Classic Album Review : Slayer - Reign In Blood (1986)
Reign in Blood is one of the most important metal albums of all-time. It introduced Slayer’s trademark hyperagressive sound and influence an absurd number of musicians that would pioneer even more extreme subgenres of metal. But is it their best? That is a more difficult question to answer since it kicked off a run of almost flawless records. While I do love Reign in Blood like any self-respecting metalhead, I will argue in this review that it features two of their best songs and eight others that are just very good.
The opener on Reign in Blood is the immortal Angel of Death. If anything, this song is underrated because of its lyrical content. Narrated from the perspective of nazi mad scientist Josef Mengele, it gave Slayer the reputation of being nazis themselves for many years. But imagine hearing the iconic riff, Tom Araya’s high pitched scream and that murderous chorus for the first time? It was such a paradigm shift in extreme music then and it hasn’t aged a day in over thirty-five years. It's a metal classic and a bona fide cultural moment.
Piece by Piece is a much simpler song, but it has the same breakneck aggression as Angel of Death did. The riffing by Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman and Tom Araya's vocal delivery have obvious hardcore punk influences. It has some nice grooves in the first half, but ends up fast and furious. Necrophobic is somewhat of a throwback to Hell Awaits. It’s shorter and punchier than any of the songs on Reign in Blood’s predecessor, but it has its monolithic aggression. It feels straight compared to the two monsters that came before, though.
One of the hallmarks of Reign in Blood that made it so iconic is that it never fucking stops. It goes hard for its entire duration. Altar of Sacrifice is another laser focused effort that features a commanding drumming performance by Dave Lombardo with chunkier, groovy moments in its second half. It feels a little busy at times, but it has a girth and an atmosphere of its own. Jesus Saves has this minute-long mid-tempo intro before ramping up speed for Tom Araya to perform his trademark machine gun vocals.
The long, riffy intro is one of Slayer’s calling cards and, to my knowledge, it was used for the first time on Jesus Saves.
The paradigm shifting speed and aggression of Reign in Blood is what made its reputable, but while all songs are enjoyable, many of them aren’t quite as memorable as the two bookends that made the record so iconic. The riffs are more predictable and the vocals are too busy. The lyrics are long and complicated and the punk rock delivery doesn’t allow any atmosphere even if some of these songs are meant to be. Atmosphere is also going to become one of the most fun things about Slayer too, but they weren't there yet.
Criminally Insane is another stocky, fast and furious number with seesaw riffs and lack of a memorable chorus. It feels at home in the insane level of aggression on the record, but sounds somewhat Slayer-by-numbers on its own. Reborn is perhaps my third favorite song on Reign in Blood after Angel of Death and Raining Blood. It shares many of the qualities of its predecessor: the breakneck riffs, shoddy solos and punk rock delivery, but the one line chorus "death means nothing, there’s no end, I will be reborn" gives it teeth.
Epidemic is the continuation of this relentless onslaught it's another very short, good, but straightforward thrash metal piece with all the energy and aggression in the world. Postmortem is one of the most different and original songs on the record. It has more of a mid-tempo groove and a boogeyman delivery by Tom Araya. It’s longer and doesn’ ramp up to a crazy speed until the last minute and features weird, atypical riffs that would become what Slayer is now known and loved for. They always played it live.
So yeah, the album closes with Raining Blood. Perhaps Slayer’s best known song and, to be fair, one of their top 5 best? Also one of the most influential songs in metal history. Fuck this song is so good. From the atomospheric drum intro to Jeff Hanneman’s insanely catchy riffs to what might’ve been the first metal breakdown of all-time, I don’t know how anyone can dislike this song. It’s as gloomy as it is aggressive, a balance that only they could manage to keep so well. I do like Angel of Death even more, but only slightly.
*
There you have it. Reign in Blood is, without a doubt, Slayer’s most important record. It was a massive cultural moment in metal that changed the genre. They were still developing their sound at the time, though and hadn't learned how to write memorable choruses yet and to dial it back in order to make the aggressive moments really count. It’s great by their standards, it’s massive by metal standards, but it's not their best. I would even argue that it isn't even top 3? It’s not overrated, they’re that fucking good.
