Slayer
“Diabolus in Musics”
American
Grade: B+
It’s been three long years in
the abyss since Slayer last
released a collection of death
metal anthems, but the wait is
over. This time fans can expect
more than just a “reign in blood”
- they can expect a complete
sonic assault from the trenches
of the devil’s playground.
“Diabolus in Musica,”
Slayer's latest offering on
American Records, is an album
riddled with death-metal bullets,
and though some of them are a
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on, making the album a worth
while investment for any Slayer
fanatic, o i r?
The group^tarts things off
with “Bitter Peace,” a track that
cranks out slow and heavy riffs
for the first minute or so and
then blasts into thrash craziness
for the next 314.
The mayhem rolls on with
the nexf track, “Death’s Head,”
probably the best song on the
album. The death toll rises as
Slayer combines some of its
heaviest chunka-chunka riffs
with a super-catchy guitar line
and rhythmic screaming sure to
.... „
keep your head nodding and
your eyebrows furrowed.Tom
Araya’s vocals seem to rumble
up from the guts of Hades to
offer a massacre of the senses.
From there, things slow
down a bit, and songs five
through seven are basically just
filler. Some of the songs end
very weakly, and the vocals
' sound bland and diluted.
However, the carnage contin
ues with “In the Name of God,” a
marching soundtrack for total
annihilation, rampant with
machine gun style double bass
attacks by new drummer Paul
Bostaph.
The album winds up with
“Point,” a four-minute march of
torture built from a barrage of
Slayer’s deadliest weapons,
pounding chunk riffs one
minute, light speed leads and
shock-wave snare violations the
next. “Diabolus in Musica” ends
abruptly, leaving listeners in a
catatonic daze, with fingers
stuck in the “hook ’em horns”
position, blindly mumbling
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luujvA) iJiujvi) uiajrvi.
Like a junkie’s needle,
Slayer’s lyrical content seems
stuck in the same vein that has
always worked for them: songs
about death, pain, destruction
and all the other morbidly
cheesy things that happen south
of Heaven. The overall effect of
the 11-song album is a bit
depressing, but what do you
expect from a band that depends
on shock value to sell records?
However* if Slayer seems to
sweeten your corrupted cup of
tea, “Diabolus in Musica” is a
worthy investment.
-Jason Hardy
Palm reader brings skills to fair
FAIR from page 9
“My daughter is bom witfi the abili
ty,” sire added later as her mother and
niece looked on from a couch on an
adjacent wall
Defensive about her privacy and
trade, Mrs. Roberts sidestepped many of
the questions presented to ho; claiming
she didn’t want bad press. But she was
more than happy to give me a personal
reading - after I coughed up $10, the
standard fee for her state fair readings.
She charges considerably more out
of her shop in Omaha, which she
declined to name.
Sitting at an angle to me on the
couch that more than likely turns into a
dinner table, she asked me to open both
my hands in front of her.
Without touching them, she began
speaking rapidly.
“You have a long lifeline,” she
began, ami with a painted nail motioned
across my thumb toward my wrist
I also apparently have quite a long
love life, but, despite my eager facial
expression, she didn ’t tell me when it
would start
Since taking notes and having your
palms read are two mutually exclusive
activities, getting her exact reading was
impossible.
But the experience is unforgettable.
With her rapid delivery and oscillating
accent, Mrs. Roberts quickly got me
purring with assurances of my good
nature, honest habits and capacity for
love.
She then asked about back prob
lems. Sure enough, I suffer from a mild
form of scoliosis.
More generalities followed about
romance, a prosperous - but not too
prosperous - future and a loving wife
with three kids. Other middle class
dreams, including a trip in the next year
to a major body of water, rounded out
the palm reading.
My West Omaha up-bringing is that
obvious.
That’s what happens when the only
scar on your hands comes from a skate
boarding accident
The reading lasted no longer than
three minutes, and it seemed Mrs.
«
If they want me to
tell them how they
will die, I will tell
them.”
Mrs. Roberts
palm reader
Roberts had nothing more to say.
Her mother, dressed in a long black
gown on the 90-degree day, looked on
during die reading and, with the rapidity
that seems to define this family, spoke
to Mrs. Roberts, who answered in
English.
What they were talking about I
don’t know. In fact, there were a lot of
things I didn’t understand. Mrs. Roberts
is a woman who guards her trade and
her secrets with a vengeance and no
apologies.
Of course, if you read peopled lives
every day, you’d keep secrets too.
Acting troupe builds a better bam
BARN from page 9
seated on three sides of the stage and
uses minimal technical elements.
At die beginning of the 1997 sea
son, the Blue Bam company discovered
the building that housed their theater
was being sold.
“We knew we didn't have time to
find a space and convert it, ao we wait
on the load,” Lawler explained.
The Blue Bam spent die next year
performing in various locations around
Omaha
“It was a great chance to expand our
audience,” Lawler said, “but each time
we switched venues, we basically had to
build a theater from the ground up. It
was very expensive.” ,.
At the end of last season, the Blue
Bam began looking for a more perma
nent home.
“I wanted to improve two things
from the building on 13 th Street One
was location. Two was the facility itself.
I didn’twant to get a space thatwas equal
or worse than the old one,” Lawler said
In addition toalarger and newer the
ater with state-of-the-art equipment, the
in front
This difference can be a big change
for a theater company unaccustomed to
the .arrangement
“Usually people take the other way”
Walkinshaw said “You work in a tradi
tional space, and then suddenly you’re
given a black box, and the rules
change.”
The new space has challenged the
four founders as they have reunited for
this season’s opening show. Lawler said
the proscenium stage affects each
aspect of the play, from the director’s
staging to the actorh delivery.
“We’re flexing our artistic muscles,”
he said.
Walkinshaw added the production
has shown him how die four have grown
in the past 10 years.
“We’re much more grounded as to
what we like and what we don’t like,”
Walkinshaw said. “We’re all striving for
the same goal. We’re presenting the new
works that will be considered classics
100 years from now.”
C '• » 'Ji ' ; ■ i - - *• - •• ■ *-•
Nebraska
Sammi
Nebraska vs.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Friday, September 4
@ 7 p.m.
Abbott Sports Complex
(1 1/2 miles north of 70th
& Comhusker Hwy.)
Reserved Season $30
G.A. Season $15
Famly Plan $40
7-Game Mini $11
4-Game Mini $7
Single Game $2
: - 7—t ———
WIN A TREK MOUNTAIN BIKE.
Comedown Aug 31-Sept4
evoc* Present your student ID to get a
v-m chance in our drawing for a
Trek Mountain Bike! I
ALL 98 MODELS ON SALE I
1 ■■1
The Biggest Pre-game party
is happening right here on campus!
Nebraska Alumni
Association’s Home
Husker Huddle
Saturday, September 5
10:00-11:30 AM
Food, Entertainment, Door
Prizes, and lots of Husker
Spirit
FREE and OPEN to the public
Students Welcome
Wick Alumni Center
.. .... . 1520RStreet
L
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r : - .
If your date doesn't like
the movie yon chose,
V m aA 1
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