Slayer – Reign In
Blood
(American
Recordings, 1986)
Buy the album
here
In
honour of Slayer’s legendary speed during the recording of this album, I’m
going to attempt to write this review in 28 minutes. That’s just enough time
for you to have your skin sliced from your face by King and Hanneman’s duelling
solos, your eardrums pierced by Araya’s screams, and your neck thrashed into
submission by Lombardo’s incessant snare and bass pedal attack. Rick Rubin
infamously cleaned up the band’s sound and played a huge part in shifting the
mainstream in the direction of thrash metal, but Slayer still sound more
extreme than that today. The album’s grizzled darkness played at hyperspeed
still burrows under the skin nearly 22 years after its release, and the
original production is heavy, crisp, and fresh. In “cleaning” up their sound,
Rubin didn’t set out to make them more palatable, but rather give each
perfectly timed note its due respect. There are few heavy metal albums in the mainstream
that do more to prove the untouchable musicianship that exists in the genre. From
death-obsessed beginning to blood-soaked end, Reign In Blood refuses to be denied its due respect with blistering
solos, cord-ripping vocals, and a beats-per-minute count that set a standard
for technical death metal for years to come.
What’s
more is that Slayer didn’t just perform like heavy metal superhumans, they wrote
perhaps the perfect extreme metal record. While the most memorable, covered,
and referenced tracks are the opener “Angel of Death” and final song “Raining
Blood”, these actually serve as bookends to the most incredible blast of
anti-religion, death-dripping, gore-drenched musical violence that has ever
been recorded. From the chugging groove
at the start of “Piece by Piece” to the insane catchiness of “Postmortem” and
its vicious speed metal segue into the bloodstorm of “Raining Blood”, the album’s
concise, thematically united sub-20-minute body is extreme metal purity: lyrics
are spat at you, riffs are barely repeated, and there is not a single deviation
from the ultimate purpose of aural destruction. There is no balance here.
“Necrophobic”
is evil in audio form. It races by in little more than a minute and a half, and
there is barely time to register everything that has happened. Araya’s
faster-than-possible vocals and sickening screams are matched by King and Hanneman’s
overlapping solos and abusive rhythm sounds, all while Lombardo and Araya
hammer through an intense hardcore rhythm section barrage. It’s as stunning as
thrash metal has ever been. “Altar of Sacrifice” doesn’t let up the evil sound
but feels outright expansive next to the brutal brevity of “Necrophobic”. There
is more space for dynamics with the move towards groove-laden moments which in
turn paves the way for the insidious slow build of “Jesus Saves”. This momentary
patience capitulates to a frantic verse riff and three solos which will melt
your ears. Hanneman’s solo in particular feels like its tearing the skin from your
flesh and flaying your unprotected body.
“Criminally
Insane” is a creeper punctuated with big floor tom sounds from Lombardo,
expressive solos, and astounding vocal delivery of the line, “I have yet only
just begun/To take your fuckin’ lives”. It leads us to the most uncompromising
portion of this mid-section. “Reborn” is an onslaught of ever-changing riffs, vicious
drumming, and vocal delivery so fast and snarled it defies belief. To this day
it makes me feel sick to listen to “Reborn”, but Slayer care not as they tear into
the equally potent and vile “Epidemic”. There is 10 seconds of some sort of catchy,
bouncy riff just after the 90-second mark which quickly descends into the chaos
of Araya’s screams and garrotting wire solos, but for one brief moment on this
album Slayer allow you a peek to the world above, before reminding you that
there is no escape once you’ve gone to hell. The giant riffs and atmospherics
of “Postmortem” follow and are matchless in their sinister yet addictive
qualities, providing ample set-up for the crushing and iconic sounds of “Raining
Blood”.
And
while the harmonised guitars, thundering gallop of the drums, and pit-starting glory
of both “Angel of Death” and “Raining Blood” are electrifying, what exists in between
is in many ways the crowning achievement of Slayer’s career. It is rare for a collection
of such unforgiving, focused, and frantic tracks to claim such widespread acclaim
and acceptance, but by placing the body of this album between these towering
monoliths of modern metal, Slayer were able to satisfy the hordes while simultaneously
taking a surgeon’s knife to the burgeoning genre of thrash metal. What was left
behind after they finished cutting was akin to Thomas Geminus’ engraved platesof a flayed man: concise, exact, brutal, and eternally alive in death. Slayer’s
Reign In Blood is the perfect embodiment
of thrash metal.
[Note:
the 28 minute limit was exceeded, going some way to proving you can’t get
anything done in the time it takes to listen to Reign In Blood.]
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