1345 - Slayer Chemical Warfare 1984

"Haunting the Chapel" is an EP released by the thrash metal band Slayer in 1984 through Metal Blade and Enigma Records. Slayer's previous album "Show No Mercy" had sold over 40,000 copies worldwide and the band were performing the songs "Chemical Warfare" and "Captor of Sin" live, which made producer Brian Slagel want to release an EP. The album was recorded in Hollywood with sound engineer Bill Metoyer, in a studio with no carpet which was a problem while recording the drums. Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo set his drum kit on the concrete and the kit went "all over the place" while playing. Lombardo asked Gene Hoglan to hold his kit together, while recording "Chemical Warfare", with Hoglan thinking, "I hope he does this in one or two takes, because this is rough". Hoglan was coaching Lombardo how to use double-bass drums to improve his drumming ability and speed; Lombardo asserts Hoglan was "an amazing double-bass player even back then". The song describes the mass death and screwed up tactics involved with chemical warfare, and details 'soldiers defeated by death from a smell'. This song is definately a powerful one, and the solos on it are great as well.