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Angel of Death is a famous, and controversial, 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 blond — 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 Motörhead'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 criticizing 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."
A quick note: In keeping with Heavy Metal's devotion to tertiary sources and questionable literary influences (see Iron Maiden or Anthrax), the song was inspired more by Ira Levin's The Boys from Brazil, and in particular, the 1970s film adaption, than by any historical or journalistic sources. Phrases such as 'Sadist of the Noblest Blood' and 'Infamous Butcher' are lifted straight from Levin's text.
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