 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 " <unk> [ 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 <unk> " 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 <unk> guitars and toned @-@ down vocal styles not heard on previous albums . " 
