Every Slayer Record, Ranked From Worst to Best

Slayer is arguably the most important band in extreme music.

Their 1986 record Reign in Blood changed how young musicians perceived their craft and gave them permission to go harder and explore darker themes from a more celebratory perspective. Cannibal Corpse’s drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz often cites Dave Lombardo as an influence and having a “oh shit, I didn’t know you could play like that” moment when he first listened to the iconic album, which led to important innovation in brutality.

They’re not just historically important, though. Slayer is important to me also. I’ve been listening to their music since I was eight years old and it shaped the person I am today. That’s why I reviewed all of their records on Dead End Follies over the last two and a half years in order to rank them properly. I’m done now and I’m ready to provide you with the ultimate ranking of Slayer records from worst to best. 

Here are the three criteria I used, because "worst" and "best" are rather vague qualifiers.

Identity: How Slayer does this sound? Because even if they’ve been steadier than most, there’s an evolution curve to their sound and it took them time before finding their era-defining sound.

Historical importance: Do the songs on said record matter to more than just me? Have they helped metal develop into what it is today? Slayer were CRU-CIAL for what metal would become in the nineties.

Personal enjoyment: It’s my list after all, but there’s a great chance that I love Slayer more than you do. So, of course, that makes me right.

Without further ado…

FUCKING SLAYEEEEEEEEEEER

13) Diabolus in Musica (1998)

Yeah, it’s bad. Diabolus in Musica wasn’t misunderstood or before its time, it was Slayer compromising on their creative process in order to fit with the times. But it’s the only time they strayed from their narrow and violent path. I mean, it’s fine if you like it. That means you don’t really like Slayer, though or that you like nü metal more than you like Slayer. 

I respect that they tried something, but I respect that they never did it again more. Slayer doesn’t have to fit with the times. Their brand of audio violence transcends transcends trends and eras and any alteration they make to it dilutes its power. I never wanted to hear Tom Araya rap, but I didn’t know that until I did hear him. It’s bad for you, but it’s forgivable.

12) World Painted Blood (2009)

The Dave Lombardo reunion fans were pining for throughout the nineties didn’t turn out the way they hoped. Creative and financial tensions were tearing the band apart and it showed with the end product. World Painted Blood is not shameful like Diabolus in Musica, but it’s phoned in, Slayer-by-numbers. Whatever was happening in 2009, music was certainly not the priority.

Kerry King has this songwriting hitch that I really dislike where he writes great, moody intros and just transitions into a bland thrash riff for Tom to sing to. World Painted Blood does that over and over again. The band obviously didn’t have enough material to hit the studio then, but felt that they had to, three years after another half-cooked record, Christ Illusion.

11) Christ Illusion (2006)

I’ll give this record that it has creative, out-of-the-box ideas. Songs like Eyes of the Insane and Jihad explore new and exciting ways to freak people out and I respect that. But there’s a lot of bland, Kerry-transitions-into-the-same-thrash-riff Slayer-by-numbers songs on it too. I’m not accusing Dave Lombardo of being responsible for this uninspired stint, but something went wrong with the reunion.

The intros are spicier than on World Painted Blood and would’ve carried into better and badder songs if they built on it. Cult has a fun, gloomy vibe to it. Catatonic is also cool. But the songs lack the general girth and anger Slayer has gotten us used to, especially after the Earth-shattering God Hates Us All in 2001. You can’t dial it to 11 and dial back like that.

10) Undisputed Attitude (1996)

If World Painted Blood and Christ Illusion often receive too much praise, this one doesn’t get enough. Often discredited as part of Slayer’s mid-nineties midlife crisis, it’s full of legit good songs with a ghoulish, Slayer-like twist on them. Richard Hung Himself and I Hate You have aged like fine wine. I consider them part of Slayer’s canon.

Of course, there’s the regrettable Guilty of Being White incident. It’s a stupid song and they made a stupid choice at the end. Slayer were never the most enlightened band and they were into Rush Limbaugh back in the days. That alone is enough to put Undisputed Attitude in the "Unnecessary Slayer" category. Oh, their only original Gemini is a cool song too.

9) Haunting the Chapel (1984)

There’s one of Slayer’s best songs on it, Chemical Warfare. It’s a weirdly written, oddly poetic mouthful of a composition, but it fucking rules. That’s kind of it, though. I always liked Tom’s delivery on Captor of Sin, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the scorching fury of Chemical Warfare. I had fond memories of it, but it didn’t age well upon a relisten.

Aggressive Perfector and the title song are Slayer songs from another time. Everything that predates Reign in Blood is the band still figuring out their sound. Kerry King said so himself in many interviews. It’s dark and brooding, but it’s more angry speed metal than the dark and ghoulish thrash we all know and love.

8) Show No Mercy (1983)

Metalheads are inexplicably fond of debut albums and I’m not denying that Show No Mercy is a classic, but let’s be real: there’s Black Magic and then there’s everything else. They had the Slayer factor with this song, they just didn’t know it yet. If Black Magic hadn’t been on the record, I believe we’d collectively rank Show No Mercy a lot lower. 

There’s some decent songs on it. Die By The Sword is fun. The Final Command and Crionics were groundbreaking for their time. But the path wasn’t blazed yet. It’s the sound of a young band wandering in the dark and trying things. You know there is something special with Slayer while listening to Show No Mercy, but it’s not clear what it is yet.

7) Hell Awaits (1985)

I know this is a historically significant record and that it features two absolute classics (the title song and At Dawn They Sleep), but it’s kind of not a Slayer record. Kerry King said several times in interview that he and Hanneman were trying their hardest to rip off Mercyful Fate and once you’re made aware of that, you can’t really unhear it. 

Hell Awaits is great because it is Slayer leaning into their more atmospheric side and they were always fucking great at it even if they rarely do it. It’s a grim and ghoulish record that was produced accordingly by Brian Slagel. The songs are overall not the best (I don’t rank any of them as essential), but there’s an organic grimness to it that lives up to the band’s legacy.

6) Repentless (2015)

I will go to my grave saying Repentless is an upper echelon Slayer record. It’s not the hardest, it’s not the heaviest, but it is inspired and it has clarity of purpose: this is boogeyman music. It has trademark Slayer breakneck songs, but it shines in its moodier, groovier moments like Cast the First Stone and When Stillness Comes. Both could be on any Slayer record.

The band tried to go back to classic thrash on Christ Illusion and World Painted Blood and failed to produce something interesting. Repentless isn’t any precise style, but it’s extreme as fuck and it’s so much fun. Slayer are at their best when they mix aggression and atmosphere and they do it as well as they ever did here.

 5) South Of Heaven (1988)

Another bona fide classic that doesn’t quite get the love it deserves. The title song is one of the best atmospheric numbers Slayer’s ever written. That opening riff is one of their best known and most bone-rattling in their whole catalogue. Silent Scream and Mandatory Suicide are two other scorchers that have aged incredibly well. 

South of Heaven marks an important development in Slayer’s career as they started (or have gotten noticeably better at) writing hooks in their songs, making them catchier and more memorable. It’s also bold as hell that it couldn’t be any more different from their iconic prior release Reign in Blood. They were becoming more than just a thrash metal band.

 4) Reign in Blood (1986)

This is not the best Slayer record, but it’s by far the most important and it features what are arguably the two most important songs in their entire discography: Angel of Death and Raining Blood. For this reason alone, Reign in Blood belongs on the Slayer Mount Rushmore. But let’s be real here: past the two iconic bangers, that’s kind of it?

There are good songs on there, but is there another GREAT one? Not really. The band had figured out their sound by then (and changed the extreme metal game), but couldn’t quite write memorable hooks then (except on Angel of Death and Raining Blood). The songs are fast and hard, but there’s nothing else I would like to heard on a legacy setlist

3) Divine Intervention (1994)

Hot take: this is a very good record. Better, more grim and ghoulish than most of the other Slayer records. It’s getting a bad rep because the production is shoddy and uneven, but one could argue that it makes Divine Intervention even more grim and ghoulish. This is the record your parents were afraid would turn you into a Satanist.

The title song is an absolute fucking nightmare and I love it. Fictional Reality is another badass cut. SS-3 and Serenity in Murder. The Jeffrey Dahmer-inspired 213 will keep you awake and terrified for at least twenty-four hours with every listen. It’s not the hardest, but it’s the gloomies,t most unsettling record in their discography. Their peak boogeymen form.

2) God Hates Us All (2001)

THIS is Slayer at their hardest. Holy fuck, this album is such a masterpiece of anger and violence, it’s not even funny. On top of this, the songs are all good. I’m a little less into War Zone, Here Comes The Pain and Payback, but everything else on God Hates Us All is an absolute punch in the teeth. It would wake up the dead.

Better known for its lead single Disciple, God Hate Us All is just an endless list of groovy, hyperaggressive jams that will pump you the fuck up: God Send Death is great, New Faith is perhaps my favorite song on the record now, Threshold is killer, Exile has this awesome "I JUST WANT YOU TO DIIIIE" callout. Bloodline is one of their catchiest songs ever.

Some people say : "oh, this is nü metal Slayer again". These people can get fucked.

1) Seasons in the Abyss (1990)

I’m sorry, but this is the only acceptable answer. This album is like the LeBron James of Slayer’s discography. It’s just great at everything. It goes hard and fast, it has two of Slayer’s best atmospheric songs (Dead Skin Mask and the title song) and it thinks outside the box, for fuck’s sake. I know Slayer is labeled as thrash metal, but Seasons shows they can be so much more.

I love this record to death. It’s probably the album I’ve listened to the most in my life and I have no fucking idea which song is my favorite because I love them all the same. It’s been Dead Skin Mask for a while, but War Ensemble hits me so hard every time, Born of Fire is growing on me and the title song was always this awesome, unique, impossible to define thing.

This is one of the best metal albums ever recorded period.