Reign In Blood
Slayer
1986
Album Summary
Reign in Blood is the third studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on October 7, 1986, by Def Jam Recordings. The album was the band's first collaboration with producer Rick Rubin, whose input helped the band's sound evolve. The release date of the album was delayed because of concerns regarding the lyrical subject matter of the opening track "Angel of Death", which refers to Josef Mengele and describes acts such as human experimentation that he committed at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The band's members stated that they did not condone Nazism and were merely interested in the subject.Reign in Blood was well received by both critics and fans, and was responsible for bringing Slayer to the attention of a mainstream metal audience. Today, it is often mentioned among the greatest heavy metal records ever. In their 2017 listing of the 100 Greatest Metal albums of all time, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Reign in Blood" at #6. Alongside Anthrax's Among the Living, Megadeth's Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?, and Metallica's Master of Puppets, Reign in Blood helped define the sound of the emerging US thrash metal scene in the mid-1980s, and has remained influential since. The album was Slayer's first to enter the US Billboard 200, peaking at number 94, and was certified Gold on November 20, 1992. In 2013, NME ranked it at number 287 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
WikipediaI was gonna write something about the big 4, their skill as musicians, laying the groundwork for death metal, blah blah blah... but really, there is only one thing that needs to be said here: *deep breath* FUUCKIIIINNNGGG SLAAAAYYEEEERRRRRRRR!!!!!!
Relentless power. Feels so frenetic and dangerous. Makes me happy that music like this exists. The solo at the end of Jesus Saves is a thing of beauty.
Great album. Could listen to this on repeat all week and it would still be epic on the seventh day. In fact I'm sure that's what God was doing on the seventh day. He was so awed by their awesomeness he just had to kick back, drink some beers and listen to some Slayer.
Absolute masterpiece. Not just one of my favorite metal albums, one of my favorite albums ever! Extremely hype, intense, fast-paced, horrifying, heart-pounding...and PERFECT.
More punk than I thought, so that was kind of cool, but couldn't get behind the lyrics.
J'ai fait écouter cet album à Satan qui m'a bien confirmé que c'était de la merde.
This project has enabled me, for the first time, to be able to tell you the difference between a number of heavy metal bands. Slayer is no Metallica. In this relentless 28 minutes there is no variance of tempo, no recognizable riffs or remarkable solos, and neither melody nor rhythm to any of the lyrics. I couldn't tell you which song is which upon hearing a sample. Is it bad that I laughed out loud a few times listening to this? Is "How can we really freak mom out?" the sole driver of this creation? There is absolutely no meter or structure to the random, screamed lyrics. I was trying to imagine what else might be performed in this manner. Julia Child's recipe for Bœuf Bourgignon? And then it hit me that I wanted to hear the poem "This is Just to Say" performed in this manner. "...so cooooooooooooooooooold!" This isn't to say that it doesn't represent its genre well. It has a consistent badass sound and scary lyrics. I love the scream at the beginning of "Angel of Death" but it did make me laugh as I listened to it over and over, and I'm not sure that's the intended effect. Some of my favorite lyrics: "How long can you last in this frozen water burial?" "Dismembered destiny" "Transforming five toes to two" and "These shackles will be useless when your life is out of time" I love that the somewhat timely "Epidemic" ("pulmonary overthrow") ends with the ominous line, "Years will pass before it can be cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuured!" Hail, Satan!
Brooooooo, no idea how anyone else will react to this (not well is my guess) but I was kind of bobbing along? Definitely not my type of music and I doubt I'll relisten but for what it is, great.
Absolute genius in its own way. Essentially, this is the same basic musical setup as The Beatles or Booker T and the MGs but THIS music sounds like it’s from another planet which is terrifying and frightening. Slayer get this sound out of those same instruments. Music is incredible. I couldn’t listen to this too many times but I’m glad I have heard it.
metal has never been my thing. I suppose there’s a certain level of artifice present within the lyrics and presentation of bands like Slayer. Songs like Angel of Death and Postmortem simply feel performative to me in terms of lyrical content. Maybe it’s more a rejection of the genre clichés than the music itself for me personally. It's competently made music, well put together and a pleasingly brief in a satisfying way. I simply have no wish to ever listen to it again, but am glad I did if only to gain insight into a genre I still have no draw towards. 6/10
Harmless satanism, breakneck speed, and some kind of purity--by which, I think I mean that, thanks to Rick Rubin, the songs are short and focussed. The lyrics and vocals are beyond silly, and all the better for it. Tom Araya yells like he's had wet cement poured into his veins and is trying to get his words out before it dries. All of which makes the technical showboating genuinely exciting rather than the drag it usually is. Deliberately overrating this because I can.
This is super not my kind of music. I finished it, but only because it's short. Maybe 1 star, I don't know. Really didn't enjoy this.
I couldn't listen to this everyday. But this is an example of genre perfection.
I love every single songs on this album. Definitely their greatest imo
This album fucking slays (pun intended). One of my favorite thrash albums of all time. Great way to wake up in the morning on a day when you've been up since 4am.
This is what I wanted Master of Puppets to sound like. I'm know that's legitimate heresy to say, but it's true.
Holy shit. Today is the day I found out I love thrash metal and Slayer! This album is a verified banger from start to finish, But not for the faint of heart or easily offended. Music that challenges norms always deserves credit, especially the controversial stuff-and by golly gee wiz this deserves to be in the forefront.
Classic album in the evolution of Thrash and metal as a whole. You can feel Rick Rubin's hands all over this album, funneling the band's aggression into the work, without negating or nullifying the emotion. I understand why it is not for a large portion of the population, but it's critical listening for modern metal. And honestly, even people who know nothing about Slayer know about Raining Blood and "SLAAAAAAYERRRRRR" jokes, so clearly there's been a huge impact. Outside of RIB's obvious power, Angel of Death, Jesus Saves, Piece by Piece, and Reborn are standouts. But it's worth listening to the whole thing. || Shoutout to Ms. Anker's 9th grade English class where I was allowed to play "Angel of Death" as a 'media piece' for my speech about torture...yeah, I was an edgelord, yes I am embarrassed hahahah.
This is my second favourite album from Slayer (first one is without doubt Seasons in the Abyss). Great work.
People are saying it more and more and it's true you hear it a lot that this is the best metal album ever.
This is objectively the best Slayer album. Every song is incredible, and somehow catchy. Everyone after them were just try-hard wannabes.
As a dyed-in-the-wool heavy metal maniac I'm not giving this any less than five well-deserved stars. This album absolutely smokes. Lots of bands tried to sound like Slayer. Few bands actually sound like Slayer. 'Angel of Death' and 'Raining Blood' are all-timers in the metal pantheon.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!" -Opening line of "Reign in Blood" if I remember correctly UPDATE: I remembered correctly. This album fucking TEARS. UPDATE 2: This one is an absolute burner. I don't think I've ever noticed that it's almost completely seamless. There's a slight break before Raining Blood kicks in but other than that it's just wall-to-wall insanity. Love it.
I have nothing smart to say about this. It's hard, fast, and utterly devoid of good taste. LOVE IT
This album fucks so heavy, the switch ups are so gruelly and reek of pure violence, fills me with primordial rage like no other record
Thrash me. This is a great album! The recording is clean, the guitars are shreddy, Tom Araya sounds like a heavy metal priest.
Solid classic thrash. I generally prefer more melodic metal, but still very good.
Probably my favorite Slayer album and without the immensity of Raining Blood I’m not sure they would be remembered with as high regard
pretty good, didn't know slayer so much, happy to have listened to this one
A classic of the genre sending a flaming spear into the future of metal that nearly every other metal band has had to dodge.
This is a good album. Thrash is always a fun listen and Slayer do it particularly well. Highlights: Angel of Death, Jesus Saves Lowlights:
A silly but perfectly formed blast of death metal. It sounds like there are too many lyrics for each song. Can't believe it came out in 86, it still sounds fresh.
Album rocks. Postmortem into raining blood is fucking sick. Definitely deserved of all the praise it gets
if you like hard rock is a good disc. Not my cup of tea this type of music
Schockt viel krasser als das lame Black Album von Metallica neulich. Stimme, Schlagzeug, Gitarren, Geschwindigkeit, Aggression und Nihilismus: genauestens kontrolliert auf den Punkt gebracht, geil abgeliefert. Wäre das mein Style (und würde es mich nicht doch irgendwann bisschen ermüden), hätte es vielleicht sogar noch mehr Punkte gegeben. Aber bei (Thrash-) Metal die Latte an der ich jetzt alles andere messe.
Blood, sacrilege, violence, and general mayhem are key in this classic old school thrash album. Did I mention the blood?
great content. good pacing. enjoyed the fanciful lyrics. for me this fills the excellent workout jams niche.
Ahhh… this takes me back to high school. While I was more into Anthrax, Slayer and Metallica rated a close second. This was the album from them that I played often to my parents discontent.
Can you imagine the discussions between the band members, when they were putting these songs together? "Oh yeah, that sounds great, but let's try it like 5 times faster." "Totally, and while you guys do that, I'm going to scream at the top of my lungs about BLUHHHHHHHHHHHHD!" Whatever state of mind they were in, the result is a blistering fever dream of thrash metal that set the bar for everything else to come. For my tastes, I'd love to hear the album sans vocals. At times Tom had a hard time keeping up with the track, which was distracting. More important to me though is that the lyrics feel cringy and pointlessly scandalous. I think they turn a lot of listeners off from appreciating the album on the whole.
As someone who was more into the indie rock scene, this was one of the few metal albums my friends and I would listen to in college. There is something about the ferocity of the pace and the athleticism of the performances that kind of knocks the wind out of you, especially considering when this came out. They take it to the edge without going over the top, and that is what makes them more palatable to me than some other metal. Takes itself seriously enough to give you chills but not completely freak you out. Those high notes in the vocals are like a reassuring wink to the audience that it's all in good fun. Not something I'd put on every day but would be very welcome in the right context/mood. Stands head and shoulders above other metal from the era and holds up remarkably well over 30 years later.
I'm usually not a metal fan but I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would.
Powerful, hard hitting metal, iconic if not slightly showing its age in some places
"Spil noget med Slayer!" Awesome album, though only one song was memorable. 4
Fuck yeah, Slayer. This album is one of the many examples of everything Rick Rubin touches turning to gold. While he was in the midst of building one of the most successful hip-hop albums, he was producing this album. Slayer is one of those bands that really has done one thing for their entire career, and they do that one thing so well that they don't need to diversify. Slayer makes thrash metal. That's it. Metallica did it better during the 80s in my opinion, but they stopped making thrash towards the end of the decade, while Slayer kept making thrash well into the 2000s. This album is one of their greats. It hits you like a brick to the face, yet manages to be so intricate that it stays fresh over several listens. I've come back to this album over and over throughout the years, and it doesn't disappoint. 4/5. Fuck yeah, Slayer
The best way to clear a drum circle. Best Tracks: Angel of Death; Postmortem; Raining Blood
Very loud, fast, and short. Songs about a wide variety of topics, which got them in a bit of bother. The 'big 4' band I knew least we'll before, but would be happy to see them pop up again
I was really excited to listen to this again. It's been a loooong time. But you know what? I quickly remembered that I was never a huge Slayer fan and I think I can pinpoint why now. I like Arraya's voice. I like everything Lombardo's doing. But, man, I am torn about these guitars. Yes, the riff in "Angel of Death" rules. "Raining Blood" is a no-brainer, can't argue balls-to-buttholes classic. But listen to the end of "Reborn." And then listen to the beginning of "Epidemic." And just focus on the guitars. My dudes, those two songs sound like they used the exact same riff. They might be the same song just played twice with some different fills. Maybe that's where this band has kept me at a bit of a distance in the past? I don't know. Whatever reason, when it came to the Big 4 of thrash, Slayer was at the bottom of that list for me personally. And, yeah, I know I'd be a lot cooler if that wasn't the case! And they influenced so many bands I love! But still... thank Satan this made the list. I'll take Slayer over trip hop any and every day of the week.
Classic. Heavily influential across metal and even some sub-genres of Hardcore.
Pure metal. Heavy guitaring, fast double bass pedal drumming. Standouts are "Angel of Death" and "Raining Blood" opening with it's iconic riff.
Part of the big 4 for a reason. Love the energy, too fast to comprehend on 1 go