Slayer
Reign In Blood

April 2000
Released: 1986, DefJam Recordings
Rating: 5.0/5
Reviewer: EvilG

SLAYER!!!!!!!! To me I cannot understand how anyone can simply be just a fan of this band, you have to either love it or you just don't get it. Well as you've probably guessed I'm a total Slayer fanatic!! To understand why I'm such a Slayer freak I'll have to put the band into the context of when I really got into them. It was the later 80's when I got into Slayer. At first I just thought they were cool and I was worshipping at the Metallica altar a little too much. In my ongoing quest for all that was BRUTAL and my (at the time) hatred of anything that was not super aggressive Slayer fit right in with what I was looking for. As a more mellow direction from Metallica emerged guess who was there to smash me in the face? SLAYER!!! This is the sound of pure aggression. Speed metal tempos, ripping insane solos, and lyrics that were all about those wonderful topics like war, death, murder and anti-religion.



Reign In Blood is THE Slayer album by which most everyone in their right mind compares all other Slayer releases. Some have come close but none have touched it. Even Slyer knows this fact! This album is only about 28 minutes long but that's all was needed to make this album an instant classic that will be ingrained into the minds of many forever. I love this album so much that listening to it has become a religious experience. I don't play if too often anymore but NOT because I don't want to. It's because if I let a couple of months go by without listening to it then I pop it on I am grinning ear to ear and remembering why this CD is one of the best metal albums ever written!! Listening to it on occasion makes it sound even more godly.



From the opening classic track "Angel of Death" (which I never get tired of hearing) you are instantly smashed over the head with venomous vocals and pounding double kick drums from Lord Lombardo! The breakdown riff at the 1:40 mark has to be one of the most recognizable riffs that Slayer have written. Just the way that the lyrics fits over this riff is GODLY (something that Slayer hasn't done as tastefully since). What true Slayer fan can't sing along with this track from beginning to end? - I bet none! Every song on this has something in it that blows my mind - whether it is the amazing rhythms, the shredding solos full of tremelo bar work, the pounding brutal drumming assault or the EVIL Slayer lyrics it's ALL mind-blowing. I mean how can you not love a lyric that is so evil yet funny like the classic line from "Altar of Sacrifice" -  "Learn the sacred words of praise, hail satan" hahaha!!! Or the SO TRUE lyrics to "Jesus Saves" - "You go to church, you kiss the cross you will be saved at any cost. You have your own reality, Christianity." Fun lyrics to quote eh? The way Tom belts out the lyrics in this one at break neck speed it AMAZING! It's a challenge just to try and sing along!



I could ramble on about the godliness of Reign In Blood forever but I'll cut this short here by saying that anyone who doesn't own this CD is missing out on one of the best and most influential METAL CD's of all time!!!!!



Slayer Lineup For Reign In Blood 

Tom Araya: Bass, Vocals

Jeff Hanneman: Guitar

Kerry King: Guitar

Dave Lombardo: Drums