SLAYER — Show No Mercy (review)

SLAYER — Show No Mercy album cover Album · 1983 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Phonebook Eater
Slayer is one of the most popular metal bands in music history, mainly thanks to the 1986 release "Reign In Blood", a landmark album for the genre. Their debut album, "Show no Mercy", isn't at all at that album's heights, but it still maintains to be a good and enjoyable album, that has become among metal heads a sort of a cult album.

Regularly classified as one of the four great thrash metal bands ("the big four"),with Megadeth, Anthrax and Metallica, Slayer has started their career seeming just like one of those heavy bands such as Venom, with fast, heavy songs and satanic references in the lyrics; "Show no Mercy" has these two elements, and these are exactly what made it a cult album. Furthermore, we have some pretty typical thrash metal characteristics that make the album such: take the screamed but nut growled vocals, the shredding guitars and solos, the fast and repetitive rhythm, a very rough and poor production, which is nothing compared to the impressively refined one of Slayer's third album, "Reign In Blood".

"Show No Mercy" has ten tracks, which all flow pretty fluidly along the album, but the structure as a whole doesn't feel too solid or consistent, musically speaking. The only thing that is solid is the lyrical content, at all times referring to satanism, hell, violence and such. Many songs, by nature,don't have a label, like some other songs have, saying where the song should be positioned in the LP, but in "Show no Mercy" I can't see any of these labeled tracks, probably due also to their sort of in your face, violent tones . There are some good moments here, like the opener "Evil Has No Boundaries", or "The Antichrist", one of the band's most successful songs of the first era, the somewhat catchy riff of "Die By The Sword" does sound a bit like a sort of guilty pleasure. Then again there are some songs I don't car for, but their definitely less than the ones I like.

A really good album, to conclude, and a great way to start a career. If thrash metal is your thing, I strongly recommend you pick this up ad try it.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Suffocated By Fungal Odors Deathcore
VISCERAL EXECRATION
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lethargy Metalcore
HEARTLAPSE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Vitriol Deathcore
BEHEADING THE ICON
Buy this album from MMA partners
Cecità Atmospheric Sludge Metal
NITRITONO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Resiliencia Metalcore
SOURCE OF MYSTERIES
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Suicidal Tendencies - Send Me Your Money
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
UMUR· 11 hours ago
Suicidal Tendencies - Trip at the Brain
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
UMUR· 11 hours ago
Suicidal Tendencies - Nobody Hears
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
UMUR· 11 hours ago
Suicidal Tendencies - You Can't Bring Me Down
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
UMUR· 11 hours ago
Thanatos - Source Of Mysteries (Video Oficial)
SOURCE OF MYSTERIES
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed