Metal Reviews

You're welcome to comment on:


Click here to see the review.

Especially on Crionics the Influences are very clear. Never sounded a Slayer song (before and after) so much like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden.

BUT for me it's clear behind Kill em All and also behind Hell Awaits and Reign in Blood. Maybe it's the most varied Slayer album and it contains some of my all time Slayer favs like Black Magic and Die By The Sword, but there are also some mediocre songs like Tormentor, Fight Till Death, The Final Command or the Antichrist. Kill Em All has more better songs like: Whiplash, Four Horsemen, Metal Militia, Seek and Destroy, Motorbreath or No Remorse and Hell Awaits are just more uncompromising and just better. Hell Awaits with it's for Slayer overlong high speed nearly death metal meets Iron Maiden harmonies like Praise of Death, At Dawn They Sleep, the Title Track or Crypts of Eternity and RIB with it's even faster compact bonebreaker like Angel of Death, Raining Blood, Piece by Piece, Jesus Saves, Altar of Sacrifice or Necrophobic. Yes Show No Mercy is very good, but IMO Slayer would be better in the future.

Yeah KEA tops this.

Show No Mercy isn't the greatest but is definitely a classic for its originality. And Reign in Blood may be straight-forward or single-minded but thirty minutes of that sheer ferocity is awesome.

I have to disagree, respectfully of course. But Tormentor and Final Command are two of Slayer's best songs ever. Especially Tormentor. Some really ingenious riffing on that song.

Classic.
First heard it it in '84 and it still holds up. Was listening to it the other day in fact... The Antichrist, Black Magic, Die By the Sword, Face the Slayer.... fuck yeah.
saw them in '85, and man, they were blistering. Tight and remarkably professional for such a young act.
It's a toss up between this and Hell Awaits as to which is more badass, though.


Oh, and regards to KEA.. saw Metallica in '84 and they were nowhere near as awesome as Slayer live.

Nice work, Zadok.

No way... I never understood this attitude toward KEA... I tried to like it, I really did, but it always came across as weak and totally eclipsed by their contemporaries.
I don't know, it just seems plastic and superficial, somehow.

...because it has a decent production? KIMB has an awful production which has sadly always kept me from liking it and there is nothing wrong with Show No Mercy I just don't like it as much as KEA. The fact that I've never really liked Kerry King and what he does may be part of the problem. KEA is just so damn anthem-y and more conducive to shoutbacks.

Meh...
To each their own.

Good review Zad, even though there were a few moments where I said to myself waiiiit...but whatever still good.

Also, why can't people like every album? Why does everybody always have to compare? If somebody were to ask me what I like more Kill 'Em All, Show No Mercy, KIMB, or Bonded by Blood I'd say I like them all. They are all awesome in their own right, and I can listen to any one of them whenever I want and enjoy them all the same.

And to the argument which is the best Slayer album, my argument is the same as above. I like Show No Mercy just as much as I like Hell Awaits or Reign in Blood.

Coming from the guy who creates threads with polls determining what is everyone's favorite German thrash band with no 'all of them equally' choice.

I like them all, I just want everyone elses opinion on the matter.

Also I care about those bands more than I do Slayer. OH NO!

I would say I like'em all too, but debutwise Bonded by Blood is by far the best debut. All other bands released their best albums later. Exodus started with a classic and sadly never lived up to it.

I like the later Slayer albums better, but Show No Mercy is definitely a classic too, as are all of the first 5 Slayer albums.

It's not plastic and not superficial. It's just different. But KEA has IMO more better and memorable songs. Comparing KEA with SNM is like comparing Metallica and Slayer in general or Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. I like Maiden more like Priest, because the songs are more melodic. The same goes for Metallica compared to Slayer.

I understand they made it on a shoestring budget, so the mediocre production is understandable .. but I don't think a re-recording would ruin it. Slayer is not a band that writes songs which suffer from good production.

Sure it is. It's also wimpy, weak and hollow.
If you mean memorable like a blood-throbbing, rotting toothache, then, yeah, I agree.
Mediocitry at it's worst, they should've just called themselves Generica.
I do agree that comparing Slayer's early output to anything by Metallica is unfair, though.

Thrash Metal need not to be about occultism, death, blood, gore or satan. And songs like Seek and Destroy, Metal Militia, Hit the Lights, Motorbreath, No Remorse, Whiplash etc. are not that bad.

It's more a matter of personal taste. Some people like the Rolling Stones more than the Beatles. Maybe because the Stones were more "evil", more rocking, but I don't like the Stones, because they have more or less 2-3 good songs and many mediocre generic songs, while the Beatles have tons of good songs.

I don't want to write against Slayer, because I like em too. BUT I think Metallica had always a little bit better songwriting. Slayer is always just speed and power and there are many similar Slayer Songs (Necrophobic, Necrophiliac, Necroanythin ;)), while Metallica had lot's more variety in their songs. But that's not bad, because for some moments, I listen more to Slayer and in other moments it's more Metallica.

But when you are only a little bit more objective - that means not only a hardcore thrash fan - then everybody has to admit, that KEA is just the better album.

Oh come ON, the Stones had more than 2-3 good tracks. I'd list them, but Exile On Main St and Sticky Fingers alone are more or less perfect albums. Fine, they may have ripped The Beatles off quite merrily, and Jagger does have one of Rock's worst voices, but if you're going to be that harsh about them there's plenty of criticism you can aim at The Beatles.

As far as Thrash goes, songs about pizzas and skateboarding are not good for more than two or three listens, whilst songs about Satan, killing etc are pretty much timeless. Why? Who knows.

And Metallica can be very samey. Very!

Sure, Metallica can take the better songwriting so Slayer can take the better musicianship and the uninflated egos.

??? Better musicianship? Have you ever heard a really good solo from King or Hanneman?

Um, yeah. They're equally as good rhythm players as the 'Tallica boys, too. Put it like this: have you heard a Metallica song where Lars doesn't sound like a fumbling retard? Screechy and waily as Slayer solos may be, they're a million miles above the useless stick-tapper that 'drums' for Metallica.