Reign in Blood Totally Explained

Everything about Reign In Blood totally explained

Reign in Blood is the third studio album and major label debut by the American thrash metal band Slayer. Released on October 7, 1986, the album was the band's first collaboration with record producer Rick Rubin, whose input helped the band's sound evolve. Reign in Blood was very well received by both critics and fans, and was responsible for bringing Slayer to the attention of a mainstream metal audience. Kerrang! magazine described the record as "the heaviest album of all time", and a breakthrough in thrash metal and Speed metal. Reign in Blood's release was delayed because of concerns regarding its graphic artwork and lyrical subject matter. The opening track, "Angel of Death", which refers to Josef Mengele and describes acts committed at the Auschwitz concentration camp, provoked allegations of Nazism. However, the band stated numerous times they don't condone Nazism, and are merely interested in the subject. The album was Slayer's first to enter the Billboard 200; the release peaked at number 94, and was awarded gold certification on November 20 1992.

Record label changes

Following the positive reception to Slayer's previous release Hell Awaits, the band's producer and manager Brian Slagel realized the band were in a position to hit the "big time" with their next album. Slagel negotiated with several record labels, among them Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons's Def Jam Records. However, Slagel was reluctant to sign the band to what was at the time primarily a hip hop label. Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo was made aware of Rubin's interest, and made a move to contact him. However, the other Slayer members were apprehensive at leaving Metal Blade Records, with whom they were under contract. This resulted in drastic changes to Slayer's sound, and changed audiences' perception of the band. Araya has since admitted their two previous releases were under-par production wise. Guitarist Kerry King later remarked that "It was like, 'Wow—you can hear everything, and those guys aren't just playing fast; those notes are on time.'" The music is abrasive and faster than previous releases helping to push the gap between thrash metal and its predecessor hardcore punk, and is played at an average of 210 beats per minute.
"Due to Reign in Blood’s high punk influence, songs are lightning fast, often containing little or no repetition or predictable structure. Because of this, the album flows seamlessly from one song to another forming one solid half hour of thrash."

Critical response

Although the album received no radio airplay, it was the band's first release to enter the Billboard 200, where it debuted at number 127, and attained its peak position of 94 in its sixth week. The album also reached number 47 on the UK Album Chart, and on November 20, 1992 it was certified gold in the United States. Reign in Blood was well received by the underground and mainstream music press. Reviewing for All Music Guide, which was established in 1991, Steve Huey awarded the album five out of five, describing it a "stone-cold classic". Jarvis further remarked the song "Angel of Death", "smokes the asses of any band playing fast and/or heavy today. Lyrically outlining the horrors to come, while musically laying the groundwork for the rest of the record: fast, lean and filthy." while Metal Hammer magazine named it "the best metal album of the last 20 years". Q magazine ranked Reign in Blood among their list of the "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time", and Spin Magazine ranked the album number 67 on their list of the "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005". Critic Chad Bowar stated :"1986's Reign in Blood is probably the best thrash album ever recorded.
"Reign In Blood" is something like the Holy Grail.” “Hannemann/King have assembled some of the heaviest and coolest riffs of all time” “here even Black and Death Metallers will get wet pants. The sound of the album also is very good and somehow has a very special atmosphere that's slowly choking the last breath from your lungs.”- The Metal Observer
Adrien Begrand of Popmatters observed that: "There's no better song to kick things off than the masterful "Angel of Death", one of the most monumental songs in metal history, where guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman deliver their intricate riffs, drummer Dave Lombardo performs some of the most powerful drumming ever recorded, and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya screams and snarls his tale of Nazi war criminal Joseph Mengele." When asked why Reign in Blood has retained its popularity, King replied: "If you released Reign in Blood today, no one would give a shit. It was timing; it was a change in sound. In thrash metal at that time, no one had ever heard good production on a record like that. It was just a bunch of things that came together at once."

Lombardo's departure

Slayer embarked on the Reign in Pain tour with the bands Overkill in the United States and Malice in Europe; they also served as the opening act for W.A.S.P.'s US tour in 1987. After a month of touring drummer Lombardo quit the band; he said, "I wasn't making any money. I think I'd just gotten married, and I figured if we were gonna be doing this professionally—on a major label—I wanted my rent and utilities paid". To continue the tour Slayer enlisted Whiplash drummer Tony Scaglione. and the album was ranked number 7 on IGN's "Top 25 influential Metal Albums". When asked during a press tour for 1994's Divine Intervention about the pressure of having to live up to Reign in Blood, King replied that the band didn't try to better it, but rather just wanted to make music.
   Rapper Necro was heavily influenced by the album, and has remarked that it takes him back to the 80s, "when shit was pure". Ektomorf vocalist Zoltán Farkas describes the album as one of his primary influences. Paul Mazurkiewicz of Cannibal Corpse stated Lombardo's performance on the album helped him play faster throughout his career.
   Hanneman has said that the album is his personal favorite, reasoning it's "so short and quick and to the point". Araya has remarked that Slayer's 2006 album Christ Illusion "comes close", but that "nothing can surpass Reign in Blood for intensity and impact. No one had heard anything like it before. In the twenty years since then, people have got more desensitized. What was over the top then might not be now." Drummer Paul Bostaph who was a Slayer member from 1992 to 2001 first heard the record when he was a member of Forbidden Evil. During a party Bostaph walked towards music he heard from another room, and approached Forbidden Evil guitarist Craig Locicero. When asked what music was playing, Locicero shouted "the new Slayer record". After listening closely to the record, he looked at Locicero, and concluded that his band was "fucked". The band played Reign in Blood in its entirety throughout the fall of 2004, under the tour banner "Still Reigning". In 2004, a live DVD of the same name was released, which included a finale with the band covered in fake blood during the performance of "Raining Blood".
   King later said that while the idea of playing Reign in Blood in its entirety was suggested before by their booking agency, it was met with little support. The band ultimately decided they needed to add more excitement to their live shows, and to avoid repetition incorporated the ideas of raining blood. When asked about using fake blood in future performances, King remarked "It's time to move on, but never say never. I know Japan never saw it, South America and Australia never saw it. So you never know".
   Although it was omitted from a number of concerts because of short time allotments, Slayer have often said that they enjoy playing the album in its entirety. According to Hanneman: "We still enjoy playing these songs live. We play these songs over and over and over, but they're good songs, intense songs! If it were melodic songs or some kind of boring 'clap your hands' song, you'd be going crazy playing those every night. But our songs are just bam-bam-bam-bam, they're intense". The band was on stage for 70 minutes, which only allowed seven or eight additional songs to be played following the album's play. King stated this arrangement "alienates too many people".

Controversy

Artwork

Def Jams' distributor, Columbia Records, refused to release the album due to its controversial lyrical themes and cover art. Reign in Blood was eventually distributed by Geffen Records; however, due to the controversy it didn't appear on Geffen's release schedule.

Lyrical themes

For the album, Slayer decided to abandon the Satanic themes explored on their previous album Hell Awaits, and write about issues that were more on a social level. Reign in Blood's lyrics include meditations on death, insanity, and murderers, while the lead track "Angel of Death" details human experiments conducted at the Auschwitz concentration camp by Josef Mengele; who was dubbed "the Angel of death" by inmates. The song led to accusations of Nazi sympathizing and racism, which have followed the band throughout their career.

Appearances in media

"Raining Blood" was covered by Tori Amos on her 2001 album Strange Little Girls. King has admitted that he thought the cover was odd: "It took me a minute and a half to find a spot in the song where I knew where she was. It's so weird. If she'd never told us, we'd have never known. You could have played it for us and we'd have been like, 'What's that?' Like a minute and a half through I heard a line and was like, 'I know where she's at!'" The band however liked the cover enough to send Slayer t-shirts to Tori Amos. The song was also covered by Malevolent Creation, Freaklabel, Chimaira, Vader, Reggie and the Full Effect and Erik Hinds, who covered the entire album on a H'arpeggione.
In 2005, the Slayer tribute band Dead Skin Mask released an album with eight Slayer tracks, including "Angel of Death". The death metal band Monstrosity covered the song in 1999, while the track was featured on the classical band Apocalyptica's 2006 album Amplified / A Decade of Reinventing the Cello. A Slayer tribute album titled Al Sur Del Abismo (Tributo Argentino A Slayer), compiled by Hurling Metal Records, featured sixteen tracks covered by Argentina metal bands, including Asinesia's version of "Angel of Death". Raining Blood was also covered by the New Zealand drum and bass band Concord Dawn on their 2003 album Uprising.
"Angel of Death" was featured in the multi–platform video game Tony Hawk's Project 8. Nolan Nelson, who selected the soundtrack for the game asserts; "one of the greatest heavy metal songs ever recorded. Don't know who Slayer is? I feel sorry for you". "Raining Blood" was included in the in–game radio station . The song was featured in the 127th South Park episode Die Hippie, Die aired on March 16, 2005. The plot centers on the town of South Park, which has been overrun by hippies. Eric Cartman states "Hippies can't stand death metal" and proceeds to drill through a hippie concert onto the main stage to change the audio to "Raining Blood", making the hippies run away. King found the episode humorous and expressed his interest in the show ending the interview with "It was good to see the song being put to good use, if we can horrify some hippies we've done our job.", where it's played during a car stunt scene and in the 2005 Iraq War documentary Soundtrack to War. Raining Blood is also one of the songs featured in, and is considered one of the most difficult songs in the game, if not the hardest of the career song list. A looped section of guitar riff from "Angel of Death" appears in the song "She Watched Channel Zero" by the rap group, Public Enemy. Similarly, riffs from "Angel of Death" and "Criminally Insane" were also sampled by KMFDM on the track "Godlike" in 1990.

Track listing

"Angel of Death" (Jeff Hanneman) – 4:51

"Piece by Piece" (Kerry King) – 2:02

"Necrophobic" (Hanneman, King) – 1:40

"Altar of Sacrifice" (Lyrics: King) (Music: Hanneman) – 2:50

"Jesus Saves" (Lyrics: King) (Music: Hanneman, King) – 2:54

"Criminally Insane" (Hanneman, King) – 2:23

"Reborn" (Lyrics: King) (Music: Hanneman) – 2:11

"Epidemic" (Lyrics: King) (Music: Hanneman, King) – 2:23

"Postmortem" (Hanneman) – 3:27

"Raining Blood" (Lyrics: Hanneman, King) (Music: Hanneman) – 4:17

1998 re-issue bonus tracks

"Aggressive Perfector" (King, Hanneman) – 2:30

"Criminally Insane (Remix)" (Hanneman, King) – 3:17 � "Aggressive Perfector" was shorter and had clearer production than the previous version featured on the reissue of the EP Haunting the Chapel. The reissue also fixed a problem with early CD pressings which set the beginning of "Raining Blood" into the blank pause in "Postmortem".

Personnel

Tom Araya – bass, vocals

Jeff Hanneman – guitar

Kerry King – guitar

Dave Lombardo – drums

Rick Rubin – producer

Larry Carroll – artwork

Andy Wallace – engineer

Howie Weinberg – mastering

Further Information

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