Slayer/YMMV

• Broken Base: The fast, thrashing riffs of Reign in Blood or the slower, heavier songs of South of Heaven? Reign In Blood is either the band's best album or their Jump the Shark moment depending on who you ask, with a Vocal Minority of the fans preferring the Epic Rocking style of Hell Awaits. God Hates us All is also quite polarizing.
• Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch: The songs "Angel of Death" and "Jihad" take the point of view of a certain individual (Dr. Josef Mengele and a Muslim terrorist, respectively) and have had many people say that Slayer sympathizes with them. However, anybody who has read the lyrics can tell that they are not sympathetic towards them. The band wrote the song "SS-3" specifically to annoy religious groups. In fact, during the 90's Slayer used a variation of the Nazi Reichsadler (replacing the swastika with the band's name) specifically to gain attention.
  • When asked about "Angel of Death", Hannemann said "nothing I put in the lyrics that says necessarily he was a bad man, because to me – well, isn't that obvious? I shouldn't have to tell you that."
• Critical Research Failure: Many examples:
  • Religious groups have constantly accused Slayer of being Satanists. However, Tom Araya is Catholic and Kerry King is an atheist, stating repeatedly that he doesn't believe either God or Satan exist.
    • Which is really hilarious if you consider the aforementioned Tom Araya wrote a song based on a rather infamous anti-abortion film most widely known in the very evangelical Christian circles condemning Slayer as a bunch of devil worshippers.
  • They have been accused of supporting Nazism, thanks to the songs "Angel of Death" and "SS-3" and their cover of Minor Threat's "Guilty of Being White" (which changed the phrase to "guilty of being right" at the end), and the fact that guitarist Jeff Hanneman collects Nazi medals and other war paraphernalia. The band has stated that they don't condone Nazism. Also overlooked is the fact that both Tom Araya (a Chilean) and Dave Lombardo (a Cuban) are of Hispanic descent.
  • Slayer is generally thrash metal! It is not Death Metal! Can't you get it right, Mr. "Hippies Can't Stand Death Metal"?
• Epic Riff: "Raining Blood"
• Evil Is Cool: Hence why most of their songs are about Satan, Nazis, terorists, etc.
• Face of the Band: Kerry King, specially for its tattooed and bald looks.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Because of various issues, the release of God Hates Us All was delayed until September 11, 2001.
• Memetic Mutation: HEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!(?)
  • VIVA CHILE MIERDA!! (go watch the Big Four DVD/blu-ray if you don't get it. Besides, you probably need to be Chilean in order to really get all Memetic about it)
  • Tom's signature Metal Scream, to the point it has its own website, with a button that plays his opening to "Angel of Death."
• Never Live It Down: The band aren't too fond of being reminded how they used to wear eyeliner when they were starting out. Particularly amusing given some of the infamous homophobic remarks Kerry King has made in interview over the years.
  • On a musical level, the Nu-metal-influenced Diabolus In Musica and God Hates Us All will never be forgiven by some fans. Even King isn't a fan of Diabolus.
• Unfortunate Implications: Some people took offense when God Hates Us All was released on...September 11, 2001. The band, however, had no control over this; it was just a "New Release Tuesday," with their album at least not getting pulled. No one could have predicted the events of September 11 and the release date was probably determined weeks, if not, months in advance.