Reign in Blood
- Release date: October, 1986
- Label: DefJam Records
- Mixed at: New Fresh
- Running time: 29:03
- US highest chart position: 94
| Track listing | Song credits | Time | Lyrics |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01. Angel of Death | (Hanneman/King) | 4:51 | read |
| 02. Piece by Piece | (King) | 2:02 | read |
| 03. Necrophobic | (Hanneman/King) | 1:40 | read |
| 04. Altar of Sacrifice | (Hanneman/King) | 2:50 | read |
| 05. Jesus Saves | (Hanneman/King) | 2:54 | read |
| 06. Criminally Insane | (Hanneman/King) | 2:23 | read |
| 07. Reborn | (Hanneman/King) | 2:11 | read |
| 08. Epidemic | (Hanneman/King) | 2:23 | read |
| 09. Postmortem | (Hanneman) | 3:27 | read |
| 10. Raining Blood | (Hanneman/King) | 4:17 | read |
| 11. Aggressive Perfector (Expanded ed.) | (Hanneman/King) | 2:30 | read |
| 12. Criminally Insane (remix) (Expanded ed.) | (Hanneman/King) | 3:17 | read |
Album credits
Slayer - Producer | Tom Araya - Bass, Vocals | Jeff Hanneman - Guitars | Kerry King - Guitars | Dave Lombardo - Drums | Andy Wallace - Engineer | Howie Weinberg - Mastering | Rick Rubin - Producer | Steve Byram - Design | Larry W. Carroll - Illustration | Charly Rinne - Photography
Album reviews
Widely considered the pinnacle of speed metal, Reign in Blood is Slayer's undisputed masterpiece, a brief (under half an hour) but relentless onslaught that instantly obliterates anything in its path and clears out just as quickly. Producer Rick Rubin gives the band a clear, punchy sound for the first time in its career, and they largely discard the extended pieces of Hell Awaits in favor of lean assaults somewhat reminiscent of hardcore punk (though distinctly metallic and much more technically demanding). Reign in Blood opens and closes with slightly longer tracks (the classics "Angel of Death" and "Raining Blood") whose slower riffs offer most of the album's few hints of melody. Sandwiched in between are eight short (all under three minutes), lightning-fast bursts of aggression that change tempo or feel without warning, producing a disjointed, barely controlled effect. The album is actually more precise than it sounds, and not without a sense of groove, but even in the brief slowdowns, the intensity never lets up. There may not be much variation, but it's a unified vision, and a horrific one at that. The riffs are built on atonal chromaticism that sounds as sickening as the graphic violence depicted in many of the lyrics, and Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman's demented soloing often mimics the screams of the songs' victims. It's monstrously, terrifyingly evocative, in a way that transcends Reign in Blood's metal origins. The album almost single-handedly inspired the entire death metal genre (at least on the American side of the Atlantic), and unlike many of its imitators, it never crosses the line into self-parodic overkill. Reign in Blood was a stone-cold classic upon its release, and it hasn't lost an ounce of its power today. - Steve Huey | All Music Guide |
In 1986, the members of Slayer began to record their third full-length album and ended up with hell in their pocket, which they decided to unleash onto an unsuspecting world. If 1985's Hell Awaits was a glimpse into the horror of the underworld, Reign In Blood was mankind at its final destination, cheek by jowl with the dark lord himself. At just under 30 minutes, it wrote the first (and some say only) words on the subject of speed metal, carving the undying message deep into the listener's flesh. It was a rapprochement between the evil lyricism pioneered by early practitioneers like Venom and The Possessed and the music which, prior to that point, had never even approached such a level of uncomplicated brutality.
Fourteen years after the fact, Reign In Blood remains the Bible of Speed Metal. It is fast, assaultive, abrasive and dark. Surgery with no anesthesia, to quote opening salvo "Angel Of Death" (stay out of the mosh pit when this number plays at a Slayer concert!). There are no breaks, no pauses, no power ballads to ease the seething tension between one track and the next. Finesse is nowhere in sight on the album; finesse would have defeated the purpose. Guitarists/songwriters Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King put forward a murderously sharp collection of treatises on worshipping Satan, Christian immorality, witch-burnings, serial killers and rampaging plagues, playing each cut at such breakneck speed that vocalist/bassist Tom Araya barely has time to spew out the diseased invective on songs like "Piece By Piece" and "Necrophobic".
Reign In Blood is darkness unchecked, stripped of bombast and pretense, songs averaging barely two minutes in length but never failing to nail you to your seat. 'My sinful glare at nothing holds thoughts of death behind it' shrieks Araya towards the end of the penultimate track "Postmortem", and at this point on the album, the listener could be forgiven for having passed beyond the threshold of human tolerance for controlled, prestissimo-plus noise. "Postmortem" morphs into the ominous thunder-clap of the closing track, "Raining Blood", a four-minute trip through the deranged thoughts of a mass murderer climaxing with one of the most inhuman montages of guitar noise ever recorded. It abruptly snaps and recedes into the roiling storm-sounds of post-apocalyptic judgment, letting the listener drift away from the carnage Slayer has created and sustained unbelievably for every minute of one whole album.
Reign In Blood is not for everyone. Cream-puff fans who think Korn is the heaviest band on the planet are advised to stay away the only result will be pain and confusion. Even folk who consider themselves disciples of the fast and loud should be wary this is heaviness on a higher (sicker?) level. But if you are truly interested in plumbing the depths of the whiplash sub-genre of hard music known as thrash, get hold of a copy of Reign In Blood, close your eyes, and feel the cold touch of death chill your spine. - Jay Rajiva | Blistering.com |
Slayer. Aaaggghh! Just their name makes my ears bleed. This band is about as heavy as metal can get: monstrously fast and furious guitar leads and riffola invade constantly changing arrangements while raw vocals shout words the P.M.R.C. never dreamed existed. Their high energy and aggressiveness dances on the verge of hardcore while retaining a speed/thrash metal edge. Certainly I would play "Angel Of Death," "Altar Of Sacrifice," "Criminally Insane" or "Reborn" for my beloved mom. Just get ready to cure Excedrin headache number 666, caused either by the music itself or all the phone calls you'll get requesting/complaining about Slayer's grace. | cmj.com |