For one, the high-pitched piercing shrieks appear to be more a feature of Araya’s early repertoire, when Judas Priest and Iron Maiden played a more influential role back before Slayer became icons in their own right. For a handful of reasons, this first part will focus on his work from the band’s earlier output. This, then, had me turning my focus towards some of my favourite screams – as opposed to vocal performances in general, or top speed-singing moments, or whatever category you can think of – from the leathery lungs of the man himself. I’m confident most of the metal world is on the same page as I am in holding his voice in positive regard. There’s never been the ire directed at Araya’s voice as to Ulrich’s drumming, so it’s not like I’m poking a hornet’s nest. So, in the spirit of my recent salute to Lars Ulrich’s drumming (check that bit of business out here), I’ve embarked upon a similar salute, though one that’s definitely not as contentious or controversial. Hell, before I started skulking around and offering my writing wares here, the folks who've brought you this fine site over the past decade created the Tom Araya Scream button. His surgically repaired back and neck may be fucked to the point where he can’t head bang (and after seeing them at FunFunFunFest in 2013 and witnessing various big screen close-ups of him during the band’s performance at Heavy Montreal last summer, you can see the aching to let loose in his eyes dude is exacting tremendous amounts of restraint), but fuck me if Senor Tomás Enrique Araya Diaz doesn’t fucking nail it when he has to fucking nail it. In the live arena, he has consistently brought, delivered and hurled it like a railroad spike through the collective forehead of concert goers. When it comes to the classic material, you’d better believe Araya is responsible for bringing home the Slaytanic bacon as much as some of those classic riffs.
Even when he’s fronting some of the band’s most milquetoast song writing moments, Araya’s gravelly ferocity, man-meets-evil forcefulness and exceptional clarity and annunciation gives every song a fighting chance. If there’s one category in which Slayer has never failed to bring it, it’s Tom Araya’s vocals. Tons of awesome, yes, but in the eyes of many there have been a number of missteps along the way.
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