This is a new segment I am going to start. I am going to revisit a classic within the world of heavy metal. This could be an album, a memorable concert or event. Anything that qualifies under the commonly accepted criteria of a classic – with a healthy dose of my personal opinion obvs. The first such item here needs very little introduction. Back in 1986, at the height of thrash metal’s underground dominance, Californian legends Slayer released Reign In Blood.
Making it’s way onto every best of metal list, Reign In Blood perfectly typifies the thrash metal sound of the 80s, and has served as inspiration for countless bands across many forms of metal, not just thrash. Famously short at less than 29 minutes long (shorter than some EPs!) makes it even more remarkable that it is so revered.
The classic Slayer ensemble was together on Reign In Blood. Tom Araya on vocals and bass, guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, and Dave Lombardo on drums. We’re going to look through here track by track to see why this album is a masterpiece.
Angel of Death
Arguably the defining song in all of heavy metal. My favourite Slayer song and many others favourite too. Has its well earned place on many best of lists. Tom’s scream to start off, the breakneck speed, the half speed twist. Classic riff after classic riff.
Providing a perfect template for writing speed metal and how to perfectly insert a half time feel and turn up the groove. Anyone who claims tuning down or adding extra strings or more distortion to the guitars makes a song heavier, just make them listen to Angel of Death and they can eat shit humble pie. A masterpiece.
Piece By Piece
Into the quick fire tracks. At just 2 minutes long the speed of the opening track doesn’t stop here. Full of ascending and descending tremolo riffs. No solo in Piece By Piece, but this song is all about the tasty riffs and Tom‘s explicit lyrical work – a staple of this album and much of Slayer’s work.
Necrophobic
One of the fastest metal songs of all time. A full song all done and dusted in 1 minute 40 seconds. I tapped the tempo into my metronome and came back with 252bpm. Swift and brutal, even with time for a delicious breakdown. The speed of the drum fills on this track is probably the standout Dave Lombardo piece on the entire album.
Alter of Sacrifice
Compared to the speed of the previous 2 tracks, a slight tempo drop here – to simply very fast. For me this is the standout track to bookend the masterpieces at each end of the album. The groovy riff when the track slows down is a special experience. We also get 3 classic Slayer guitar solos. Oh that poor whammy bar.
Jesus Saves
We almost hit 3 minutes with Jesus Saves! A mid tempo track with a whiff of OG Metallica about the intro. Then it picks up and we’re back to glorious ear pounding riffing. What is easy to overlook is the quality of the rhythm guitar parts underneath the solo’s on this album. Tight, focussed and complimentary. Perfect.
Criminally Insane
Creepy drum intro. Then bursts into life. The sheer volume of great riffs and lightning fast solos on this album which is sub 30 minutes is staggering. A whole chorus fits into the final 10 seconds of Criminally Insane! Who needs an outro anyway, more time for face melting riffs!
Reborn
Rapid vocal work from Tom on Reborn. It feels like this track was recorded in a 4 minute run time, then put onto the album at double speed. Relentless throughout and squeezes in another 2 whammy bar abusing solos. I presume their guitar trem springs are made of pure diamond to survive.
Epidemic
Ah, the soundtrack to 2020! Even though many of the middle songs on Reign In Blood are short, swift and follow a relatively similar pattern, they never feel like they’re the same. I never get bored of a single track – not that you get time to! Possibly my favourite tempo change on Epidemic too, with some epic riffing.
Postmortem
To be honest, once you have heard through to the end of this album, Postmortem feels like an excellent extended build up to the main event of the closing track. Such is the double header feeling to the tracks. Especially when this track flips up a gear after 2 minutes, then again just before the 3 minute mark to really set up the closer.
Raining Blood
At just 2 minutes long, excluding the intro and outro thundercracks, no song hits harder than Raining Blood. One of the most recognisable opening riff triple headers in all of heavy music. The build up through the single guitar line, then the twin guitar line, then into a thumping, galloping triplet riff. Managing to squeeze 3 all time most recognisable riffs into a song intro is the stuff of legends. The song just gets faster and heavier right through to the end – save for an acclaimed breakdown that has served as a template for countless other songs throughout metal.
My very first gig was the inaugural Unholy Alliance Tour back in 2004, headlined by Slayer. When they concluded with Angel of Death, followed by an encore of Postmortem and Raining Blood it was spectaular and made me fall in love with live music. I have completely lost track of the number of gigs I have been to since!
Oh and Raining Blood is about angels blood raining down on a man who escaped from purgatory to exact his revenge and tear heaven to shit. If that isn’t metal then I don’t know what is. The fact that Tom Araya is a devout Catholic makes a mockery of the years Slayer were labelled as a Satanists as a result of this kind of lyrical work!
So there we have the end of an absolute masterpiece of an album. Over in a flash and begging for repeated listening. Aggressive, controversial and encapsulates everything that was great about the golden age of thrash metal. In my opinion, Reign In Blood will never be surpassed.
Check out the year in review with best metal albums and metal songs of 2020.
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