# Slayer's Reign In Blood just turned 30 years old!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 9, 2016, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034 "2016-10-09T05:46:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/1 "2016-10-09T05:46:21Z")

</div>

Yep, the band has now been together for over 35 years, even surviving the death of one of it’s founders and arguably their best songwriter, Jeff Hanneman, back in 2013.

The album remains one of the best known, most loved and awesome metal albums of all time; it’s importance to thrash, hardcore, death metal and many other sub-genres cannot be overstated.

Rob Zombie famously said of metal fans (and Slayer fans in particular):

> [@Rob Zombie](#):
>
> No one says, 'I was into Slayer–one summer. I’ve never met that guy. I’ve only met the guy who has ‘Slayer’ carved across his chest.

[VICE even ran an article about it:

> [@](#):
>
> The iconic 1986 album is all killer, no filler, and unquestionably remains one of heavy metal’s greatest triumphs.
> 
> Slayer is the best metal band of all time. Reign in Blood is their best album. It turns 30 this Friday, October 7. Bow down. Recognize. Worship it. Slaughter a fatted calf or eat a big Kuma’s burger. Blare it. Rock it. Tell your friends. Reign totally kills. Still.

]([30 Years and Still Reigning: a Tribute to Slayer's Enduring Masterpiece, 'Reign in Blood'](https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/30-years-and-still-reigning-a-tribute-to-slayers-enduring-masterpiece-reign-in-blood))

So I’m calling on the board’s metalheads and headbangers to join me in praising this album. Tell us about your favorite song. Talk about what you see as the lasting impact it has had on our beloved & brutal music scene. Link us the video of that time you tried to do _Aggressive Perfector_ at karaoke. Or whatever.

And if you haven’t heard of Slayer or just haven’t heard Slayer, this thread could serve as your gateway drug, so to speak…  
I’ll go first:

I bought SOD’s _Speak English Or Die_ the day it was released in 1985 and drove my mom, my sister and my friends crazy with how much I listened to it. It was simply the loudest, fastest, angriest, funniest thing I had ever heard and I couldn’t get enough of it.

When _Reign In Blood_ was released months later, I was kind of amazed that these were whole non-joke songs whizzing by my ears. They didn’t have the same kind of bludgeoning sound as SOD, exactly, but they were definitely faster, darker and much, much more technically precise. They were playing at speeds that would make punk bands struggle, but they were clearly playing without the slop I was used to. This was the first time I had ever heard of the band, had ever heard the band, and the impression they made was as stark as if my skull had been cut into, the lid pulled back and a finger was poked into my brain (yeah, kinda like Derek in _Bad Taste_).

Suddenly the promise implicit in Metallica’s first two albums was realized! It was right here, playing on my stereo! I mean, we all thought _Ride The Lightning_ was a freaking masterpiece (and it is) but _Reign In Blood_ was something on a whole new level. Slayer was faster (SO much faster), louder, and seemed more committed to their music than any other band I had ever heard. They were both more raw and more polished than anyone else, too. I remember thinking that this was gonna be the end for bands like W.A.S.P. and Dokken and Poison and Cinderella, bands that wanted the bad boy image without truly being bad boys except that they drank beer and were late to class and didn’t do their homework. Slayer was fucking _evil_ and _powerful_; their music sounded like someone controlling a hurricane through sheer force of will.

And it took some time, but it did work out that hair/glam metal largely went away; it’s pretty much a dead genre today. Thrash, on the other hand, is more popular than ever and the genres that have sprung up since 1986 are going strong and going in one direction: faster, louder, more brutal and more bludgeoning than ever (and I couldn’t be happier; this is a fucking fantastic time to be a metalhead!).

My favorite track, without a doubt, is [Angel Of Death](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6_zsJ8KPP0). It opens the album perfectly (with that insanely fast, complicated guitar riffing, a couple of drum blasts and then that blood-curdling scream as the drums begin a frantic gallop), cruises from like 110bpm to 240bpm during the solos and is just so fucking in-your-face all the time that it always ALWAYS elicits headbanging and an urgent desire to mosh (this is sometimes a problem if I happen to be driving). This was the first song I ever heard by Slayer and 30 years later it remains my favorite.

It certainly helps that Slayer hasn’t sold out or slowed down in the years since; last year’s _Repentless_ was proof of that. Dave Mustaine has turned into a whackjob, Metallica lost their way more than 20 years ago and Anthrax has had a, um, varied career but Slayer has always been loud, always been fast, always been angry and most importantly, they’ve always been focused on being the band they wanted to be when they set out back in 1981.

I love this album and I’ve listened to it 8 times in the last 2 days. I’m hoping to get 30 listens in before the week is over!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/2 "2016-10-09T06:18:30Z")

</div>

When I was a teen. I would wake up on Sunday mornings, turn the TV onto whatever televangelist show that was playing, mute the volume on the TV then pop in my Slayer cassette in the stereo and jam out to SoH while I smoked pot all morning.  
Good times.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/3 "2016-10-09T11:22:51Z")

</div>

By the time thrash got big, I was broadening my tastes and had fewer “music listening units” for metal. Knew Slayer but didn’t seek them out.

Years later I started seeking out Rick Rubin produced albums I hadn’t heard. Didn’t go on a buying spree, but chose those over others when on a music run. So I listened to Reign in Blood end to end and without access to the album, liner notes if any, etc. all I can say is: the album hangs together and sounds really good.

It is one I plan to go back to when I have more time and dig in a bit.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/4 "2016-10-09T11:45:28Z")

</div>

I bought the album around 1988. [Raining Blood](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8ZqFlw6hYg) is my favourite song but the whole album is a milestone.

What I like about this song is not just that every single of its riffs is an absolute killer but also the interplay between the ultrafast guitars and the more spaced drums. You can hear it at the very beginning and right after the repeated power chords towards the middle. The contrast between these two time planes creates a completely irresistible groove.

And like **Snowboarder Bo** has said, the whole thing felt real and evil in a way that was almost palpable. I was already familiar with **Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, Iron Maiden** and probably **Testament** , but this reeked of malevolence and pure terror. It actually gave me some creepy nightmares at the time and I was in my mid-teens! The [cover](https://thrashemall.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/reign-in-blood.jpg) had a lot to do with them, but the noises at the beginning of **Raining Blood** were a perfect soundscape for it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/5 "2016-10-09T12:49:42Z")

</div>

I still can’t believe Jeff Hanneman is dead.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/6 "2016-10-09T17:44:31Z")

</div>

Oh man that takes me back. I used to have all of Slayer’s albums(at that time, mid and late 80s). I haven’t listened to Slayer in a long long time. Tastes for everyday listening have changed over the years but I still like to go back every once in a great while when the Mrs. and the guestlings are out of the house and line up the old favorites like Slayer, Metal Church, SoD, Overkill etc. (who I just now learned are still around and not disbanded at all as I had been informed)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/7 "2016-10-09T17:47:02Z")

</div>

> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> My favorite track, without a doubt, is [Angel Of Death](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6_zsJ8KPP0). It opens the album perfectly (with that insanely fast, complicated guitar riffing, a couple of drum blasts and then that blood-curdling scream as the drums begin a frantic gallop), cruises from like 110bpm to 240bpm during the solos and is just so fucking in-your-face all the time that it always ALWAYS elicits headbanging and an urgent desire to mosh (this is sometimes a problem if I happen to be driving). This was the first song I ever heard by Slayer and 30 years later it remains my favorite.

Interesting. I’m 57 and was never into metal but your appreciation of the song was so effusive I clicked on the link and it was a first time listen for me. I get the technical appreciation the licks are ferocious, but the lyrics were more interesting so [I wikied up the song.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_of_Death_(Slayer_song))

> [@](#):
>
> According to guitarist Kerry King: “Yeah, ‘Slayer are Nazis, fascists, communists’—all that fun shit. And of course we got the most flak for it in Germany. I was always like, ‘Read the lyrics and tell me what’s offensive about it. Can you see it as a documentary, or do you think Slayer’s preaching fucking World War II?’ People get this thought in their heads—especially in Europe—and you’ll never talk them out of it.”[2]

You talk about Slayer being “authentic” but the “it was just a book about Mengele I’d read” excuses he gives for the holocaust diorama are weak, tissue paper thin lies coming from an avid collector of Nazi memorabilia. That they are throwing that in the face of the people in Europe that were in the middle of it and effectively telling them to get over it is about as juvenile and puerile as anything I can imagine.

Their musical virtuosity is great but hearing it tacked onto what sounds like the philosophical musings of a not too bright 13 year old is … interesting.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/8 "2016-10-09T21:30:56Z")

</div>

Never mind; I’ve decided this post is irrelevant to the purpose of the thread.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/9 "2016-10-09T21:38:27Z")

</div>

> [@astro](#):
>
> Their musical virtuosity is great but hearing it tacked onto what sounds like the philosophical musings of a not too bright 13 year old is … interesting.

Slayer is cool, but even their “evil” or “kind of Satanic” thing is fake. I think one of the members is Catholic.

They are just a really talented metal band.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/10 "2016-10-09T21:41:34Z")

</div>

Just for fun…scroll down for short video.

> **[Florida man head-bangs to Slayer's 'Raining Blood' during Hurricane Matthew -...](https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2016/10/08/Florida-man-head-bangs-to-Slayers-Raining-Blood-during-Hurricane-Matthew/6421475933871/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=im&utm_tracker=1736664x84899)**
>
> A Florida man braved strong winds and rain brought on by Hurricane Matthew to "head bang" to heavy metal music outdoors.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/11 "2016-10-09T22:12:22Z")

</div>

> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> Slayer is cool, but even their “evil” or “kind of Satanic” thing is fake. I think one of the members is Catholic.
> 
> They are just a really talented metal band.

Correct. Tom Araya is Catholic. From [his Wikipedia page:

> [@](#):
>
> Araya resides in Buffalo, Texas where he owns a ranch with his wife Sandra Araya and two children, daughter Ariel Asa Araya (b. May 11, 1996) and son Tomas Enrique Araya, Jr. (b. June 14, 1999).[6] He and his wife run a family ranch that includes 60+ head of cattle among other ranch animals. Araya reports that he sings country songs to help keep his “singing chops up.”[13] Araya and his wife enjoy horror films such as The Amityville Horror and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The two allowed their children to watch horror films, but made it clear to them that it is just a movie when they asked “Is this real?”

> [@](#):
>
> In an interview, Araya expressed his belief that “…Christ came and taught us about love, about doing unto others. That was his preach: Accept each other for who we are. Live peacefully, and love one another.” When asked if he believed in God, he replied “I believe in a supreme being, yeah. But He’s an all-loving God.”[15] Araya explained that he has a “really strong belief system,” and Slayer’s words and images will “never interfere with what I believe and how I feel… People are not in good shape to where they have to question their own belief system because of a book or a story somebody wrote, or a Slayer song.”[16]
> 
> Araya commented about the misconception of the band labeled as Satan worshippers, “Yeah, yeah I think that’s one of the biggest misconceptions towards the band, but next to that just the fact that we’re normal.” If guitarist King writes a good song, Araya puts his beliefs aside, “I’m not one that’s going to go, ‘This sucks because it’s contrary to my beliefs.’ To me it’s more like ‘This is really good stuff. You’re going to piss people off with this.’”

]([Tom Araya - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Araya#Personal_life))

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/12 "2016-10-09T22:13:47Z")

</div>

> [@ThisSpaceForRent](#):
>
> Just for fun…scroll down for short video.
> 
> [Florida man head-bangs to Slayer's 'Raining Blood' during Hurricane Matthew - UPI.com](http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2016/10/08/Florida-man-head-bangs-to-Slayers-Raining-Blood-during-Hurricane-Matthew/6421475933871/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=im&utm_tracker=1736664x84899)

See, that’s the kind of thing Rob Zombie was talking about!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/13 "2016-10-09T23:06:47Z")

</div>

> [@WordMan](#):
>
> By the time thrash got big, I was broadening my tastes and had fewer “music listening units” for metal. Knew Slayer but didn’t seek them out.
> 
> Years later I started seeking out Rick Rubin produced albums I hadn’t heard. Didn’t go on a buying spree, but chose those over others when on a music run. So I listened to Reign in Blood end to end and without access to the album, liner notes if any, etc. all I can say is: the album hangs together and sounds really good.
> 
> It is one I plan to go back to when I have more time and dig in a bit.

I should have replied to this post earlier…

**WordMan** , two of Rick Rubin’s biggest and best accomplishments are this album and Danzig’s eponymous first album. Many people will also cite The Cult’s _Electric_, but I prefer their early work.

Rick Rubin’s strength as a producer, IMO, is that he understands the songs while ignoring all the bells and whistles. With Slayer, he saw thru the speed and the frantic solos and the lyrics and heard the basic riffs and the song structure and knew how to transfer that to a recording. Same with Danzig (and The Cult). This allows him to capture the essence of the band’s sound _within_ the songs, never allowing the “zazz” (to borrow a term from William Murderface) to overwhelm anything.

He and Sanford Parker are my favorite music producers. They have different approaches to things, but their results are nearly always awesome.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/14 "2016-10-09T23:19:26Z")

</div>

_Reign in Blood_ is a fantastic album, but _Hell Awaits_ is still my favorite.

I do wish they had used better [cover art](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reign_in_blood.jpg) for this album. It’s decent I suppose, but not nearly as iconic or memorable as [this,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AnthraxAmongTheLiving.jpg) or [this,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Metallica_-_Master_of_Puppets_cover.jpg) or [this.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Iron_Maiden_-_Powerslave.jpg)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/15 "2016-10-09T23:38:01Z")

</div>

It’s only 29 minutes long. But it is the best 29 minutes of thrash!

The first time I saw Slayer (1993? maybe 94?) I remember as i walked into the venue, they had a disclaimer posted to the effect of “Warning! Slayer uses high powered strobe lights that may induce seizures”…And holy cow, those green strobes melted your face off when they fired em up. It was also The Loudest Thing I’ve ever attended, and it was brilliant. Oh, and they played the entire Reign in Blood album beginning to end as the encore.

When Hanneman died, they had a free tribute to him at The Hollywood Palladium. They handed out Jeff Hanneman memorial guitar picks. I still have it. But I don’t play guitar.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/16 "2016-10-10T01:50:51Z")

</div>

> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> I should have replied to this post earlier…
> 
> **WordMan** , two of Rick Rubin’s biggest and best accomplishments are this album and Danzig’s eponymous first album. Many people will also cite The Cult’s _Electric_, but I prefer their early work.
> 
> Rick Rubin’s strength as a producer, IMO, is that he understands the songs while ignoring all the bells and whistles. With Slayer, he saw thru the speed and the frantic solos and the lyrics and heard the basic riffs and the song structure and knew how to transfer that to a recording. Same with Danzig (and The Cult). This allows him to capture the essence of the band’s sound _within_ the songs, never allowing the “zazz” (to borrow a term from William Murderface) to overwhelm anything.
> 
> He and Sanford Parker are my favorite music producers. They have different approaches to things, but their results are nearly always awesome.

Okay, now I have to figure out who Sanford Parker is!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/17 "2016-10-10T03:05:46Z")

</div>

> [@WordMan](#):
>
> Okay, now I have to figure out who Sanford Parker is!

Sanford Parker is a musician and recording producer/engineer. He plays bass with a post-rock band called Minsk and plays guitar in his own band Buried At Sea. He is also active with a number of side projects.

I’m that weird guy who reads liner notes and insists on not just staying thru the movie credits but actually reading them.

So I noticed about 10 or 12 years ago that his name was on a lot of the albums I was buying and enjoying like Yakuza, Lair Of The Minotaur, Rwake, Gigan, The Gates Of Slumber, Coffinworm, etc., etc. [Here’s his list of credits on AMG](http://www.allmusic.com/artist/sanford-parker-mn0000834249/credits); not sure how complete that is.

Anyway, he moved up to Chicago after attending Orlando’s SAIL (ugh!) and played in bands and recorded people and now he’s pretty much a full-time producer but generally active in the metal community (which in Chicago comprises a lot of sub-genres and experimental stuff).

I’ve actually considered asking him about an internship or something because I respect his work so much and I do a bit of recording myself (mostly _for_ myself, at the moment) but so far this “life” thing keeps getting in the way of that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/18 "2016-10-10T10:28:45Z")

</div>

Cool, I will have to check him out. Thanks!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HowSoonIsThen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@HowSoonIsThen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HowSoonIsThen)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/19 "2016-10-10T12:36:23Z")

</div>

> [@buddha\_david](#):
>
> _Reign in Blood_ is a fantastic album, but _Hell Awaits_ is still my favorite.
> 
> I do wish they had used better [cover art](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reign_in_blood.jpg) for this album. It’s decent I suppose, but not nearly as iconic or memorable as [this,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AnthraxAmongTheLiving.jpg) or [this,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Metallica_-_Master_of_Puppets_cover.jpg) or [this.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Iron_Maiden_-_Powerslave.jpg)

I’d put it up with Master of Puppets and Powerslave’s artwork. It’s a different style, but very fitting for the music.

Among the Living doesn’t do anything for me. Neither the art nor the album.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2016, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034/20 "2016-10-10T13:16:14Z")

</div>

Fantastic album. The production is perfect.

I saw them at Bogart’s in Cincinnati soon after Reign In Blood came out. A loud-n-fast concert.

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slayers-reign-in-blood-just-turned-30-years-old/768034.md?page=2)
