Reign in Blood

I'm going to say it, the biggest saving grace for this album, and I truly mean the facet that saves it from getting trashed by me here, is that it's a 28-minute-long album.

Whatever you tell me, the middle part of the album feels somewhat unfinished. They sound more like punk songs than metal, very crammed, with guitar riffs and kick drums coming at you in great succession in 2 minute intervals like they have to finish recording them in a few hours and put it out the shelves as quickly as possible, which is even funnier considering the pushback they faced from Def Jam because of Angel Of Death.

Now imagine having to hear the same punky onslaught again if the album was, say, 50 minutes long. It would be a hard pass for me, but with its measly run time, Reign in Blood is just a fun and energetic headbang fest that's over before it begins, bookend by two very impressive metal compositions. It's a very nice album if you want to break away from Metallica's thrash metal and into new waters.

Goes a little *too* hard for me (I like "popular" metal. Tough.) but fully understand that the influence is immense.

I’ve had Metallica Black Album, Rust In Peace from Megadeth, Among the Living by Anthrax and now this. I’m guessing I haven’t peaked but I wonder if we get any modern metal or anything outside of the Big Four of Thrash. Obituary for Death Metal or Darkthrone for Black Metal? Anyway, this is an amazing album.

Listened to it. Listened to some more Slayer then listened to the album again.

Great for putting up a shed.

Not my type of metal, but well played

Not for me. I particularly didn't like the song about Mengele. Still, technically proficient and I need to be able to differentiate this music from things like Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock.

Monumentally influential. One of the springs from which extreme metal spawned. You cannot deny the impact it had for decades. But were better albums created in its wake? Absolutely.

My hangup with Slayer remains their edginess. Does it get edged out by their performances? I'm not so sure. Hanneman's riffs outclass the messy solos (Kerry King never really does it for me). Lombardo is great on drums. Araya's vocals aren't really impressive outside of his screams.

I love the intensity and freneticism Slayer bring to their performance. The full weight of the band is ploughed into every song - its full on. The closer you listen the more eccentric it all sounds. Beat breaks, unusual drum fills, out on a limb guitar playing. They truly earn the name Slayer.

Nope

No es mi rollo para nada, pero veo la capacidad

Weird I got two thrash metal albums back to back, but I vastly preferred the Anthrax album to this one. This felt incredibly repetitive and got boring quick

FUUCKIIIINNNGGG SLAAAAYYEEEERRRRRRRR!!!!!!

That is all

I mean, they REALLY committed to the bit, didn't they? Strangely, their brand of extreme transgressive metal was not an outlier. Vaunted to this day.

Favorite track(s): Angel of Death, Piece by Piece, Altar of Sacrifice, Jesus Saves, Criminally Insane, Postmortem, Raining Blood

The best of the Big Four and it's criminal not to include more of their albums, or more metal in general, on this dumb ass list.

Heard before
Previous rating: 9/10

This album absolutely rips. Unfortunately the guitar solos are straight nonsense, and could be way better. The drumming is fucking insane, as well as the rest of the rhythm section. After a few minutes, this record is honestly funny to listen to due to the sheer insanity that's unfolding. In all seriousness, the music manages to stay consistent due to the great production and the constantly changing grooves every other section. This album is also way ahead of its time. Im blown away that this came out in 86. Another thing I love about this album is the sick ass artwork, like holy shit. The lyrics are also great too. Is it over the top? Absolutely. True heaviness comes from the space, and this album leaves none. But it's certainly fun, and not too long for me to care.

Hard, fast, full of energy. Not always my cup of tea, but kind of enjoyed it 4*
Highlight: postmortem, raining blood (some straight-up Doom music)

Most of the songs sound the same. I only know Raining Blood from when I was younger. I found it cool back then. I don't need a whole album like it though.

Landmark Trash album, really fucking cool and edgy and loud. It's all a bit much, but I guess that is part of the charm. There are times where I like it more than other times. I would've easily given this 5 stars other times but guess I just wasn't really feeling it. Can't really fault the album for anything, Slayer is just a bit of a divisive band.

It wasn't really good but hell I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy blood, guts, and forsaking Jesus christ

Writing a song about Josef Mengele is ballsy. Making it the opening track is metal as fuck.

I respect it, because much of the music I love was made by people who realized heavy music was possible by listening to this album. But it’s…not very good.