"Өлім Періштесі": Slayer әні және тарих"

Slayer song

"Angel of Death" is the opening track on American thrash metal band Slayer's 1986 album Reign in Blood. The lyrics and music were written by guitarist Jeff Hanneman. They detail the Nazi physician Josef Mengele's human experiments at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. "Angel of Death" led to accusations of Nazi sympathizing and racism against the band, which they vigorously denied but which followed them throughout their early career. Despite the controversy and the resulting delay in the release of Reign in Blood, the song remained a live favorite, and has appeared on all of Slayer's live albums. The song has been described as highly influential in the development of thrash metal or speed metal, and is highly regarded by some critics; AllMusic's Steve Huey called it a classic and the album "the pinnacle of speed metal". The half time riff was sampled by Public Enemy in their song "She Watch Channel Zero?!" from the 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. They detail Mengele's surgical experiments on patients at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. Mengele's explorations were conducted on such groups as dwarfs and twins, and included both physical and psychological examinations. Among the tests he performed that are mentioned in "Angel of Death" are experimental surgeries performed without anesthesia, transfusion of blood between twins, isolation endurance, gassing, injections with lethal germs, sex change operations, the removal of organs and limbs, and abacination.

The lyrics of "Angel of Death" delayed the release of Reign in Blood which was originally scheduled for April 1986. The band was signed to Def Jam Records, whose distributor, Columbia Records, refused to release the album due to its subject matter and artwork, which they believed were "too graphic". In 1987, Hanneman told the NME magazine:
I feel you should be able to write about whatever you want. Angel of Death is like a history lesson I'd read a lot about the Third Reich and was absolutely fascinated by the extremity of it all, the way Hitler had been able to hypnotise a nation and do whatever he wanted, a situation where Mengele could evolve from being a doctor to being a butcher. People took Hanneman's interest in Nazi history and his collection of Nazi medals (his most prized item being a German Knight's Cross) as evidence of sympathizing. I know why people misinterpret it – it's because they get this knee jerk reaction to it. When they read the lyrics, there's nothing I put in the lyrics that says necessarily he was a bad man, because to me – well, isn't that obvious? I shouldn't have to tell you that. According to guitarist Kerry King: "Yeah, 'Slayer are Nazis, fascists, Communists'—all that fun shit. And of course we got the most flak for it in Germany. I was always like, 'Read the lyrics and tell me what's offensive about it. Can you see it as a documentary, or do you think Slayer's preaching fucking World War II?' People get this thought in their heads—especially in Europe—and you'll never talk them out of it." Hanneman also wrote "SS 3", a song about senior SS commander Reinhard Heydrich, which appeared on the band's 1994 album Divine Intervention. The song "Jihad" from their 2006 album Christ Illusion has drawn comparison to "Angel of Death". "Jihad" deals with the September 11, 2001, attacks, and is told from a terrorist's perspective. Araya expected the subject matter to create a similar backlash to that of "Angel of Death", but it did not materialize—in part, he believes, due to people's view that the song is "just Slayer being Slayer".

At 4 minutes and 51 seconds, "Angel of Death" is the longest track on the album, which is 29 minutes in total. When drummer Lombardo left Slayer in 1992, they recruited a full time replacement in Forbidden drummer Paul Bostaph. Before the "big double bass part" there is a lead section, which Bostaph could not understand, as he had to learn from live records recorded with Lombardo.

Although "Angel of Death" did not chart, it was highly praised by critics reviewing Reign in Blood. Clay Jarvas of Stylus Magazine observed how the song "smokes the asses of any band playing fast and/or heavy today. Lyrically outlining the horrors to come, while musically laying the groundwork for the rest of the record: fast, lean and filthy." Adrien Begrand of PopMatters remarked that "There's no better song to kick things off than the masterful 'Angel of Death', one of the most monumental songs in metal history." The same riff has been sampled by many other artists including Public Enemy for their track "She Watch Channel Zero". "Angel of Death" was featured in the opening scene of the 2002 stunt comedy Jackass: The Movie, where Johnny Knoxville rents and modifies a car before engaging in a crash up derby.