At only 29 minutes long, Reign in Blood is perfect proof of quality over quantity. Just because the songs aren't long, doesn't mean the music ain't good, or ain't as amazing as some ploddy plops prog bullsh*t.
The production on this album gives Slayer the ability to convey their diabolical thrash through a more accessible lens. I know people sh*t on Rick Rubin for his modern day production work (looking at you, Revival), but he really did a fantastic job conveying Slayer with far more clarity than their debut and perhaps more than Hell Awaits (which is, by the way, a classic in its own right).
This album is far more than just Angel of Death, Raining Blood & everything in between. The point of the album is how fast the band can play and how to make the best impression in the shortest time. So, yeah, you get recycled riffs, songs in the same key, and similar lyrical motifs peppered throughout. So what? This is music to be appreciated as a whole, rather than as individual parts. I mean, who honestly listens to Altar of Sacrifice and not listen to its twin song, Jesus Saves? Heathens, that's who.
The guitar playing on this album is insane. Both Hanneman and King trade off riffs and solos as if in their own battle of Heaven and Hell. These six-stringed instruments are getting obliterated - take Angel of Death alone. That series of solos toward the end of the track is random, atonal, and utterly chaotic. I would not have it any other way. Oh, and, check out the whammy bar rape. Elsewhere, the riffa*ge is suited for slower moments; the opening of Criminally Insane and Postmortem prove that the band can reduce the speed without sacrificing the intensity.
Angel of Death is a masterclass in how to open an album. Tom Araya's scream is arguably the best scream ever, and the proudest "stepped on a LEGO" moment I think captured on tape. Lombardo's drumming - that double bass drum onslaught before everything comes back for a final chorus tho!!! - is top notch throughout, and indeed on the whole album, because he keeps momentum going. Angel of Death, in particular, is just going straight for the throat, continuing to slice even when your head is firmly off of your shoulders.
Lyrically, you will find more extreme lyrics in metal, whether they be the OTT and tongue in cheek Cannibal Corpse or the offense magnet that is Anal c*nt, but I doubt you'll find anything as dark or as diabolical as the lyrics penned by Hanneman and King. I mean - I know I keep going back to this track - let's be real: Angel of Death is the most graphic depiction of the Holocaust and the heinous experiments by Josef Mengele. Oh, and another thing, it's from the perspective of the bad guys. Read this:
Auschwitz, the meaning of pain
The way that I want you to die
Slow death, immense decay
Showers that cleanse you of your life
Forced in like cattle you run
Stripped of your life's worth
Human mice, for the angel of death
Four hundred thousand more to die
...
Millions laid out in their
Crowded tombs
Sickening ways to achieve
The holocaust
Pathetic harmless victims
Left to die
Rancid angel of death
Flying free
And morality police guardians think that this song advocates the Holocaust? It's pretty obvious that this song comes from a place of interest in the subject matter, but clearly there is no support for it. Then again, the song doesn't outright condemn the Nazis, even if the adjective "rancid" gives it away.
The filler songs so to speak are still amazing. Necrophobic has this really cool hornet swarm sound to it, with Araya's motormouth commanding the proceedings. Then, with Reborn and Epidemic, we get a sort of medieval vibe being brought in. All I can think of is fire, in both the idea of burning the witch in the former song and burning the victims to prevent the spread of disease in the latter. Although a tough act to follow, Piece by Piece picks up where Angel of Death left off by just going for speed.
The twin pairing of Altar of Sacrifice (a song actually about, you know, sacrificing virgins and even says "HAIL SATAN!") and Jesus Saves is actually genius. The former song is probably Kerry King's crowning achievement as a composer, and the opening minute of Jesus Saves is sludgy and slowburning as f*ck, before...you guessed it, SPEEEEED!
Speaking of Jesus Saves, please give a standing ovation to Mr. Tom Araya, not only being a bass player singer but by singing lyrics totally spitting in the face of his Catholic faith. The temptation to refuse to make art due to conflicts of beliefs is there from almost everyone, so for him to actually go along with it and mean it is a feat in and of itself. I'm sure he said four hundred thousand Hail Mary's after vomiting this out:
You go to the church, you kiss the cross
You will be saved at any cost
You have your own reality
Christianity
You spend your life just kissing ass
A trait that's grown as time has passed
You think the world will end today
You praise the Lord, it's all you say
Yeah, this reads like an edgy 14 year old atheist. It's become a King staple to just lambast Christianity for the f*ck of it. However, divorced from the purpose of the song - to piss off Christians - the guy does have a point. It's just that it's difficult to make out when Araya is trying to keep up with the onslaught of blast beats and crushing guitars.
Raining Blood is overplayed for a reason: it is a f*cking masterpiece. After the end of Postmortem, another winner for my money thanks to its kickass riff, we get rain falling. Then, thudding drums, and feedback. The guitars enter - DUN DUN DUN - and then the album closer is set loose. The verses are almost the nail in the coffin, going as fast as anywhere on the album. The lyrics, too, are of resolution, a literal mutiny in Heaven.
Trapped in purgatory
A lifeless object, alive
Awaiting reprisal
Death will be their acquiescence
The sky is turning red
Return to power draws near
Fall into me, the sky's crimson tears
Abolish the rules made of stone
...
Raining blood
From a lacerated sky
Bleeding its horror
Creating my structure now I shall reign in blood
A sole guitar, and then - I sh*t you not, this is actually credited on the album - noise comes flooding through. The drums are going faster than before, the bass is totally buried, the whammy bars are being ripped out of their bridges. It's rising! It's going! IT'S GONNA-
*clap of thunder and rain for fifty seconds*
It's actually taken me longer to write this review than the album itself. I suppose I should take a leaf out of Slayer's book and use more brevity.
I am unsure if this or South of Heaven is my favourite Slayer album. Whilst RiB thrives on speed, SoH is a much more doom-laden, atmospheric album. Either way, I love this album and it is an absolute classic, deserving of all of its accolades. May you forever reign, my dark and twisted friend.
