SLAYER — Reign in Blood (review)

Album · 1986 · Thrash Metal

3/5 · 2011-01-20
CCVP

Let me kick off this review by saying that I am no fan of Slayer and that this album has all the reasons that cause me not to like this band.

Slayer's third studio album became quite notorius for its unprecedented aggression, power and speed in the heavy metal circles and exactly for that it became quite influential in heavy metal in general. Wile all that is true (the album really excels in all those characteristics), I find that it does nothing but that and that the band forgot to do everything else there is to do. In other words, they were more worried with being agressive, evil, fast and powerful than they are with their actual music.

During all the 29 minutes of the album, I can sense little change in Slayer's music, little variation, a real lack of new ideas. In short, they basically repeat themselves a lot, even during the short length of Reign in Blood. The songs have almost the same structure, a similar development and they do not change their expression and tone through the album. Yes, the album is agressive, evil, etc, but if you take that out of the way and simply listen to the music they play, there isn't much else to offer.

That lack of variation and creative inertia is, however, an ever-present feature in Slayer's music and the real strengh of Reign in Blood is balancing that with being markedly short. Besides the aggression and power, the short length is the biggest quality Reign in Blood has to offer, because that keeps you from getting tired of listening to an album that constantly repeats the same thing over and over again. Said repetition is something that actually keeps me from actually finishing most of Slayer's other albums, even though most of their albums clock below 40 minutes.

Grade and Final Thoughts

In spite of having all of the characteristical Slayer problems, Reign in Blood still manages to be an enjoyable album just for being very a short album. That actually restrain the listener from losing interest in the album. That unquestionably shows that it is only a good album and not a perfect masterpiece.

more than 2 years ago
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CCVP wrote:

more than 2 years ago

lol, true.

Andyman1125 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I guess that's what happens if you have conflicting beliefs about something, haha.

CCVP wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Wow, I never expected such high feedback in such a short amount of time.

Also, thanks for being a g-nazi andy, i actually helps, lol.

Andyman1125 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

And away from the grammatical error, you do have some good points about the album. Although I think it's a little better than you make it seem =P

Certif1ed wrote:

more than 2 years ago

It's always interesting to read a contrasting opinion... /grin

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Wow we disagree so much about the quality of this album that it´s almost scary :-)

poslednijat_colobar wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Great review! I totally support your words!

Andyman1125 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I normally don't do this, but the grammar nazi in me is pained by the verb tense confusion at "and that this album have all the reasons"... "have" should be "has".. had to sorry haha