- published: 13 Oct 2015
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Seasons in the Abyss is the fifth studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer. It was released on October 9, 1990, through Def American Records, and later through American Recordings after the record label changed its name. The album's recording sessions began in March 1990. The sessions began at Hit City West, Hollywood Sound, and in June, the sessions ended at Record Plant in Los Angeles, California. It was the band's last studio album to feature original drummer Dave Lombardo until 2006's Christ Illusion.
The musical style of the album is similar and was compared by critics to the band's previous two albums: South of Heaven and Reign in Blood. The album's reception was generally positive. It peaked number 18 in the United Kingdom and also charted on the Billboard 200 at number 40. It was certified gold in the United States and Canada.
The album was recorded from January to June 1990 in two separate studios: Hit City West, Hollywood Sound, and Record Plant in Los Angeles, California.Seasons in the Abyss was produced by Rick Rubin, who had also produced their previous two albums Reign in Blood and South of Heaven.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the Abyss, or more fully, the Infinite Layers of the Abyss, is a chaotic evil-aligned plane of existence. It is one of a number of alignment-based Outer Planes that form part of the standard Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) cosmology, used in the Planescape and Greyhawk campaign settings. The Abyss is also the name of one of the faith-based outer planes that form part of the Forgotten Realms cosmology. While the published 3rd-Edition source books indicate that the Abyss of the standard D&D cosmology is not the same plane as the Abyss of the Forgotten Realms cosmology, they are for all practical purposes identical.
The plane known as the 666 layers of the Abyss was mentioned for the first time by name in the article "Planes: The Concepts of Spatial, Temporal and Physical Relationships in D&D", in The Dragon #8, released July 1977. In the article Gary Gygax describes the plane as one of the "Typical lower planes". The plane was mentioned again in an appendix of the known planes of existence in the original (1st edition) AD&D Players Handbook, published in June 1978, where it was described as "The 666 layers of the Abyss of absolute chaotic evil".
Razors edge
Outlines the dead
Incisions in my head
Anticipation the stimulation
To kill the exhilaration
Close your eyes
Look deep in your soul
Step outside yourself
And let your mind go
Frozen eyes stare deep in your mind as you die
Close your eyes
And forget your name
Step outside yourself
And let your thoughts drain
As you go insane...go insane
Innate seed
To watch you bleed
A demanding physical need
Desecrated eviscerated
Time perpetuated
Close your eyes
Look deep in your soul
Step outside yourself
And let your mind go
Frozen eyes stare deep in your mind as you die
Close your eyes and forget your name
Step outside yourself and let your thoughts drain
As you go insane...go insane
Inert flesh
A bloody tomb
A decorated splatter brightens the room
An execution a sadist ritual
Mad intervals of mind residuals
Close your eyes
Look deep in your soul
Step outside yourself
And let your mind go
Frozen eyes stare deep in your mind as you die
Close your eyes and forget your name
Step outside yourself and let your thoughts drain