Review by Frost on November 24, 2021.

One of the things I've been doing lately is collecting full discographies of bands I really, really enjoy. Of course, one has to draw the line somewhere, so I stick with just LPs and EPs. Stuff like live albums or splits or videos/DVDs are optional little extra content purely for beefing up the collection. I've been able to realize the completion of several bands over the years like Metallica, Disturbed, Superjoint Ritual, and Volbeat, just to name a few. Some bands I'm sickeningly close to finishing but, are incomplete because of one EP or album that is forever elusive for one reason or another (e.g., out of print, hard to find, import only, etc.). With the purchase of Reign In Blood earlier this week, Slayer's discography is now officially complete for me. However, in the case of the almighty Slayer, their first live album here had to be included for the sake of completion.

With a lot of these albums from the past by these legacy bands, I'm a stranger to. My being only 29 doesn't lend much credibility when I'm asked about the reverential status these albums have because likely, I'm only familiar with them by it being passed around peripherally in conversation by other metalheads. Don't worry, everybody, I'm updating and spit shining my metal card with every album successively compiled onto my ever-expanding library. This album, even though it's considered to be a live recording, I feel it has to be included as canon in the discography as something of a "must have" given how early it was in the band's career and it being officially released by Metal Blade. So, there's the justification. Now onto the music.

Of course, being this was released in '84, the same year as the Haunting The Chapel EP (the EP came out first), the original four horseman are here: King, Araya, Lombardo, and Hanneman. There's absolutely no denying the unparalleled level of energy on display. They're all in their 20s. They're rapacious and hungry for blood. They were on the cusp of becoming a force to be reckoned with but, that would have to wait with the following two masterpieces of Hell Awaits and Reign In Blood. They're all in top form. I don't need to explain just how phenomenal this sounds; how masterful the playing is. This is Slayer in their absolute prime. Nothing can top the ferocity that's felt when you hear Tom Araya hitting those piercing falsettos or when he gives that fucking amazing delivery before 'Die By The Sword' starts, neither can you deny the tight chemistry between Hanneman and King as they trade solos back and forth, and the tight tight TIGHT double bass groove that Lombardo belts out on 'Captor Of Sin' is undeniable in how amazing it is. Classic songs from the EP and debut all played with the tightness, skill, and no-holds-barred energy you'd expect from this band in the mid-80s.

Now onto the big elephant in the room. It's not a true live album. Well, that's debatable. I'm not sure exactly what set of circumstances led to the band to go the approach they did but, from what I read, it wasn't good. Something went horribly wrong along the way and, thus, enter the studio crowd. There’re clearly real Slayer devotees involved in the booth and, obviously, there's fury and passion for the band's music. In fairness to the producers who orchestrated this, I'm preferable to this method as opposed to a fake canned crowd pulled from a soundboard. Still, though, I cannot escape the fact that's a real crowd in a sound studio that feels as if it was added in post-production. For me, it almost ruined the whole experience. Thankfully the music was so amazing, it was a pleasant enough distraction from the fact the was an artificially inserted crowd, albeit composed of real people. That's about all. I don't know what else to say that hasn't been said already. It's a live Slayer album released alongside the pantheon of their first three albums and their EP released in the 80s.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Felix on January 8, 2020.

In a time of information overkill and constantly new impulses, it needs courage to open an album with an instrumental with a playtime of more than six minutes. But Sobibor does not consist of cowards and so they kick off their second full-length exactly this way. Honestly speaking, it is not the most adventurous instrumental in the history of metal, but a solid musical start. In addition, it showcases a welcome improvement. Unlike the debut, Misantropia benefits from a professional sound. The guitars combine sharpness and heaviness on an equal footing and the drums have more penetrating power than they had on the debut. The boozy, raw voice shows up after the opener and it adds some punk vibes. It’s still a somewhat limited performance, but with more expressiveness than before. This means that many details point in the right direction.

The songs are always comprehensible. The primitive character of pristine punk shimmers through some compositions. Nobody needs to fear an album which is filled to the brim with breaks and tempo changes. On the other hand, the songs have almost opulent designs and this fact and also some good solos smudge the punk impression. “Vencer o Morir”, for example, has nothing in common with an unwashed left-wing eruption. Its menacing atmosphere and the cruel vocals create a typical metal song. The mid-paced intermezzo after the slow-moving rhythms at the beginning comes pretty abruptly, but this is nevertheless a strong piece, among other things due to the lamenting solo guitar in the last third of the song. Ironically, the band accelerates speed again with the next piece called “Requiem”. With regard to its name, I actually expected a sad, lamenting funeral march or something like that, but the song is much livelier than its name. The guitars steer the song directly into a speed metal hell and I cannot say that they riffs leave me cold. (And that’s great, because I guess it is not my own requiem as long as my skin feels relatively warm.)

The more the album progresses, the more obvious it gets: Misantropia has more energy, more rough charm and significantly more compositional class than the debut. It marks a big step forward for a formation that was summoned to regain ground after its first shot. Unfortunately, I cannot really speak about the content of the lyrics, although I am learning Spanish for five months. (Horrible Indefinido. Fui, fuiste, fue…I’m getting crazy about it.) However, the song titles indicate more or less typical topics. Sobibor have chosen their band name in order to denounce human misery and their lyrics seem to point into the same direction. There is still room for improvement, but that’s nothing but a matter of course and can be said about 99,9% of all albums (and all reviews…). What really counts is that the vast majority of the tracks is driven by vivid guitars and appropriately fast drums. (Only the Motörhead cover appears slightly dubious - some things and songs better remain untouched.) Be that as it may, there is still this natural and roughshod, typically South American element, but the album also reaches a proper degree of maturity. In my humble opinion, thrash metal is the urban counterpart of the nature-loving black metal movement and here we are definitely listening to “sonidos de la calle” – and it just feels good.

Rating: 7.7 out of 10