Band:	Slayer
Album:	Reign In Blood
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	October 07, 1986
Guest review by:	Stuart

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]

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.

The opener "Angel of Death" smacks you in the face right from the beginning with a tumultuous riff tour de force and a blood curdling high pitched scream to shatter mirrors. It tells the tale of Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele and the Death Camps of Auschwitz. After the initial onslaught of brutality the song dances nicely around dual guitars, ever evolving riffs and warring guitar solos.

There is the occult connection, "Altar of Sacrifice", another brutally fast, well constructed piece of speed metal dealing with human sacrifice and Satan worship flowing effortlessly (and ironically) straight into "Jesus Saves", this deceivingly slow intro turns into the ultimate punk/metal hybrid hurtling at a hundred miles per hour.

A final comment on all before it comes "Postmortem/Raining Blood". Musically one song in two parts, the opening riff is foreboding of what is to come, the pace increases with each tempo change peaking with the summary of the albums lyrical content with the line "What I am, what I want, I'm only after Death". Raining Blood starts with a hauntingly slow drum track and the guitars kick off with a groove heavy riff extravaganza, the song eventually descends into complete madness and tuneless chaos.

The album is filled with short high paced tracks (speed metal/punk metal/thrash metal, call this insanity whatever you like) about dismemberment, the obsession with death, witches being burnt at the stake and worldwide epidemics threatening to destroy all mankind.

So, we ask ourselves: Is this album worthy of all the hype surrounding it? The answer is a definite yes. Where a few tracks failed as individual songs the album succeeded as a single body of aggression, hatred and sheer brutality and that was the intention of this album. The subject matter is controversial and the music groundbreaking. The success of this album is embodied by the fact that it is still, more than two decades later, widely regarded as one of greatest metal albums ever made.