Angel of Death (song)

Angel of Death is a famous, and controvertial, song by the band Slayer. The song is based on Josef Mengele. This in itself - a metal band writing about war and a serial killer - would not have raised many eyebrows, the controversy arose over the lack of condemnation in the lyrics.

The song was written by guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who as well as having a German-sounding name, is also blonde - facts which added to the controversy surrounding the song.

The song arose through Hanneman's interest in Nazi Germany. Like many other musicians (including Ozzy Osbourne and Motorhead's Lemmy), Hanneman collected Nazi memoribilia. His interest began when his father, who had fought in World War 2 (for America), gave him a German medal.

Those criticising the song generally tended to overlook the fact that both Tom Araya, Slayer's vocalist, and Dave Lombardo, the band's then drummer, are of distinctly non-Aryan heritage.

The band addressed the criticisms in "Behind the Crooked Cross", a song from South of Heaven.

The song has appeared in other places since. It has been on the soundtracks of Gremlins 2 and Jackass: The Movie. The half-time riff was sampled by Public Enemy in their song "She Watch Channel Zero"