Fear, Emptiness, Decibel: Slaughter Inducted Into the Hall of Fame
Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…
Slaughter is such a good metal band name. I’m not going to say it was wasted on these ding-dongs , because I’ve always been totally onboard for this very specific strain of glam-douche prechorus, but I imagine the dudes in the proto-death metal Canadian Slaughter are not thrilled about “Up All Night” Slaughter’s existence/legacy. (Hahaha, “legacy.”) Even though we all know Canadians are biologically incapable of expressing sustained loathing for anything. Anyway, Canadian Slaughter gets Hall of Fame honors in the August issue for 1987’s Strappado, and bassist/vocalist Terry Sadler helpfully explains just what the fuck a “strappado” is anyway: “a medieval torture device where a person was hung naked with their arms tied behind their back and hoisted up with a large weight tied to their foot until their shoulder blades and bones snapped back and left them hanging and screaming in agony, while often also being whipped, raped or some other deliciously cruel act before being left to die.” That’s like the best thing I’ve ever heard, and I really, really hope Colin Farrell isn’t in one at the beginning of next week’s True Detective.
If none of this sounds all that familiar, well, we can’t really blame you. The trio was a cult band that was pretty much bled out by the all-too-typical label nightmares of the era. Slaughter called it a career in 1989, popped back up for a brief reunion in the mid-’90s (according to Sadler—incidentally one of the funniest, most caustic 54-year-olds on the planet—it’s not happening again, so don’t bother Facebooking the official MDF page). But Slaughter have cred out the ass. Godflesh covered their outstanding “F.O.D. (Fuck of Death)” on the Flexi Series four years ago. Plus, they not only played with the late, great Chuck Schuldiner prior to recording Strappado, but Evil Chuck very well may have intended for them to become an early incarnation of Death. Check out Kevin Stewart-Panko’s painstakingly thorough (and painfully funny) HOF in the Refused issue.
The August 2015 issue of Decibel also features Lamb of God, Between the Buried and Me, and High on Fire and can be purchased here. But anyone who doesn’t just get a full subscription may be forced to listen to these ding dongs.
