SLAYER — Show No Mercy (review)

SLAYER — Show No Mercy album cover Album · 1983 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
J-Man
Before Slayer achieved world domination with a long string of thrash metal classics, they released this humble debut in 1983. While still an eighties' metal classic in its own right, Show No Mercy shows a much different Slayer than what would be heard on albums like Reign in Blood and South of Heaven. Their trademark extreme thrash sound hadn't yet been developed, and in its place is a primitive example of early NWoBHM-infused thrash metal. Considering its context, Show No Mercy is a pretty damn original album, but it's definitely not a flawless entrance into the scene - these American legends would improve quite a bit over the next few years, but for what it is, Show No Mercy is a very solid debut.

Although future albums would prove that Slayer would only get even more aggressive and extreme as the decade progressed, Show No Mercy must've been quite a shock back in 1983. Everything from the Satanic imagery on the album cover to the relentless riffs contained within was pretty radical by 1983's standards, and calling this one of the first thrash releases certainly wouldn't be out of the question. NWoBHM plays a bigger role here than it would on any future Slayer releases, but this is still definitely a pretty heavy and fast-paced primitive thrash release. In spite of Show No Mercy's originality, however, this is still a rather flawed release in many aspects. Legend has it that the entire album was recorded in eight hours, and it's pretty apparent when considering the quality of the musicianship and production. Although Slayer were clearly talented musicians, their performances are much less refined than on future releases - Dave Lombardo's drumming especially pales in comparison to his later works. The thin production also sounds incredibly dated from a modern perspective.

Still, in spite of its glaring flaws, Show No Mercy manages to be a pretty damn enjoyable album. Slayer had a sense of pure aggression from day one, and the raw passion of these performances manages to shine through the album's shortcomings. Newcomers to Slayer will definitely want to check out a few of the band's later releases before listening to this one, but this is still an important early thrash metal document that every fan of the genre should experience at some point. A flawed but enjoyable album like this is well-deserving of 3 stars in my book.
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