SLAYER — Reign in Blood (review)

SLAYER — Reign in Blood album cover Album · 1986 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
The Angry Scotsman
The epitome of Thrash Metal.

There is no other way to describe. Sure there are albums more technical, complex, progressive and all that jazz. However, the fact is in the genre of THRASH Metal there is no album that is more thrash than this. Reign in Blood was unprecedented in its speed, intensity, and outright insanity. I wish I could've been 16 in 1986 to hear this monster when it first came out.

This album packs 10 songs into 29 minutes. It begins with Angel of Death, which is close to 5 minutes. The middle section is actually a bit slower and more riffy. The song goes out like a blitzkrieg though.

The next 8 songs are all under 3 and a half minutes, (with 7 under 3!) and are unrelenting chaos. However, they are not all the same. In fact there is quite some variation. Necrophobic is a 1 minute 40 second long tornado that literally does not let up, (only for the briefest of moments).

Jesus Saves starts of slower and with more riffing and actually mixes it up a bit and progresses before the thrash begins. In fact all the songs do sound different, even if they are more or less the same style.

The album then ends with the famous Raining Blood. Really no need to describe this song, but if you havn't heard I'll just say it has slow, really groovy riffing, some of the fastest riffing you'll hear and flat out chaos.

OK, so the music is pure, pedal to the metal thrash metal. I do want to say this is not like Metallica with long tremolo picked riffs. The riffs are inhumanly fast but quite wild as well, and change often, and quickly. That is what adds to this album. It is more than speed, more than jamming the hell out of their instruments, but also its chaotic feel, which is driven by its constantly changing maddening riffs, blistering double bass and fills, Dave's breakneck thrash tempo, and of course those atonal, completely off the wall solos.

Frankly, they are not that really that "good" but certainly fit the album perfectly. Tom's vocals are his usual non pitched yelling. To top things off are the twisted, in depth lyrics dealing with Auschwitz, it's human experiments, and war. Oh, and Hail Satan! Of course.

As I said, there may be more technical, complex and well constructed albums but this is the thrashiest metal that has ever been made. Reign in Blood is the undisputed king of thrash metal.

Five Stars
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UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Yeah it´s one hell of an album. Good review. This one is on my 5 star reviews yet to come list.

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