606 Slayer - Reign In Blood (1986)

 606 Slayer - Reign In Blood (1986)

Studio Album - Thrash Metal



About the Act:

Slayer were a thrash metal band from California, who were formed in 1980. They were one of the "big four" of thrash - the others being Megadeth, Metallica and Anthrax. After 12 studio albums they called it a day in 2019. 

About the Album:

Apparently, this is widely regarded as one of the seminal albums of Thrash/Speed metal. Metalheads love it, metal critics love it, even some critics who are not particularly metalheads love it.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

This has been described as one of the heaviest albums of all time. It has also been described as ground-breaking, especially in the quality of the production for a thrash metal album. A quick read around about the album clearly demonstrates its influence. I'm keen to give it respect as a result. I'm not a stranger to metal, but far from an expert. I can say that I think it is early, in its stylistic stance, compared to when this sort of thing became more widespread and popular. By my reckoning, a good 5 or 10 years ahead of the bubble.

Let's attempt some description. Let's start with saying that you need to have at least some openness to metal to find this at all appealing. I think I would put myself in the category of "some" openness. The sound is very reminiscent of where metal went, breaking off from the likes of AC/DC, by pushing the extremes of heaviness. It's very loud, with very overdriven chuggy rhythm guitar, crunchy bass, some searing lead lines, and fast, incessant drumming, including lots of cymbals and bass drum hits that come much faster than should be physically possible, even with double bass drums and pedals so you can use both feet. In this sense the music is a cliché of heaviness. Harmonically it is very much into the modern metal mode, the dominant note is what I suspect is an open E and the normal diatonic major scale is out of the window in favour of metal modalness. A lot of the playing is very fast and technical, and there is obviously skill and timing. The end result is mostly a carpet of heaviness or chugs. There is variety, and different rhythms, and occasional sound effects.

I'm not going to call the vocals "singing". That would be a disservice. It is mostly shouting with the occasional scream. It is not the growling of death metal or the screeching of black metal. It is, in its own way, almost rap, but shouted. You can, however, make out some of the lyrics. You might not want to, but you can. Apparently, they have pulled back from their previous heavy emphasis on pro-satanic, anti-Christian lyrics. There is one very clearly anti-Christian song on the album (Jesus Saves) and one clearly pro-satanic (Altar of Sacrifice).  The first track, which was considered controversial, is about the medical experiments of Mengele at Auschwitz, and there are songs about mental issues and other dark topics like this. None of this is particularly unusual for the extremes of metal, I think there has been a prevalent macho one-upmanship in the metal world surrounding who can produce the most shocking lyrics, which has mirrored a similar trend in rap. Is this a healthy release or a dangerous obsession? 

So, if the lyrics might offend you, stay away. If you don't like metal, stay away. What about me, did I like it? That's a complicated question. I don't mind a bit of metal, I have listened to more extreme music than this. I would have to be in the right mood, but musically it's OK and I can respect their ground-breaking-ness. On the other hand, in some of my reviews of rap, I have taken umbrage at the lyrics, and I'm quite turned off this having looked up some of the lyrics to get a better idea. On balance, I'd rather stay away from it. 

5.6/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5v5BfkxWDAKTkzrXl3H0mU

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrjHhI-SHZhhwZJBxV15dVN-uLJYwdTv8

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_in_Blood



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