Slayer - Reign In Blood review
| Band: | Slayer |
| Album: | Reign In Blood |
| Style: | Thrash metal |
| Release date: | October 1986 |
01. Angel Of Death
02. Piece By Piece
03. Necrophobic
04. Altar Of Sacrifice
05. Jesus Saves
06. Criminally Insane
07. Reborn
08. Epidemic
09. Postmortem
10. Raining Blood
11. Aggressive Perfector [1998 re-release bonus]
12. Criminally Insane [remix version] [1998 re-release bonus]
For more than a decade, Slayer has proudly fused thrash and speed metal into loud, offering doomish dirges, voraciously boisterous and blasphemous songs groaning over lyrics that depict madness, suicide and murder in excess, a style which should definetly suit a ten-year-old metalhead. On October 7, 1986, Slayer released what was to become their masterpiece, "Reign In Blood". An album discribed by Kerrang! Magazine as "the heaviest album of all time" and peaked at number 22 on Metal Storm's "top 100 albums of all time" survey, a position that only "the crème de la crème" bands could get. Believe me, reviewing a very popular album from a very popular band isn't easy at all, but sometimes justice must be done.
"Reign In Blood" could be summed up in four simple words, strenuous, volatile, asymmetrical and brutal...maybe too brutal. At first I was completely blown away by its amazing structural proficiency, I couldn't get over it. Fortunately, there was a day when I realized that except Metallica, even a band from "the big four" could suck. The answer is pretty clear now, this is a notoriously inconsistent effort.
The journey commences with "Angel Of Death", an impressive opener , built around ultra-fast repetitive thrash riffs followed by... well, rigourous barks and high-pitched growls of Tom Araya, but that's vocally speaking, sure there's nothing inherently bad with it. However, even the most ardent fans of Slayer will admit that the one-dimentional vocals of Mr Araya are probably the thing that should be removed from Reign In Blood. In case you haven't noticed it yet, the singer tries his best to mix things up without resorting to clean vocals, and I don't blame him for that, at least he screams like a man not like Dave Mustaine. Songs like "Raining Blood" and "Angel Of Death" are the album's highlights, despite being too uniformed for some to stomach, they are quite catchy with their crushing guitar riffs and the furiously thunderous drumming. However, in its entirety, the album is not as consistently memorable as "South Of Heaven", but let's make it clear, I've never been a fan of Slayer and if they're going to stick on "Christ Illusion meets Reign In blood" style I won't be, but to be fair, there was a time when I liked Slayer pretty much, I liked Reign In Blood though but not anymore, these guys don't deserve to be a part of "the big four" neither does Megadeth.
In the end of the day, Slayer will always have an audience because their discography is worth picking up, but when it comes to this album here's my advice, listen to it for one year or maybe two and then throw it away. Folks, I give you "the most overrated album of all time"... Reign In Blood.
Rating:
10
10
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Rating: 10 |
The greatest metal record of all time. This topic is often debated upon in the Metal Kingdom and to most there is no definite answer. A worthy contender for this title is Slayer's 1986 masterpiece, Reign In Blood. Few albums withstand the test of time as well and even fewer have had such a huge impact on the metal world as this one. Read more ›› |
Rating:
9.2
9.2
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Rating: 9.2 |
Where does one begin reviewing an album with as much hype and influence as this? An album branded as revolutionary and with such a fanatical following. It is always going to be a difficult task, so I ask that for a moment we forget the hype surrounding this album and we look at the musical value it holds. Reign in Blood was in many ways a brave new world for Slayer. It had a completely different sound to anything before it; they abandoned all the pretentiousness of the long, drawn out, complex song structures they had experimented with on Haunting the Chapel and Hell Awaits. In this, it was far more accessible, yet they didn't sacrifice any of their integrity or alienate any of their core fan base. Their intention was quite clear, that this was to be the fastest, heaviest, angriest music ever to be unleashed on human ears. Read more ›› |
Comments page 2 / 7
Comments: 207
Visited by: 689 users
| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Posts: 9718 From: Canada  |
Written by totaliteraliter on 21.08.2008 at 18:55 Hell has frozen over, you and I finally have something to agree on.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| antidrew Account deleted |
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| Harmonic Account deleted |
Harmonic
Account deleted
The review is lacking but I agree with the sentiment. Slayer is overrated. They're a shock and awe band without any of the finesse or talent of a truly legendary metal outfit. Their lyrics are outrageous to the point of silliness and their guitar work is a pain in the eardrum. I already gave away my Reign in Blood and I haven't looked back. As a matter of fact, I parted ways with Slayer's entire discography last year. I just couldn't be bothered. Yes, the review totally sucks balls but at least the reviewer had the balls to say what needed to be said. (Is that a light at the end of the tunnel or a rabid pack of Slayer fanboys coming to lynch me?) 
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| Harmonic Account deleted |
Harmonic
Account deleted Written by Guest on 16.09.2008 at 00:57 You know, it's pretty easy to talk tough like that when you're surrounded by your fellow Slayerites. I wonder if you're man enough to post that in a Blind Guardian thread? 
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| antidrew Account deleted |
antidrew
Account deleted Written by Guest on 16.09.2008 at 05:25 That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard. Reign in Blood is one of the greatest and most influential metal albums of all time. The music, lyrics and even the artwork is inventive, stunning, poetic and incredibly sophisticated. Your Walmart rock band Blind Guardian is so horrifically cliche and mind numbingly boring I can't even begin to comprehend how they can occupy the same universe with the likes of Slayer...
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| Black Mass Posts: 427 From: UK |
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| Harmonic Account deleted |
Harmonic
Account deleted Written by Guest on 16.09.2008 at 22:48 Your response to my post is horribly cliche and mind numbingly boring as well. But the comment about Walmart is quite funny because although I never found a Blind Guardian album there, I did see South of Heaven in a Walmart bulk bin once, on sale for $6.99.
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| antidrew Account deleted |
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| Oo I Voyager oO Posts: 2 From: USA |
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| Introspekrieg Totemic Lust Posts: 2747 From: USA  |
Wait, did I accidentally switch to an Encyclopaedia Metallum review? BTW @antidrew: I like Blind Guardian... and I have never laid a finger on a D&D dice/die... whatever... You shouldn't overgeneralize, I could say the same about Fear Factory: go play with your Terminator action figures and crank it up! I WILL FOLLOW!!!
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| Stuart MiseryKing Posts: 413 From: UK  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 21.08.2008 at 11:34 I take great offensive that you compare the american english speaker to any other person who speaks english as a first language. Clearly americans speak a horrible and vulgar distortion of what the mighty english language once was... 
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| ms68 Posts: 260 From: Iran  |
Why can't we vote your review????? blasphemy....Blasphemy.... the only matter made Ghanem to write this review is blasphemy and all fucking words such as (strenuous, volatile, asymmetrical and...........................) are here to show that ghanem is not an illiterate person. this review has been writen by a tree of knowledge and you must accept his opinion. his favourite bands are (Atheist, Immortal, Satyricon, behemoth) and his favourite book is Qur'an. how similarity. fantastic. but after all i can't understand what made Ghanem to listening slayer instead of azan?!!!!
---- The more you eat, the more you shit No matter what you eat, it all turns to shit
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| Mindheist No Longer Human Posts: 618 From: Tunisia  |
I remember mentioning this in my Megadeth's UA review section, I usually don't reply to users' comments, but there are always some exceptions. I've read almost all of your comments guys and I can only thank you for reading it and apologize for making you wasting your 'precious' time in vain. I ,without a shadow of doubt, respect everyone's opinion and, to be honest, I was impressed by your dogged loyality to this 'legendary' band once was mine too. But let's make it clear, I'm 20 years old folks, I'm no longer seduced by the scathing gore-themed material of the mighty Slayer, in fact, I removed many bands from my favorite bands list, many, except Metallica, for some reason which won't be told. But here's the thing, metal is for me an experience, a journey, at the end you'll realize that you've been crawling back to your roots, in my case, my roots are simply Metallica. As for Slayer, no one can deny the fact that it's one of the most influencial metal bands. They've established themselves amongst the cream of the crop before I was even born, but uniformity and monotony aren't really my cup of tea. When I go to the store to buy an album I expect to hear something new, somthing which gives you the urge to listen to it again, Slayer have stuck to the same plain wave of thrash...Which is for me, a pure waste of time, money and energy. I like variety, I mean, for god's sake take a look at my fav bands' list, only the best of the best is displayed. Thank you.
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10084 From: Czech Republic  |
Wat 4,5? dude i think at least 5 bands out of your favorite band list worship this album and thrashed their balls off when it appeared and decided they would give a shot at being as brutal as this thing is. and even if you wanted to hear some originality from them in this album, you could at least appreciate the fact that it's an improvement of their sound, in the completely brutal sort of way
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| Slayer666 Posts: 2466 From: Serbia  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 18.08.2008 at 03:24 Nah, don't even pay atention to this review. This guy just wants to be controversial, giving such great albums such miserable rattings. See how many comments are on this review? That's exactly what he wanted and he couldn't possibly care less did he actualy reviewed it right.
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| totaliteraliter Posts: 656 From: Canada  |
Written by Mindheist on 28.12.2008 at 17:40 So it's an issue of attention span? You can't handle 30 minutes of ripping, cutting edge thrash? You'd rather they threw some jarring acoustic interludes in there for "variety"?
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| Valentin B Iconoclast Posts: 10084 From: Czech Republic |
Btw what the hell is with the cheesy introduction? "an album discribed by Kerrang! Magazine as "the heaviest album of all time" and peaked at number 22 on Metal Storm's "top 100 albums of all time" survey, a position that only "the crème de la crème" bands could get." it's at #15 now... oh and your review blows.
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| Deadmeat Necrobutcher Posts: 2437 From: Greece  |
For me this is not the best thrash metal album ever but surely it is one of the best. Also this album influenced many people and bands in how to play their music. you can't rate it with a 4.5. You also said youwself that you liked that a lot. So, that period you would rate it with 8, 9 or 10. when you grow and youw musical tastes change it does not mean that what you liked in the past now is bullshit. Also there are much more overrated albums than this one... MANY!
---- Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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| AngelOfDisease Posts: 71 From: Ecuador |
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| Solstafir! Posts: 75 From: Bangladesh |
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| Nicko's Nose Posts: 486 From: Canada  |
Hilarious how the Slayer fanboys go nuts because someone said something negative about their precious little band... I like Slayer and I like this album, but I really understand why some people don't like it. It's quite monotonous and the riffs aren't as memorable as the riffs from many other thrash bands. I think Seasons In The Abyss is much better. It's not as fast, but so what? I'm tired of the tr00 thrash fans with their "it's not fast enough, it sucks" attitude. Just shut the fuck up. "Slayer has proudly fused thrash and speed metal into loud, offering doomish dirges, voraciously boisterous and blasphemous songs groaning over lyrics that depict madness, suicide and murder in excess, a style which should definetly suit a ten-year-old metalhead" So true.
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| davidharris Account deleted |
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| DayFly Posts: 383 From: Germany  |
How anybody can dislike this album without hating thrash metal (and thereby disqualifing oneself as a reviewer for such an album) is simply beyond me. It's quite simply a masterpiece, never a boring passage, not a single dull moment. It's not suppossed to be listened on a daily basis as that can get a bit wearisome, but that applies to any music. One cannot ask more from a thrash album.
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| Michaelgpc Posts: 19 From: Ireland |
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| Lord_Regnier Posts: 1469 From: Canada  |
"Fortunately, there was a day when I realized that except Metallica, even a band from "the big four" could suck." Let me laugh at your total stupidity. Metallica, the only band of the big four that never sucked? If there's a band in the lot that is shitty since a long time, it's precisely Metallica. The most overrated metal band of all time, most likely.
---- "Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?"
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| In Bone Factory Posts: 381 From: Iran  |
So instigative review!!!! if the album doesnt match with your taste its doesnt mean that you can ruin it by such explanation.
---- The End Is Nigh ...
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| Solstafir! Posts: 75 From: Bangladesh |
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| JohnWayneGacy666 Posts: 86 From: USA  |
Ciel SPOT ON seriously great review except probably 4 out of 10, this album is just as bad as st,anger yet it receives praise from idiots who cannot recognise this is the MOST OVERRATED album of all time in fact the pain of having to listen to this is as bad as listening to Deicide's scars of the crucifix, and I am a Death metallhead, so there must be something pathetic about Slayers reign in blood if a death metallhead like myself tells you it is a terrible album, and one of the worst i've heard the only consilation is that at least it is not rap or pop 
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 40071 From: The Netherlands  |
Written by JohnWayneGacy666 on 02.04.2010 at 12:19 What the fuck does Slayer have to do with death metal? Oh yeah, not a thing.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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