Slayer Album: “Reign in Blood [Japan]”

If anyone, Slayer has to be, undoubtedly the definitive band in thrash metal. From the years of 1983, when such bands as Metallica and Queensrÿche also debuted, Slayer, unlike the other bands, is still making good music (just pick up either Metallica's "St. Anger" or Queensrÿche's "Tribe" and you will see how their music has changed). Reign In Blood is an example and a history lesson of what may be Slayer's best album ever. Every song is non-stop aggressive, upbeat and mean thrash metal at it's best. From the onslaught of the dual guitars to the pounding of the double kick drum, this one is great.

This recent fall, I saw Slayer in concert at the Mid Hudson Civic Center, and they hold together live faster and better than many bands wish they could. Not only did they come up with a 2-hour set, but after about the first 8-10 songs, Slayer's finale was, well, Reign In Blood. They played the entire album from start to finish, from Angel Of Death to Raining Blood, all in order. Damn, I guess that means that they like this album a little bit too. Well anyway here's the breakdown of it all.

Angel Of Death - To be brief, this is the best Slayer song ever, no kidding. You just can't get any better than this song. It is not only hyper fast but has a sick breakdown in it too.

The absolute best songs on the album are Angel Of Death and Raining Blood. This album is home to two of Slayer's best songs to date, with the rest of the album rocking more probably than any other Slayer release.

This CD changed the landscape when it came out.

Thrash/Metal had been, at that point, "evolving" into long overly complex songs with lots of guitar solos. That's not to say some of those records aren't great but when I originally got this on vinyl I couldn't believe how raw and stripped down the whole thing was. Clocking in at just over 25 minutes Reign in Blood is rage, pure and simple.

There's nothing subtle about this record, it's just fury. To this day there's no other record that gives me the same adrenalin hit as this! There's no selling out and playing longer/slower songs, every song is fast almost the entire way through and the lyrics are more of the same. Araya never sounded better...screaming, cursing and blasting away at subjects from organized religion, serial killing, canabalism and Auschwitz. The lyrics of this LP were so intense that there original label dropped them rather than release it...thank Rick Rubin of Def Jam for saving this masterpiece and making it available to us all.

The cassette was the only full length LP I had that fit the entire record on both sides of the tape.

In closing, this is possibly the most important record of the 80's. It sums up how I felt and changed my life (I heard this in 6th grade....) I hope you enjoy it too.

Slayer first burst onto the metal scene with Show No Mercy. This album showcased their songwriting talents(Die by the Sword, Black Magic) but overall was just mediocre, their follow-up(the "Hell" album) offered much of the same. It wasn't until their third album that Slayer found the perfect formula for their type of music. It is called Reign in Blood.

Reign in Blood offers furiously fast & extremely dark music. Slayer's trademark barbaric chord progressions are still present(Angel of Death, Piece by Piece, Necrophobic, Reborn & Raining Blood) but the songwriting overall is much better. Jeff Hanneman finally matures as a writer & Kerry King contribtes his doomsday lyrics & bezerko solos as if he's in Hell himself. Tom Araya's vocals & Tom Lombardo's brilliant technical drumming add the finishing touches to this masterpiece.

Although this album is not musically complex in an extreme sense(why should thrash be anyway), there are enough meter changes, ambitious chord progressions & good to great song structures to make this a timeless classic for the genre it represents. This album has no weak spots. It contains the right mix of classic & transition songs to make it, arugably, the greatest thrash recording ever.

Bottom line: if you love dark, atmospheric metal, buy this now. Or if you're just looking for pummeling no mercy music, this will also do the trick.

Every track is good, but the ones to watch out for are Angel of Death, Necrophobic, Jesus Saves, Reborn, Epidemic, Postmortem & Raining Blood.

Chris Raye of Classic Albums Magazine

Hands down, this is the best album to come out of the thrash genre of the late 80's.

Some may complain that it's only 30 minutes long, but really, this CD contains a good 2 hours worth of great riffs; they're just played so fast and furiously that it clocks in at a half hour.

This was Rick Rubin's first production with the band, and just by listening to their previous recordings, you can tell how much he was able to harness their sound into a manic fury. Where the earlier records suffer from that echoey, early 80's generic metal production, Rubin whacks everything up front and center. The sound is crystal clear and uncluttered. No gimmicks here,just in your face raging guitars and manic drumming. Tom Araya sounds like he's practically bellowing in your ear. Reign In Blood is bookended by 2 of Slayer's greatest songs: Angel Of Death (featuring Dave Lombardo's astonishing double foot pedal drum break) and Raining Blood, which has one of the most neck-snapping riffs ever. The guitar solos are typical Slayer noisefests, but fit perfectly with the mania of the music. Most of the time it feels like the songs are going to careen out of control into noise, but the band always harnesses it back in in the nick of time with a great bludgening riff or a blinding drum break.

Warning :This is not for the faint of heart. The lyrics would probably kill Tipper Gore before she was 5 minutes into it. If you are easily offended, stick with some happy metal band like Bon Jovi or something. Otherwise, pick this up, and move the furniture out of the way. You may need some room before it's all over.

The first time i heard this album, i felt like i'd been run over by a semi truck, and back then i felt that was a bad thing. But back then i was into "melodic metal" ala Maiden, Priest, and Metallica. After the first listen i promptly hid this album away swearing to never listen to it again.

But recently, after getting into the heavier side of metal with bands like Opeth, In Flames, and most recently Meshuggah i decided to re-visit Reign in Blood. One thing i'll give it credit for is it NEVER loses it's power and punch. I felt just as flattened the last time i heard it as the first time. And that's saying something considering how old this album is and how far metal music has advanced since.

First, what i like about it:

1) The two slow(er) tracks, Angel of Death and Raining Blood are terrific slabs of grade A metal. Awesome riffs throughout. And the two songs combined must have spawned 1000 imitators alone.

2) The unified vision of the albums is astounding. I wouldn't call it a concept album, because that would implicate that RiB is more intelligent than it actually is. But what it is, and what it was meant to be is 29 mins. of the most blistering extreme music every created that would mesmerize teens and scare the bejesus out of parents. And it did it's job incredibly well.

3) Every now and then, when i'm in the mood for the fastest, most aggresive metal possible, no album fits the bill better than Reign in Blood and i seriously doubt any ever will. The only one that comes close is Meshuggah's Destroy Erase Improve.

Now, what i dislike about it:

1) Tracks 2-9 have just as much in common with punk as with metal. Sure, they all sport metal riffs, but the sheer intensity and, for the most part, completely un-melodic-ness of them completely turns me off. Quite often King and Hanneman are just playing the open E string with downstroke/upstroke as fast as possible. And a little more variation would have helped alot. Especially considering that none of tracks 2-9 stand out at all.

2) King and Hanneman can't solo to save their lives. I'm a guitarist myself and most of their solos are nothing more than notes played at complete random and as fast as possible.

3) Araya can't sing either. His screachy voice is more irritating that scary or aggressive. And the way the vocals are arranged it's almost as if he's rapping the lyrics. But even rapping would give it a sense of groove and melodicism, but the vocals have neither and it detracts from the enjoyment alot.

4) The lyrics are so horrible they're laughable. But, to Slayer's credit, not many lyrics would work with this kind of music. But the whole satanic/evil imagery thing may scare parents, uptight Christians, and the weak at heart. But anyone with half a brain realizes how contrived the whole image is. To their credit they are a little more convincing than most of the so called "satanic" metal bands, but not much.