Slayer's pentultimate 1986 masterpiece.
Produced by Rick Rubin and released on Def Jam
The first satanic thrash metal album ever released on a major
label.
One of the most controversial albums of all time.
One of the fastest albums of all time: clocking in at just under 30 minutes.
Song list:
1) Angel of Death (90% of the controversy) 10/10
2)
Piece by
Piece 9/10
3) Necrophobic 9/10
4) Altar of Sacrifice 10/10
5) Jesus Saves (the other ten percent of the controversy) 10/10
6) Criminally Insane 10/10
7) Reborn 9/10
8) Epidemic 9/10
9) Postmortem 10/10
10) Raining Blood 10/10
Reign in Blood's release was delayed because of concerns regarding its lyrical subject matter and graphic artwork: several Catholic Popes drowning in a
river of blood in Hell;
Satan on his throne; etc.
The opening
track, "Angel of Death", references Josef Mengele and details acts committed at the Auschwitz concentration camp, which provoked allegations of Nazism. Slayer takes no pro or
con position on the matter in the song.
The album was Slayer's first to enter the Billboard 200; the release peaked at number 94, and in 1992 was awarded a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Kerrang! magazine described it as the "heaviest album of all time" while Metal
Hammer magazine named it "the
best metal album of the last 20 years".
Inexplicably the ultra-mainstream Spin Magazine ranked the album number 67 on their list of the "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-
2005."
Slayer's "Reign In Blood" was directly responsible for the rise of
death metal and cannot be bested. Bow down.
Reign in Blood is by
far the
best metal album of the 1980s bar none.
