps the power of his vocals.

As with most hardcore punk oriented albums, things start to blur together -- there's only so much you can do with three chords. Given their more precise and technical nature, the band naturally both speeds up and tightens up these tunes (and changes the occasional word-or-two), which some purists turned up their noses to. Fuck 'em! Slayer rubs their noses in it by being punk as fuck yet metal as death. And if you needed a quick reminder of the Slayer's other side, the South Of Heaven side, there's always 'Gemini' -- a slow-groove, brooding piece of atmospheric doom that always left my less metal inclined friends slack-jawed. Slayer forever!

Not that there's much competition, but this would easily be the best Slayer album since South of Heaven, at the very least, if not Reign in Blood. Sure, it's pretty one dimensional, tom shouts all the time and there's a ridiculous amount of double time snare, but a) this is slayer b) covering hardcore punk c) so what did you expect d) dipshit.

Not being much of a hardcore punk conniseur it's pretty hard to give a nuanced account of the songs and how they differ from the original versions, whether Slayer have murdered them or whatever but they sound pretty cool to me, if like every other hardcore punk i've heard. Simple, three chord riffs with a few pretty fast 16th notes and solos thrown in- perhaps to thrash it up, I don't know- a polka beat with some extra speed added and the snare hit harder- lots of yelling with the occaisonal slower section or song thrown in for a breather- the epic doomy/sludge album closer that's "Gemini" being a rather cool- and rather surprising- example.

It's intense and there's heaps of energy, the band tight and really fierce and raw. You have to wonder how much time this took to record- the vibe on the record suggests a very quick, warts-and-all recording, which is pretty ideal for this sort of music. Certainly everyone sounds like they're belting the crap out of their instruments, which is the way it should be. The main drawback being Tom's voice. Sure, doing deep growling when spitting out super fast lyrics like in "Guilty of Being White" would be pretty much impossible but it's still monotonous as all hell, mid-range shouting with an almost robotic consistency. Screaming these lyrics out at the top of your lungs is all fine and good, but why not get Kerry or Jeff to do a song or two? Or get them doing gang vocals? Wouldn't be too hard and it'd be a nice break from the sore throat barking. I've always imagined that Kerry has a really high pitched voice though, so perhaps that's why.

No big deal, though. Complaining about monotonous vocals on songs like "I don't want to hear it" or "Violent Pacification" is really missing the point of these tunes. They're super fast and full of rage; they get me hyped and pumped, and it's the sort of music that is guaranteed to kill your mother. Not an essential purchase for anyone, but a bit of old hardcore does go down well and good once in a while, so you might as well get this.

Holy hell, this is good. It's nice to hear a blast of what real old school hardcore sounds like, unlike the sludgy groove metal dirges youngsters associate with the style these days. When I say "old school", I mean as in early 1980s, when hardcore was frenzied, furious at the world at large, got in, made its point, and got out inside of a minute and change, all at about 100mph, with ranting screaming vocals and energy to spare. Slayer have always made it clear that this played a big part in their sound and style, and this album is a very convincing run through of some golden oldies from that era. I'd rate it higher if it were an actual Slayer album, since they've not had this kind of energy since the days of "South of Heaven" and "Seasons in the Abyss" (on the faster numbers from that album anyway), but this is still a really good album anyway.

I give them credit for mostly not choosing obvious bands (other than Minor Threat) from the genre to cover, first of all; not many folks these days remember the likes of D.I., TSOL, Dr. Know, and Verbal Abuse. I could've done with a Bad Brains tune or two, myself, but that's just my preference. I think they were choosing mostly West Coast bands since they're from L.A., and that's perfectly OK, since, again, most of these bands are not known at all to today's youth.

It's well-produced, too, which makes these songs have even more impact than the original versions in that respect; the guitars have that trademark grungy Slayer tone from back in the day, the drums are perfectly mixed, and the bass is even audible, something you don't hear on a Slayer album. Then again, the bass led the charge much of the time in hardcore's glory days, and Tom Araya gets lots of chances to shine throughout the album with a dirty bass sound that adds healthy amounts of heft and grit to the overall wall of sound, but it' s not so fuzzed out you can't hear what he's doing. And he really beats the crap out of the thing, too. To my surprise, Paul Bostaph earns the award for "Most Improved" on this album, as his drum performance here leaves his sloppy showing on "Divine Intervention" in the dust in more ways than one. He's far tighter and more intense on this album, and the bits of double kick he throws in fit well and don't come off as gratuitious at all, to my surprise. It doesn't sound as though he's triggered, either, which lends some more credibility to his cause. Hannemann and King, well, you know what to expect from them; tight riffing and their usual noisy, chaotic soloing--not as much in evidence as usual here since hardcore rarely featured lead guitar.

Standouts? Lots of 'em! I really pick Dr. Know's "Mr. Freeze" since it features some really nasty and sinster lyrics and Araya lets out the most chilling scream he'd let out in years at the time at the end as he sings "You try to think with reason/But all you can do is SCREAM!!!" In fact. his vocals throughout are fantastic, and I can envision him turning bright red, spit flying, veins bulging as he rants away with feverish intensity. Also their blistering run through of D.R.I.'s classic "Violent Pacification" is convincing, with Bostaph putting the gas pedal to the floor as he blasts away through the frenetic first half and pounding the hell out of his tom toms in the slower second half. Most everything else on this album is fun and exciting as well. The sole original tunes on here, the Ddamm songs and "Gemini" are good as well; the Ddamm songs are fun to scream along to with mindless lyrics and the circle pit part on "Can't Stand You" is awesome! "Gemini" is the creepiest thing they'd written in years at the time; a slow, simple riff with doomy ambience that really works and a solo that evokes Tony Iommi in his prime.

If you want to hear what real hardcore from back in the day sounded like, delivered by a band that obviously loves and respects the genre, you could do worse than picking this up. Obviously, going back to hear the originals as well is always a great thing, too, which I highly recommend. But yeah, this is definitely worth picking up for the fun factor and the energy level as well.

Actually, this album is not one of my favorites. It took me quite sometimes to accept their punk inclination that seems nonsense at first. Eventually I begin to comprehend that there are many things that can be enjoyed by just listening to Undisputed Attitude. Maybe this is where I learn some new stuff about punk music and its unique features.


Since I do not really remember the name of punk bands covered by Slayer, probably I just describe them as veteran ones. Well, I only have with me the regular CD version which comes with no bonus tracks; “Sick Boy” and “Memories of Tomorrow”. Anyway, the opening track is absolutely refreshing and powerful due to the first verse: “Disintegrate you bastard!!” which then followed by a layer of chugging punk riffs as if I was standing in front of punk live show. This track alone makes me want to jump up and down and bang my head like hell which as a whole, an absolutely invigorating song. What makes me surprise even for more is that, I never had idea that punk hardcore music would be this good. I wonder how the actual bands would sound like.


There’s more than meets the eye in this album. The addition of machine gun blast beats in certain songs immediately told me to listen to this album even further. Paul drumming is absolutely in its top form and every single beat could be clearly heard following his solid excellent performance in Divine Intervention. Araya’s vocals are also at its best since I could feel that he sings every song with full spirit and dedication. Just like in the third track “Abolish Government / Superficial Love” and Hanneman’s unnamed punk side projects “Can’t Stand You” and “Ddamm”. While “Abolish Government” is entirely listenable, the next rack “Can’t Stand You” is an incredible punk masterpiece and a little bit hilarious too.


“Violent Pacification” is something that I thought never got a chance to fuel my adrenalin, but this song’s cool and stylistically insane with Araya’s crispy bass volume perhaps unmatched to the original band itself. Jeff Hanneman and King are doing their job well in ensuring that their punk - inspired thrash sound never go out of style. Their riffs are convincingly suitable for this album which exhibits full fledged catchy tunes. Mostly are heavy and repetitive riffs with bass solo interludes which are apparently sticking out from the background. As for “I’m Gonna be your God” and “Richard Hung Himself” these tracks are suitable for mature audiences only! The music is typically all right but the lyrics are one of the insane ones from this album. Not for children of course.


Finally the album closes with the return of Slayer’s original output; “Gemini” is perhaps one of their slowest tracks ever in spite of Paul’s intricate and precise drumming that are abundant throughout the entire song. As usual, the black flames of riffing insanity are thundering the whole song structures from the very beginning regardless of the sluggish advancement. Araya seems to enjoy singing the verses as well as the choruses with pure relaxation as though he was drinking a glass of champagne with ease.


So how was that? Did you find this review helpful in order to consolidate your maniacal interest in Slayer’s furious intent? I hope you guys enjoy reading my review and don’t hesitate to criticize me since I’m just a green that needed someone to show me the rope.

It took me a long time to get this album. Not to go out and buy it, but to actually understand what it was that I was hearing. First impression: pretty much shit. This was not Slayer, it did not sound like Slayer, it did not own at all. What a naive approach to one of the best cover albums money can buy.

Since the time that I bought this, I got into hardcore punk. Suicidal Tendencies, DRI, Dead Kennedys, etc. Pretty much the kinds of bands that Slayer covers on this. To date I've managed to track down and hear about half of the original versions and by God, Slayer somehow does it better, or at least just as well. The drumming is even more frantic than the originals (thank you, Paul Bostaph), the guitars are even heavier and more destructive, and in a few rare moments, Tom's vocals are even better than the original singers. His scream in "Memories of Tomorrow" is better than Mike Muir's on both the original and the re-recorded version, for instance. Plus you get to hear his bass guitar work, a Slayer rarity. Every song on here is fast, angry, and awesome. This is pretty much dependent on whether or not you like hardcore punk. If you don't, I hope it didn't take you this far into the review to realize that you'll hate this with every essence of your being. The only song you might not mind is "Gemini," a Slayer original. It's way too slow, but Tom's clean vocals in the verse sections are a welcome innovation.

So to sum it up, if you like hardcore punk and/or Slayer, you may want to look this one up, hopefully not just for completion. This is one of the only cover albums that I've actually listened to more than twice, because even though Slayer covers the songs as accurately as possible (that is, with as little "artistic interpretation" as possible), it's still an original and engaging listen. Slayer's decision to give tribute to their hardcore roots rather than their metal ones was controversial for sure, but I think a better choice at the end of the day.

Im not a huge fan of slayer or anything, I don't even listen to that many punk bands, but this one delivered more than my expectations. Just imagine slayers unrelenting speed/thrash style and punks raw aggression in one record.
The guitar sounds punk. The drums sound punk and fucking clear, the bass is heard well.And fuck, even Tom Araya sounds punk! Everything sounds good and thats enough for me.In short "undisputed attitude "pwns" punk.
Most songs are medleys of 2 songs from various punk bands and are roughly between 1 and 2 minutes long and they are fast, each number sleamlessly blending into the next song on the medley.
The album sounds fucking angry and hilarious at the same time. Youd wanna get drunk and shout along with the songs! Tom Araya screams his head off in this one spewing all the pissed off, hate filled lyrics to fast thrashy riffs and furious punk style drumming making this an all out punk massacre!!
Most of the song is all made up from the essential elements of riff, chorus, abusive shouts and fast paced drums, with a few solos.
Every song is special in its own way. From songs like "abolish government" and "Disintegration" which are blistering fast to songs like "Mr Freeze" and "DDAMM" that are more mid tempo to songs like "Spiritual law" and "Violent pacification" ,slayers style flows through evenly adding the element of heaviness and speed into punk, making it enjoyable for a wider audience-both metalheads and punks.
For all you old school slayer fans, there is one track one this cd called "Gemini",It's a slayer original, and I gotta say that is one of their best songs. Its very atmospheric with slow singing, throbbing bass and sluggish riffs. This is the slayer we all know and it's a
Nice way to end the punk part of the album.
This album is not a showcase of slayers technical style or how "evil" they can sound. People hardly quote this one, slayers only cover album. But then again, this is more of a fun album, that's a light hearted attempt at crossing genres to come out with something that can still bring across the heaviness of slayer and the intensity that Punk has the potential to offer.

And if you don't like punk, you'll think this is pure shit. But these are fun little songs; about a minute and a half each, all of them a blast of aggression and energy. Nothing too overtly epic and serious - don't expect the crusher break of Raining Blood here. Try just simple stuff like "I hate you!!!", but done with passion and conviction; something that Slayer couldn't be accused of on the actual studio albums that came after this.

This is fun driving music... it's not something you'd want to pay too close attention to, because on close listening, it kinda falls apart as being simplistic punk rock. But hey, that's what it is... simplistic punk rock. Highlights... probably the DRI song Violent Pacification, or maybe the old Hannemann project DDAMM... or maybe Can't Stand You. Hell, none of them are particularly bad.

Production is pretty decent. Araya's vocals are just a bit overdistorted, but the guitars come in loud and clear, and provide the extra spark that the original punk bands sometimes had, and sometimes did not.

Oh yeah, but what the fuck is up with that original? Man, that song suuuuucks hard. Where's there any aggression in that? It sounds like Slayer taking lounge singing courses; even Dead Skin Mask is more fun than that song, and that's saying a lot.

Instead of going the conventional route of obvious covers and butchered classics, Slayer tap their punk influence for Undisputed Attitude.... you can really hear how much the raw intensity of bands like Minor Threat and TSOL affected their sound, particularly that of Reign in Blood. The covers here are 100% Slayer without sacrificing tradition so to speak... in lieu of sloppy strummed power chords are fast tremelo picking and the occasional solo. Undisputed Attitude may stand as Tom Araya's last admirable vocal performance, and that alone makes it a must for fans.

The originals I have heard: Verbal Abuse (Verbal Abuse), Superficial Love (TSOL), Filler/I Don't Wanna Hear It + Guilty of Being White (Minor Threat), Violent Pacification (DRI), I'm Gonna Be Your God (Stooges), and I Hate You (Dictators?) are done justice by Slayer's covers and then some. In some cases, they add another dimension of speed that could easily appeal to metal purists without leaving punks behind. Highlights include: Richard Hung Himself, Verbal Abuse/Leeches, and Filler.

Ddamm and Can't Stand You are culled from Jeff's days in a sloppy hardcore bad.. pretty amateur, but also entertaining. Closing track Gemini sticks out like a sore thumb... a brooding, ominous, and fucking HEAVY track about San Francisco's Zodiac killer. A great Slayer song, no doubt, and one that should of jumped to Diabolus in Musica, cos that album is in dire need of good material.

So, Slayer went punk. Well...almost punk, as I think that this one is what we should call a thrash/punk fusion. These punk covers were the material that clearly influenced Slayer in their beginnings and over the years that came. Hearing something from them like "Show no Mercy" clearly tells us that Slayer sound was a mixture between the NWOBHM technical riffage and the punk rock speed and attitude.
Cash grabber?? Well, I don't think so...why would then Slayer put out an album with some punk covers (not very similar to their style) instead of another "Divine Intervention" or a compilation that would make them and their money hungry filthy managers and record companies gain some more $$$$? But, although this not being a cash grabber, it's definitively not an album for all Slayer fans...This one can be dangerous to hear by some of them, still, is a very energetic album and it's capable of making you spend a pretty enjoyable hour by listening to it.

We cant call this a perfectly produced album...by the sound, and although not being totally produced by Rick Rubin, you immediately notice that this is Slayer...It's not a bad mixture or sound, I just think those guitars weren't sharped enough at that time and that drum sound should've been a little different in the end, but...if you like the though, raw and rough Slayer, then this is perfect album for you.

It's really an interesting effort, and I would say that the highlights of this one are "Disintegration/Free Money", "Guilty of Being White", "Filler/I don't want to hear it", "Mr. Freeze" and "Violent Pacification"...

This album also has some interesting details that every hardcore Slayer fan should know...there are two songs here that Jeff Hanneman composed himself in 1985 for a "never came to be born" speed/punk project apart from Slayer...Those songs are, the incredibly fast and hyperactive, almost mind blowing "Can't Stand You" (fuck...I cannot understand how Tom Araya could be screaming that way...MAD!!!) and "Ddamn", really a punk rock attitude song mixing some metal riffs in 1 min (!!!).
The other detail is the fact that this record has extras and some really good ones..."Gemini" is an original song written by Kerry King and with some cool lyrics by Tom Araya. The only total metal number on this record and some of the most sinister Slayer stuff they've ever made.

Well, let’s put this in some more accessible terms. "Diabolus in Musica" fans, get this because although being a almost, kind of 80% punk record still has some similar sound to Slayer's 1998 record and I think you'll like it..."Diabolus" haters...if you are interested in this one, get it...if you are not interested, forget about it...

As I said, not a Slayer album for all Slayer fans but in the end, it still manages to sound good.