SLAYER — Show No Mercy (review)

SLAYER — Show No Mercy album cover Album · 1983 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
Show No Mercy is the debut full-length studio album by American thrash metal act Slayer. The album was released in December 1983 through Metal Blade Records. Show No Mercy were alledgedly recorded in only eight hours in November 1983.

The music on Show No Mercy is one of the earliest examples of thrash metal. This means that Slayer at this point hadn´t fully developed their trademark sound and you´ll hear lots of influences from NWOBHM and traditional heavy metal in the songs in addition to the more aggressive thrash metal parts. For example take a listen to a song like Tormentor, that´s almost a fully fledged NWOBHM tune IMO. The trademark Slayer screaming, atonal guitar soloing isn´t fully developed on Show No Mercy yet either. While there are certainly some fast playing and not so nice notes being played, the solos are generally much more melodic than on later albums by the band. Kill 'Em All (1983) by Metallica was released in July 1983 and must have made a big impact on Slayer ( as well as on the rest of the metal scene), but a band like Venom and their first couple of releases were probably also a big influence. Judas Priest´s more aggressive tracks too.

There are some classic tracks on Show No Mercy like Evil Has No Boundaries, The Antichrist, Die by the Sword, Black Magic and Show No Mercy, but honestly I much prefer the "live" versions released on the Live Undead album in November 1984. I say "live" as the Live Undead album was recorded live in the studio in front of a very small crowd of fans. Not at a concert venue. Actually the studio versions on Show No Mercy pale in comparison, and overall I´ve never really been very fond of Show No Mercy. The production lacks punch and while the above mentioned classic songs are excellent tracks, the rest of the tracks on the album were never favorites of mine. Also the musicianship isn´t that well developed yet either. I especially find Dave Lombardo´s drumming and Tom Araya´s vocal performance lacking. And yes I acknowledge that the album was recorded in only eight hours with all the limitations that leads to. So Show No Mercy certainly isn´t a personal favorite but still it´s a seminal thrash metal album. A 2.5 - 3 star rating is warranted.
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