“South of Heaven” by Slayer

The title track of Slayer's fourth studio album, "South of Heaven" came out on Def Jam on July 5, 1988. Jeff Hanneman wrote the music and Tom Araya the words; Rick Rubin, producing Slayer for the second time, shares the production credit with the band, and Andy Wallace helped record it and mixed it.

It gave its name to a record on which Slayer, rather than trying to outrun the frenzy of Reign in Blood, deliberately eased off the tempo and let in clean guitars and calmer vocals. Critics mostly liked it, some praising the new direction, though listeners wedded to the earlier records were a little let down. The song outlasted the arguments: it and "Mandatory Suicide" became near-permanent fixtures of the band's live sets.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.