In the original lineup, King, Hanneman and Araya contributed to the band's lyrics, and all of the band's music was written by King and Hanneman. The band's lyrics and album art, which cover topics such as serial killers, torture, genocide, organized crime, secret societies, occultism, terrorism, religion or antireligion, fascism, racism and war, have generated album bans, delays, lawsuits and criticism from religious groups. However, its music has been highly influential, being cited by many bands as an influence musically, visually and lyrically; the band's third album, Reign in Blood (1986), has been described as one of the heaviest and most influential thrash metal albums.
Slayer released twelve studio albums, three live albums, a box set, six music videos, two extended plays and a cover album. Four of the band's studio albums have received gold certification in the United States. Slayer sold 5 million copies in the United States from 1991 to 2013, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and over 20 million worldwide. The band has received five Grammy Award nominations, winning one in 2007 for the song "Eyes of the Insane" and one in 2008 for the song "Final Six", both of which were from the album Christ Illusion (2006). After more than three decades of recording and performing, Slayer announced in January 2018 that it would embark on a farewell tour, which took place from May 2018 to November 2019, after which the band disbanded.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slayer
Studio albums
Show No Mercy (1983)
Hell Awaits (1985)
Reign in Blood (1986)
South of Heaven (1988)
Seasons in the Abyss (1990)
Divine Intervention (1994)
Undisputed Attitude (1996)
Diabolus in Musica (1998)
God Hates Us All (2001)
Christ Illusion (2006)
World Painted Blood (2009)
Repentless (2015)
Postmortem
Slayer Lyrics
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Holds the key to his own death
Entering a tomb of a corpse yet conceived
Tighten the tourniquet around your neck
Sifting away the debris of hated life
Cold touch of death begins to chill your spine
Seeking life beyond your perishment
Chanting lines of blind witchery
To save yourself from extinction
Wanting to die is your reason to live
New life born from the oppressed
Taste your blood as it trickles through the air
Another casualty beyond the shadows you fall
Losing ground, the fate you feel it draws near
Fatality, reality, you await the final call
My sinful glare at nothing holds thoughts of death behind it
Skeletons in my mind commence tearing at my sanity
Vessels in my brain carry death until my birth
Come and die with me forever
Share insanity
Do you want to die!
The waves of blood are rushing near, pounding at the walls of lies
Turning off my sanity, reaching back into my mind
Non-rising body from the grave showing new reality
What I am, what I want, I'm only after death
The lyrics to Slayer's "Postmortem" describe a funeral for the "depression of man" and the idea that the key to one's own death lies within themselves. The song then goes on to describe entering a tomb of an unconceived corpse and tightening a tourniquet around one's neck as a symbolic act of seeking new life beyond their perishment. The lyrics also touch on themes of witchcraft and the desire to die as a reason to live, culminating in a final call to come and die with the singer forever.
These lyrics paint a picture of a person who has reached a point of extreme despair and is seeking a new form of life through death. The repetition of the phrase "new life born from the oppressed" suggests that the singer sees death as a way to escape the oppression and negativity of their current existence. This idea is reinforced by the chanting of "blind witchery" to save oneself from extinction, implying that the singer is turning to supernatural means to achieve their goal.
The final line, "What I am, what I want, I'm only after death," suggests that the singer's ultimate desire is not for a new life but for the release that comes with death. The waves of blood and pounding walls of lies create a sense of desperation and urgency, while the invitation to "come and die with me forever" speaks to a desire for companionship in the face of death.
Line by Line Meaning
Funeral held for the depression of man
A symbolic funeral is held to represent the end of the depression that plagues humanity
Holds the key to his own death
Each individual has control over their own life and death
Entering a tomb of a corpse yet conceived
The singer is about to enter a place of death that hasn't yet produced a corpse
Tighten the tourniquet around your neck
The singer is preparing to end their own life, the tourniquet symbolizes the instrument that will be used
Sifting away the debris of hated life
The singer wants to discard the negative aspects of their life
Cold touch of death begins to chill your spine
The sensation of death creeps in and begins to overwhelm the singer
Seeking life beyond your perishment
The singer is searching for a way to transcend death
Repeating words echoing through your mind
Self-defeating thoughts continually loop in the singer's mind
Chanting lines of blind witchery
The singer is chanting meaningless words as a way to counteract the negative thoughts in their mind
To save yourself from extinction
The singer hopes to prevent their own death and thereby save themselves from total annihilation
Wanting to die is your reason to live
The desire for death motivates the singer to live in the present
New life born from the oppressed
A new and better life can come from a previous existence of hardship
Taste your blood as it trickles through the air
The taste of one's blood is a reminder that death is soon to come
Another casualty beyond the shadows you fall
Another victim falls to death, not to be remembered in the light of day
Losing ground, the fate you feel it draws near
Death is imminent and there is no way to escape it
Fatality, reality, you await the final call
Death is both an undeniable truth and a foregone conclusion
My sinful glare at nothing holds thoughts of death behind it
The singer is at the brink of death and is looking back at their life with feelings of guilt
Skeletons in my mind commence tearing at my sanity
Deep-seated fears and traumas start to unravel the singer's mind
Vessels in my brain carry death until my birth
The singer has always carried within them a predisposition towards death
Come and die with me forever
The singer invites his listener to join him in death as a path to everlasting peace and rest
Share insanity
Both the singer and the listener share in the same insanity that drives them towards an early grave
Do you want to die!
The singer directly asks the listener if they too desire death
The waves of blood are rushing near, pounding at the walls of lies
The reality of death is surging forward and breaking down the illusions that shield humans from facing it
Turning off my sanity, reaching back into my mind
With the impending approach of death, the singer's grip on sanity loosens
Non-rising body from the grave showing new reality
Death is a gateway to a new and unknown reality
What I am, what I want, I'm only after death
Death is the only thing the singer is after, everything else is rendered irrelevant
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JEFFERY JOHN HANNEMAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind