 South of Heaven was recorded in Los Angeles , California with Reign in Blood producer Rick Rubin . PopMatters reviewer Adrien Begrand observed that Rubin 's production " shoves [ Dave ] Lombardo 's drumming right up front in the mix . " Guitarist Jeff Hanneman has since said that South of Heaven was the only album the band members discussed before writing the music . Aware that they " couldn 't top Reign in Blood " , and that whatever they recorded would be " compared to that album " , he believed they " had to slow down " , something Slayer had never done on albums before , or since . Guitarist Kerry King cited the need to " keep people guessing " as another reason for the musical shift . " In order to contrast the aggressive assault put forth on Reign in Blood , Slayer consciously slowed down the tempo of the album as a whole " , according to Slayer 's official biography . " They also added elements like undistorted guitars and toned @-@ down vocal styles not heard on previous albums . " 
 South of Heaven was recorded in Los Angeles , California with Reign in Blood producer Rick Rubin . PopMatters <a href='uninflect' title='1'><mark>reviewer</mark></a> Adrien Begrand observed that Rubin <a href='null_genetive' title='2'><mark>'s</mark></a>production " shoves [ Dave ] Lombardo <a href='null_genetive' title='3'><mark>'s</mark></a>drumming right up front in the mix . " Guitarist Jeff Hanneman <a href='uninflect' title='4'><mark>has</mark></a> since said that South of Heaven was the only album the band members discussed before writing the music . Aware that they " couldn 't top Reign in Blood " , and that whatever they recorded would be " compared to that album " , he<a href='been_done' title='5'><mark></mark></a> believed they " had to slow down " , something Slayer had never done on <a href='negative_concord' title='6'><mark>albums</mark></a> before , or since . Guitarist Kerry King cited the need to " keep people guessing " as another reason for the musical shift . " In order to contrast the aggressive assault put forth on Reign in Blood , Slayer consciously slowed down the tempo of the album as a whole " , according to Slayer <a href='null_genetive' title='7'><mark>'s</mark></a>official biography . " They also added elements like undistorted guitars and toned @-@ down vocal styles not heard on previous albums . " 
South of Heaven was recorded in Los Angeles , California with Reign in Blood producer Rick Rubin . PopMatters review Adrien Begrand observed dat Rubin  production " shoves [ Dave ] Lombardo  drumming right up front in da mix . " Guitarist Jeff Hanneman have since said tdatSouth of Heaven was the only album the band members discussed before writing tdamusic . Aware thdathey " couldn 't top Reign in Blood " , and thadatatever they recorded would be " compared to thatdattape " , he been believed they " had to slow down " , sumtin Slayer had never done on no albums b4 , or since . Guitarist Kerry King cited the gotta " keep people guessing " as another reason for the musical shift . " In order to contrast thdaggressive assault put forth on Reign in Blood , Slayer consciously slowed down the tempo of the album as a whole " , according to Slayer  official biography . " They also added elements like undistorted guitars and toned @-@ downn vocal styles not heard on previous albums . "