Editing Live Undead

{{About|the live album|the song|South of Heaven}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Live Undead
| type       = [[Live album]]
| artist     = [[Slayer]]
| cover      = Slayer-LiveUndead.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = November 16, 1984
| recorded   = 1984, New York City
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = [[Thrash metal]]
| length     = 23:16
| label      = [[Metal Blade Records|Metal Blade]]
| producer   = Bill Metoyer<br />Slayer
| prev_title = [[Haunting the Chapel]]
| prev_year  = 1984
| next_title = [[Hell Awaits]]
| next_year  = 1985
}}

'''''Live Undead''''' is the first live album by American [[thrash metal]] band [[Slayer]]. It was released through [[Metal Blade Records]] and recorded in [[New York City]] in front of a room of people. It has been questioned by both critics and authors that the audience sound may or may not be faked. However, in 1984, WBAB Fingers Metal Shop, a radio station, held a contest to meet and hang out with Slayer during a live recording. The album was recorded at Tiki Recording Studios in Glen Cove, NY in front of around a dozen people. The album was originally intended to be recorded in front of a live audience, but things went wrong. Nevertheless, when asked if they were fake, [[record producer|producer]] [[Bill Metoyer]] said, "I don't know if I should tell you."<ref name="McIver 2010, p. 46"/> The album begins with an extended introduction of "Black Magic", followed by a small speech. The remaining tracks include both those of 1983's ''[[Show No Mercy (Slayer album)|Show No Mercy]]'' and 1984's ''[[Haunting the Chapel]]''.

==Conception==
The seven-track live record was recorded in front of a room full of people in [[New York City]] in the [[autumn]] of 1984. It has been rumored that the crowd noise was added in a studio rather than recorded on stage. [[Joel McIver]], author of ''The Bloody Reign of Slayer'', asked ''Live Undead''{{'s}} [[record producer|producer]]/[[Audio engineer|engineer]] Bill Metoyer, who had worked on the album in [[Los Angeles]].<ref name="McIver 2010, p. 46"/><ref>McIver 2010, p. 45</ref> Metoyer responded: "I don't know if I should tell you [if the crowd noises were faked]! Isn't that one of those great industry secrets? Let's just say that when you're doing a live record, you want live sound — even if perhaps the microphones didn't pick up the audience properly."<ref name="McIver 2010, p. 46"/>

''Live Undead'' marked the beginning of a short association between Slayer and artist Albert Cueller. Cueller would design the sleeve image, which depicts the four band members as grinning, partially decayed zombies walking through a [[graveyard]].<ref name="McIver 2010, p. 47"/>

==Music==
The EP begins with "Black Magic", with an extended introduction building alongside the audience's yelling. The song is performed faster, heavier, and more confident than its original recording in 1983. When the song is over, lead vocalist [[Tom Araya]] says, "They say the pen is mightier than the sword. Well I say fuck the pen!", and the band begins playing "Die by the Sword". The band then run-through "Captor of Sin", "The Antichrist", "Evil Has No Boundaries", and "Show No Mercy". "Aggressive Perfector" is dedicated to the Old Bridge Militia, a group of [[headbanging|headbangers]] from [[Old Bridge Township, New Jersey|Old Bridge, New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bennett|first1=J|title=The Old Bridge Militia Were the Lords of the Early 80s New York and New Jersey Metal Scene|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-old-bridge-militia-were-the-lords-of-the-early-80s-new-york-and-new-jersey-metal-scene/|website=Noisey|publisher=[[Vice Media|Vice]]|access-date=November 3, 2016|date=February 20, 2015}}</ref> "Aggressive Perfector" is performed with more "power", as described by author [[Joel McIver]], who described the entire track listing as, "a fearsome set, although the rest of the songs don't quite have the visceral power of the opening track. In fact, the ''Live Undead'' version of "Black Magic" established a career-long trend of Slayer's live songs being more powerful than the studio versions, with very few exceptions".<ref name="McIver 2010, p. 46">McIver 2010, p. 46</ref><ref name="McIver 2010, p. 47">McIver 2010, p. 47</ref>

==Reception and release==
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}<ref name="allmusic"/>
| rev2 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
| rev2score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref>{{cite book | last = Brackett | first = Nathan |author2=Hoard, Christian  | title = The Rolling Stone Album Guide | publisher = Simon and Schuster | year = 2004 | location = New York City, New York | pages = [https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/741 741]–742 | isbn = 0-7432-0169-8 | url = https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac| url-access = registration | quote = rolling stone slayer album guide. }}</ref>
}}
[[AllMusic]]'s employee Ned Raggett gave the album a two and a half star rating, noting that "''Live Undead'' isn't really necessary except for the hardest of hardcore fans in the end, especially in comparison to ''[[Decade of Aggression]]''," and saying that "Evil Has No Boundaries" was the best performance of the seven songs. Raggett also wrote that despite being an unnecessary release, "it does have its 'it could only be Slayer' moments — including Araya's almost casual way of rudely introducing 'Captor of Sin'."<ref name="allmusic"/>

The album was originally released in 1984 under [[Metal Blade Records]]. In both 1993 and 1994, it was re-released with the same catalog numbers. In 2006, it was again re-released as an eleven-track record. It included the ''[[Haunting the Chapel]]'' EP and the studio version of "Aggressive Perfector".<ref name="allmusic">Raggett, Ned. [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=live-undead-mw0000193085|pure_url=yes}} "Live Undead – Slayer"]. [[AllMusic]]. Retrieved January 7, 2011.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=live-undead-bonus-tracks-mw0000193085|pure_url=yes}} |title=Live Undead [Bonus Tracks&#93; – Slayer |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=January 15, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=live-undead-r1891165|pure_url=yes}} |title=Live Undead – Slayer |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=January 15, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518094435/http://www.allmusic.com/album/live-undead-r1891165 |archive-date=May 18, 2011 }}</ref>

==Track listing==
;Original release<ref name="allmusic"/>
{{Track listing
| headline = Side one
| title1 = Black Magic
| lyrics1 = [[Kerry King]]
| music1 = {{hlist|[[Jeff Hanneman]]|King}}
| length1 = 3:57
| title2 = Die by the Sword
| lyrics2 = Hanneman
| music2 = Hanneman
| length2 = 4:03
| title3 = Captor of Sin
| lyrics3 = {{hlist|Hanneman|King}}
| music3 = {{hlist|Hanneman|King}}
| length3 = 3:32
| title4 = The Antichrist
| lyrics4 = Hanneman
| music4 = {{hlist|Hanneman|King}}
| length4 = 3:13
}}
{{tracklisting
| headline = Side two
| title5 = Evil Has No Boundaries
| lyrics5 = {{hlist|Hanneman|King}}
| music5 = King
| length5 = 2:58
| title6 = Show No Mercy
| lyrics6 = King
| music6 = King
| length6 = 3:02
| title7 = Aggressive Perfector
| lyrics7 = {{hlist|Hanneman|King}}
| music7 = {{hlist|Hanneman|King}}
| length7 = 2:29
| total_length = 23:16
}}

{{Track listing
| headline = Reissue edition bonus tracks<ref name="allmusic"/>
| title8 = Chemical Warfare
| note8 = from ''Haunting the Chapel'' EP
| writer8 = {{hlist|Hanneman|King}}
| length8 = 6:02
| title9 = Captor of Sin
| note9 = from ''Haunting the Chapel'' EP
| writer9 = {{hlist|Hanneman|King}}
| length9 = 3:29
| title10 = Haunting the Chapel
| note10 = from ''Haunting the Chapel'' EP
| writer10 = {{hlist|Hanneman|King}}
| length10 = 3:56
| title11 = Aggressive Perfector
| note11 = from ''Haunting the Chapel'' EP
| writer11 = {{hlist|Hanneman|King}}
| length11 = 3:28
| total_length = 40:11
}}

==Personnel==
The following personnel can be sourced from both [[AllMusic]] and the album's notes.<ref>{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=live-undead-mw0000193085|tab=credits|pure_url=yes}} |title=Live Undead – Slayer |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=January 15, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media notes |title=Live Undead |others=[[Slayer]] |year=1985 |type=Vinyl |publisher=Metal Blade Records}}</ref>
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
*[[Tom Araya]] – bass, vocals
*[[Kerry King]] – guitars
*[[Jeff Hanneman]] – guitars
*[[Dave Lombardo]] – drums
{{col-2}}
*Mark Gaide – [[recording engineer]]
*[[Bill Metoyer]] – [[record producer|producer]], [[Audio engineer|engineer]]
*Eddy Schreyer – [[Audio mastering|remastering]]
*Brian Ames – layout design
*Albert Cueller – artwork, [[Album cover|cover art]]
{{col-end}}

==Charts==
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ Chart performance for ''Live Undead''
! scope="col"| Chart (2021)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
{{album chart|Germany4|77|id=86591|artist=Slayer|album=Live Undead / Haunting the Chapel|rowheader=true|access-date=October 29, 2021}}
|}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{Cite book|last=McIver|first=Joel|author-link=Joel McIver|title=The Bloody Reign of Slayer|year=2010|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=978-1-84938-386-8}}

{{Slayer}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Good article}}

[[Category:1984 live albums]]
[[Category:Slayer live albums]]
[[Category:Metal Blade Records live albums]]