This is correct, and to quote an Emp post from several years ago: "it's twice the intensity in half the time". It also has precisely zero filler tracks and the only track I don't consider among the best Slayer have ever written is "Piece by Piece".

That is the final verdict. Reign in Blood is incredible. Non-negotiable.

I'm not negotiating that RiB is incredible. Slayer is considered one of the big four, and one of the most consistent and successful bands in heavy metal period, but that's also because of a lot of the material they wrote outside of that album, and it annoys me when people sweep DI under the rug like it wasn't a total classic.

Seriously. When I think thrash, I don't think Megadeth, I don't think Metallica, I think Reign in fucking Blood. Clearly, it has something to do with the kind of thrash I'm into, which is the more extreme end of things (you say Exodus?!! I say Morbid Saint!!!11). Generally, give me German teutonic thrash over American any day, but Slayer really is the glaring exception. Does thrash really get more evil than Hell Awaits? Does it get faster and more brutal than Reign in Blood? Show me.

I can kind of understand the frustration... but Divine Intervention really wasn't a total classic. Pretty much the only song I can remember from it off the top of my head is "Dittohead". The songwriting just really took a dive around that time. I mean, it's a good album, I wouldn't protest to somebody putting it on, but I'll almost never listen to it on my own volition, especially since they have six releases prior to that which are better in every conceivable way.

I'm actually listening to it right now as I like all of Slayer's discography (yes, yes) and it's pretty good, I wouldn't call it a classic either but it. The title track is epic, I always liked their slower songs too.

Funny that this thread is now about Slayer's whole career and that I really don't care about that. 'cause Slayer, man!

People can like DI to the Moon if they want. Go for it!

But it definitively was NOT a "classic."

That and I think everything that there is to be said about the future of slayer has been said. If Dave and Jeff don't come back into the band then it'll be a fucking miracle if Slayer puts out a good record, but it would feel horribly illegitimate either way. The best we can hope for is that Jeff Hanneman and Pete Sandoval make complete recoveries from their illnesses and make some kind of unholy supergroup.

They'll be back. It's the same old story, told a thousand times. Whatever differences they have, eventually there will be money in a tour. -- and the more original members, the more it will be worth.

So they'll play again, together, someday. Health permitting, of course.

I'm just glad I saw that Reign in Blood tour. A buddy of mine saw them waaaay back, right after they released Hell Awaits. I'm jealous .

They really don't have a bad album; DIM and GHUA were just "meh" really. UA is awesome for the fact it has Gemini alone.

Reign in Blood is fantastic and a wonderful example of thrash metal, but if I'm in the mood for thrash metal, I'll put on Spectrum of Death, Behind the Realms of Madness, Killing Technology, or Beneath the Remains before I reach for Reign in Blood. It's a highly influential album, and a very good one, but nowhere near the best example of the style IMO.

Reign In Blood is predominantly death metal though. Also fuck everyone thinking that album is overrated. Maybe a tiny bit because Hell Awaits is Slayer's best album, but there's some groundbreaking music on it and people should just realize that already. Saying popular things are overrated, in fact only because they are popular, is such an idiotic trend.

Haha, yes Tony. This has turned into a Slayer discussion! My contribution would be that I don't distinguish or choose one album over the other but we're strictly talking about the albums till SITA. I enjoy them all. Each album has something good to offer.

My only gripe with their live setlist is that they don't play 'The Anti-Christ' anymore. It's such an amazingly fun song.

Boops, I'm a bit of a retarded proof reader sometimes, my apologies.

What? No it's not. It had influence on DM bands but it definitely was 100% pure thrash.

Why do I think Divine Intervention was the closest to Reign In Blood 2? It has the chaos factor that Slayer got rid of on South Of Heaven. I'd even say God Hates Us All was another attempt at bringing the chaos back after Diabolus In Musica.

They did that one the last time I saw them!
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/slayer/20 ... 2707e.html

To contribute to the Slayer discussion, I really dont understand people who like South of Heaven but not Seasons In the Abyss...seriously those albums are stylistically almost the same and besides Seasons is in so many ways better than South, everything that was wrong with South was improved on Seasons. The vocals are more aggressive while still retaining melody, guitar tone is sharper and more vicious and also the songs themselves sound more focused and better developed in general IMO

I only like South more because from a guitarists standpoint, it is infinitely more interesting. That and South is a tad bit slower and not as overproduced. But man, there are some great riffs on Seasons too.

Haha, no worries. Sorry for the dick way in which I asked that. Being drunk and tired leads to me being impatient.

Well, I disagree.

Well, do, doesn't make your opinion a fact though since it's well, you know nonfactual.

Sure, it's on Wikipedia so it must be true!

Inhumanist...... May I ask why you think RIB is predominantly a death metal album? I mean, saying that it's a precursor of the style would be actually understandable, but outright stating that it contains more death metal elements than thrash leanings..... I mean, where are the growls, the blast beats and the slow, crushing sections?

So because it was really influential on the genre, still a good album, and one of the best examples of thrash...it's not the best example of the genre? Are you retarded?

On it.

Have to sleep on it though. It's 3:00 AM and my elaborations escalate.

Are YOU retarded? He's saying that it's a good thrash album, highly influential, but there are albums he prefers. I don't see how you didn't get that.

I think there are numerous "best examples" of every genre. It's all subjective.

He's saying that it's not the best example of the genre, which in fact it kinda is.

Absolutely. Stained Class is one of my favorite heavy metal records so that's all the more reason why I loved Slayer's first album.

Regarding the Reign in Blood and death metal discussion, I would like to remind everyone here that Possessed released Seven Churches in October of 1985, almost a full year before Reign in Blood came out. Seven Churches is much, much closer to death metal than Reign in Blood is.


What makes it factually the best example of the thrash metal genre?

One of the best examples? Most definitely. The definitive, absolute paragon of the style? Very debatable, especially considering that stuff such as Spectre of Death, By Inheritance or Spreading the Disease (among many, many others) exists. And yes, I previously said that it's one of the pillars of thrash, and I stand by that, but I can't bring myself to say that it's also its undisputable zenith.

The absolute paragon is Onslaught's The Force, so yeah, I can agree sort of.

None of those had the same influence that RIB did. That's the problem. Those albums might be cool, but that's not the same as the sheer influence RIB had alone, as well as the album itself being universally praised as well.
Also, Spreading The Disease? Really? I really wouldn't say that's Anthrax's most influential album OR best either.

Spreading the Disease had some great stuff on it, but it's nothing compared to Among the Living.

@MrMcThrasher II; influence and quality are entirely separate things. And influential work might be below average or even bad in quality (quite a bit of The Beatles' stuff hasn't aged well, for a non metal example), while an excellent piece can be pretty much unknown by the public at large (*insert the thousands of barely recognized great albums here*). If we're gonna measure Reign in Blood's worth, or any other record's, for that matter, then I think we gotta leave the influence factor aside. This allows for a less biased, more effective analysis on the subject.

It's a close call, alright. That album's unbelievable. I should give it a listen or twenty one of these days. It's been a long time.

An odd choice. Yeah there are riffs galore but not many of them stick out or are memorable, same as the vocal lines - one of those albums that tend to become background music after a while.

I think The Schwartz is pretty ropey. I mean, there's not really that many riffs in those songs (especially given their tendency to drag on and on). It's a bunch of semi-retarded kids paying homage to Exodus and Show No Mercy, which is charming in its own right. But the cold, hard facts are that the riffs drag on and the vocalist really does suck. However, it is an early example of a sort a more generic style of thrash, which has always been Onslaught's thing as they always seemed to go "X + Y = our sound for this album" (look at the debut which is just Venom meets Discharge or In Search of Sanity which is assorted Metallica-isms matched with Steve Grimmett's OTT vocals).

Reign in Blood really isn't a representative of thrash as a whole, but I guess you could say it's a sort of flagship album for the genre. It's more intense, stripped-down and succinct than your typical thrash album. Of course, there's a lot more hardcore and death metal creeping in, too.

Yup. Like it if you will, but calling it a classic is like calling King Robert a fine, single-malt, aimed at those who truly love and understand their whisky.

and Ride The Lighting (Hell Awaits) smokes beats both their asses. Also, Seasons, while still good, was when Slayer started to get stale. Dave was only capable of playing one rote fast speed, as opposed to the multiple fast tempos he was capable of on albums past. War Ensemble, the second half of Spirit In Black Hallowed Point and Born of Fire are all more or less interchangeable because of this.

The Force has dragging riffs and shitty vocals? Can't agree with you guys on there; I love both the riffs and those vocals like they were my children. That album is the pure embodiment of smoking steel thrash ownage for me.

But on Slayer, yeah, RIB isn't a representative for thrash as a whole so much as it is a singular expression of the ideology of thrash taken to its logical extreme.

Wow that was pretentious...

This blows. I haven't seen Slayer since 2006 I think and I've been waiting for them to come close again. But if its Kerry and Tom plus two fill ins I'm not interested.