Review by Rexorcist for Slayer - Reign in Blood (1986)

Every metalhead knows Slayer, and for good reason: they created one of the heaviest albums in the world.  It actually took me a while to get to this because I avoided bands with satanic lyrics due to a younger and less mature definition of religion, so I was a little more fearful.  But it was a fear I built up in my own mind, not having consistently gone to church for years.  Now I can listen to this without it influencing me (you should see how well I tune out online ads), though I retain my Christianity in a more easygoing way.  I don't even remember if this was the first Slayer album I heard.  I might have just played the first five in order and then their live album Decade of Aggression.  And I admit, I don't come back to Slayer often, but I will never deny that these guys are a prime example of how to do thrash metal perfectly, and the heaviness factor is mastered by Reign in Blood.

So we start out with the five minute "Angel of Death," which tells you with no holds barred that "Slayer are the most brutal fucking band on Earth and you're an idiot if you don't think so!"  At least, that's what they're going for, and more or less succeed.  "Angel of Death" is a fine example of the proper combination of speed, power, anger and production, and unlike most of these songs which act as shorter blasts of energy with a heavy crossover thrash attitude that would make Anthrax jealous, "Angel of Death" is an epic in comparison.  It's true that most of the tracks here are performed from a thrash-filler perspective with aggression, speed and dark lyrics to save them from being disasters, but there are times when creativity takes a rise, notably on the intro of "Jesus Saves," even though it goes right back to the thrashing, despite the fact that this is some of the greatest thrashing I've ever heard.  Metallica's "Fight Fire With Fire" wasn't this heavy.  "Postmortem" even leaves a little room for melodic focus in place of speed, which makes for a great change of pace on a monotonous album.  It's a LITTLE annoying that so many of these songs sound the same, but it's a short as hell album and it does what it wants perfectly well.  But in my opinion, the real pride of the album is the finale / pseudo-title track.  Not only is it progressive and melodic in the beginning, but it keeps its melody despite eventually erupting into the heaviest and most brutal amalgam of solos and riffs known to man, and eventually exploding into thunder and rain (literally the sound effects of thunder and rain).  Best way to end that maniacal work.

Slayer's most famous album is like the Ramones debut in the sense that it does something totally new and unheard of despite its short length and monotony.  But this is way better than the Ramones debut.  It shows you what can be done with the major components of thrash.  This gets more attention than the two more creative albums in Slayer's golden era: South of Heaven and Seasons of the Abyss, because it's certainly a heavier album.  And it's rare that I'd give such a high rating to something so monotonous.  This is a product of its teen-oriented period of angst against religious fanaticism, but it has also aged well as a goal setter for aspiring guitarists.  More of a 95 than a 100, though.