Slayer- Reign in Blood FULL ALBUM REACTION & REVIEW 

This album should be part of everyone's metal regimen. Word of the day.

Postmortem is one of my top 5 Slayer tracks...chuggy and heavy at the start but then transitions into a breakneck fast paced killer song. Do you want to die!!!

Most thrash bands have one lead guitarist and one rhythm guitarist. In Slayer Kerry and Jeff both played lead and rhythm.

'Pleasure To Kill' by Kreator is one of the very few releases off the same year (1986) that could compete with Slayer in terms of speed and brutality.

Rick Rubin had just finished License to Ill from Beastie boys - in fact, Kerry king shows up on "no sleep til Brooklyn"

Favorite metal album of all time! Still holds up in terms of ferocity and chaos after all these years. This is an important record because Slayer incorporated some of the hardcore punk elements (ala DRI) into their sound (and they had been heavily influenced by bands like Venom previously). This melding of the two on RIB pretty much created what is known as speed metal, which soon laid the foundation for the entire death metal scene in just a few years. And JP, just as you said, I do believe rap was somewhat incorporated into Araya's blisteringly fast vocals. Now, he had done this before on "Hell Awaits", to be sure, but I just wonder if Rick Rubin, the famed rap producer who also did RIB, encouraged Tom to do even more of it on this album. BTW, the drum sound on this album still sounds insane after over 35+ years. ANYWAY, I bought this back in 1986 and basically wore the album out and had to rebuy it a few years later. "Angel of Death" was considered the standout track (and terribly controversial, if you read into the history of the song) for many years, not "Raining Blood". The latter track grew in popularity with Guitar Hero/Rock Band. Lastly, my favorite track now is "Epidemic" but love them all. Thanks for the listen, man!

This is the definitive thrash metal album. Masterpiece. Great shout out to Blood Ceremony. Very cool Canadian band. As far as DOOM goes, I’d love for you to cover YOB, so many good songs but Ball of Molten Lead might be a good start, also The Great Cessation. Also, Electric Wizard, Master of Alchemy is a great instrumental with awesome drumming. And last but not least WINDHAND with a tune called Amaranth, I think you’d love. Doom with a female singer.

I love Blood Ceremony, it was a nice surprise to see them step in your channel. You should review any song from their first album, full of jewels.

Ah, this album only gets better with time.

Reign In Blood is an amazing album which laid down a new metal foundation for so much to be built upon. Including, Slayer's next two albums, South Of Heaven (my favorite) and Season In The Abyss.

My favorite of the big 4 of thrash metal! If you want more of the slow and heavy, you should check out the followup albums South Of Heaven and Seasons In The Abyss. Heaven is almost all slow & heavy while Seasons has more of a balance with the speediness found here. Seasons is my favorite Slayer album from them and one of my favorite metal albums in general.

Heeeeeeelllll Yeah...Slayer is 1 one of the hardest band EVER!!! The build up's,the changes,the slow downs... R.I.P Mr. Hanneman,A shoutout to your family

My lord JP i have never laughed and enjoyed a reaction so much thank you for listening to this album keep rockin on🤘🏻😤

JP - you might want to listen to hip hop band Public Enemy's "She watch channel zero", which is based around a sample of the heavy slower section of "Angel of death". When PE played it live at the Reading Rock festival in the UK, the audience went absolutely mental.

If you like the tempo of Postmortem, you should listen to South of Heaven. That was the album that came after this. they decided to slow it way down and it has a lot more of a groove. They said they were not sure if they could beat RiB in speed The dual guitarists have always been around in Slayer. They change off between lead and rhythm all the time. Metallica has also had two guitarists since inception but James always plays rhythm with Dave Mustaine or Kirk Hammett staying lead

I have two older brothers. One who likes progressive and art rock and one who likes speed metal. When we’d get together, we’d play our latest music discoveries for each other. I remember when this one came out, and many others like it. I have a soft spot for speed metal although I don’t listen to it on my own. My brothers are now in their sixties and we still play music for each other when we get together. There’s still speed metal on the platter, too. 🤟

Your a legend for doing this. This is the perfect reaction and review of the kings of dirty thrash. Saw them live twice and it is quite an experience to behold..

Speaking of Metal and Hip-Hop; it's essential that you react to the Judgment Night soundtrack. Among many cool collabs, it's got Slayer and Ice-T on there!

The greatest thrash/speed metal album ever! Simple as that!

good on you for catching the pun at the end of postmortem. so many people miss it.

'Don't Break the Oath' by Mercyful Fate is the ultimate Halloween album, for me. I used to play it every Halloween at the record store and it was always a hit. Especially the atmospheric "The Oath", but the album as a whole works very well thematically. Slayer, on the other hand, is brutal metal, but their lyrics really have nothing to do with what Halloween is all about. This is a phenomenal album, though, and I actually got to see Slayer on this tour back in the day, one of the greatest shows of my life.

The length and dynamics on this album are more akin to hardcore punk/crossover, than the regular thrash that bands used to play at the time. Which in my opinion is a plus point

I first discovered this Album at 13, at a "Christian Camp" School Holiday program. A buddy gave me the Casstette tape for my "Sony Walkman" and I was sold!!! The breakdown of "Altar of Sactifice" .. the whole "Enn.ter to the realm of SaaaTan!" part had me me hooked !!!! all the riffing etc around this song going into "Jesus Saves" is exactly why in 1987 I picked up the Guitar to learn how to play.

I remember the day it was released, listening to this with my friends and being shaken to the core, we just stared at each other in disbelief to begin with......absolute masterpiece of the time........loved your analysis and reactions JP thanks

This appeared on Rick Rubin's Def Jam imprint. Rap maestro Rubin produced the recod

I bought it as soon as it came out. It cannot be classified, it cannot be compared, it cannot be repeated. It's simply a masterpiece, the perfect soundtrack to purgatory if it existed

In 1990 my parents where at a christian college learning to be pastors. I was 9 years old and met a teenager whose parents were also learning to be pastors but he had an Amiga and listened to metal. He played this album in an attempt to scare me but at the time I became fascinated with computers. I remember at the time my parents and his parents discussing the music he was listening to and whether they should continue to allow him to listen to metal. His parents said that they had read the lyrics (Lyrics were printed on the CD sleeve in those days), and that they were worried about Angel of Death and that they had talked to him about the Holocaust and they were comfortable that he understood the lyrics in context. Meanwhile my 9 year old ass was trying to convince my parents that I should be allowed to listen to M.C Hammer's third album "Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em" by pointing out that Hammer explicitly thanked God in his CD album sleeve. When I left home and started to listening to music on my own I had so much respect for that teenager. I'm convinced his parents read the lyrics for Angel of Death, talked to him about it, and then asked him about the rest of the album. He showed them there was a song called Jesus Saves and they just dropped it.

I bought this the day it was released and wore the cassette out. Never heard anything that fast, that heavy or that visceral in my life. And it still sounds as fresh as the day it was released. Flat out masterpiece of Heavy Metal history. This was fun.

Well, Dave Lombardo is one of the most genius drummers of all time, not only when it comes to Metal music🙂

That high speed riffing is usually hitting one or two strings at the most. Altar of Sacrifice and Jesus Saves work together as one long song, as the first one transitions into the next one with that instrumental interlude connecting them. Post Mortem and Raining Blood also are meant to play together, although nobody ever includes Postmortem in their reactions. I've always heard them as if they are one two-part song. Yeah, in two lead-guitar bands, you get the lead/rhythm tradeoffs. There is a lot of layering and multitracking in the studio, so live is where you really see it in action.

This reaction was as fantastic as the album. And after all these years of listening to this record it never occurred to me that they added the “I’m only after death” pun at the end of Postmortem. Nicely done on the reaction.

Short and sweet ! Postmortem live when Jeff and Kerry come side by side and play it’s absolutely amazing, especially when you’re right in front of them. 56:34 you would love seasons in the abyss and south of heaven. Those are slower and more polished type of metal.

YES JP SLAYER IS AWESOME they have some killer albums front to back🤘🏻

Thanks for checking and learning the lyric content,it really gets to the context of the mindset of why Slayer and other metal bands made logical critical thinking metal fans (of the time) like teen/20yearold me) respect and understand that metal bands were educating us about reality ,in a,.. in your face musical ass kicking brainstorm which most people thought was the complete opposite message ....eg this music is satinic evil subversive.

19:20 The guitar thing they are doing is tremolo picking which is playing just only in 1 or 2 strings at the same time extremely fast with your right hand, its not actually playing all the string as if talking of a chord, also the guitars being played at this speed level in this particular ¨"Necrophobic" song that got your comment from, is mostly common in genres like Death Metal, so its rare to find a thrash metal band going this hard at any time, thats why this album is a classic among all extreme metal listeners and heavier bands that started back in those days where this was probably the hardest stuff you could listen to.. 20:00 you also got this right, Corey taylor said one of his biggest influences for his slipknot music was Slayer.

Tom was the best vocalist of the Big 4 (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax) BY FAR.

To anyone who's never listened to this album in it's entirety, please do or you'll never fully understand it's greatness. More than any other album I know of, but similar to Ok Computer and Dark Side of the Moon, it's one piece of music that only reaches its peak when listened to front to back

Oh my, if you're having trouble waking up in the morning, ditch the coffee and put this album on and you will be wide awake in no time. Really great metal album that packs a lot punch!

Word of the day: Abacinate. To destroy the eyes with hot irons

Definition: Abacinate (pronounced uh-BAS-uh-nayt) is a verb that means to blind someone by holding a red-hot iron or metal plate in front of their eyes.

This is by far Slayer's fastest album. Later they did slow down a bit. Check out the song Seasons in the abyss from the album of the same name. It's slow, menacing and epic.

Coudos for reviewing an album, start to finish like we old people did with our record players (on repeat) it's how we did it old school... it's why we destroyed/played out our vinyls !

Undoubtedly deserves a place in 'The history of heavy metal in 10 albums' if there is such a book/article/box-set. Probably the heaviest album ever though it can fight it out with Carcass 'Symphonies of Sickness' and Sunn O))) 'Monoliths and Dimensions' for that title. I know you mentioned Tori Amos's cover of Raining Blood which takes the lyrics and changes the arrangement to a slow breathy atmospheric delivery but do check it out if you've not already done so as it's as impactful as the original. At the time, I think Angel of Death probably got more column inches than the (almost) title track, so not really overshadowing the rest of the album, but a great top and tail.

There are Slayer and others. The best thrash metal band. Saw them 5 times - always pure madness and pits like earthquake.

One of the most evil sounding and relentless albums ever recorded. A huge influence on Death Metal I would argue.

U nede to watch Still Reigning live performance which Lombardo performs... Thats the most insane live performance ever

Thank you. We need more of you.

5:21 - "I have never heard that word before" Abacinate - to blind by holding a red-hot plate before someone's eyes When I 1st heard that word in 86', I looked it up in the dictionary and it became my favorite word and as a writer, it actually came in very handy at times 😂😂😂

Fun fact, he learnt to do that scream at the start of angel of death by stepping on Lego bricks

@5:18 "Abacinate" means to blind with a red-hot metal plate. Wholesome fun for the entire family!

GREAT REACTION VID!!!!

My all time favourite album. There is none better. 🤘🤘🤘

I'm gonna throw a suggestion back atcha' JP,... Band - Dismember - Album - Like An Ever Flowing Stream - Year - 1991 Swedish Down tuned Death Metal Greatness. Plus, one of the best cover art illustrations in history!!

Hell, no, no. No, not again, JP! I spent last night watching SOM Floodland and now this? See you at night! 😂

I saw this tour in Nov 1986 in Milwaukee, I had just turned 16 a couple weeks before, a great concert.

This is one of the greatest metal albums of all time. It was pretty revolutionary for its time - in the late 80s most of the underground metal bands - many of which became the death and black metal bands of the 90s - were trying in some sense to capture aspects of Slayer. They weren't copying Metallica. Everyone was trying to be closer to *this*. And it isn't hard to imagine why.

Just subbed to your channel! Hope you do an album review of SLAYER- South of Heaven 1988, and Seasons in the Abyss 1990. The two follow up albums after Reign in Blood!👍🏻

Reborn is a criminally underrated song

Respect and enjoy the reaction, but"reborn" might be my favorite slayer song 😂

i also had to look up "abacinate" when i first heard "angel of death". i believe mengele used red hot metal plates and placed them centimeters in front of the jews' eyes. truly sadistic.

Abacinate: blind by holding a red-hot metal plate before someone's eyes

If you like doom check out Trouble - The Skull album circa 1985. Good heavy stuff.

Just listen to this 1 again...One can't deny that being affected by this shaaaait...😅😅 In a good way,of course....

Kia Ora hello Justin from Aotearoa New Zealand hay I've seen these dudes twice here in Aotearoa New Zealand 🤘👏👏👏👍✌️

RATM the most epic rap metal message. Stand up.

By the way, thanks for the shout out when you did the review for Soft Machine - Bundles... Allan and the band were truly remarkable. one of my very favorite fusion albums.

You would like seasons in the abyss, skeletons of society, spill the blood

The perfect thrash album 🔥

I like this album, up to a point. Certainly, the opening track, "Angel Of Death", is a masterpiece of true story telling. I often thought that if younger people- not too young, obvs - wanted to know about the horror and atrocities of the holocaust, they need only listen to this song. I don't see Slayer as glorifying it, I see it as educational. As for the rest of the album, it has its moments and the music and vocals are powerful and proficient but I really only like the two bookend tracks, the opening and title track, "Reign In Blood". Some additional comments here, as I wrote one after the first track and before I sat through the rest of the album with you. I liked your reaction, very entertaining, especially the bit of head banging to "Reign In Blood" and yes, it's a glorious track!. The rest of the album is too repetitive for me though. The speed on the guitar is achieved with fast pick work, as well as the fingers, of course. Great reaction vid JP.

The song "Angel of death" got a very negative reaction in the British music press. Never particularly metal-literate, the music journalists believed that Slayer were either pro-Nazi or glorifying Mengele's experiments. It was a misunderstanding that led to a shadow hanging over Slayer in Britain for a number of years.

Fucking awesome and thorough review. I love the depth you articulate, understand and talk about the album in depth. You got my sub brother 🫡🙏

An iconic classic

You get it. That's most of the battle

do Rust in peace nextttttt

Slayer are definitely one of those bands you have to take with a pinch of salt and a shot of whiskey 🥃 😅

I always equate Slayer's music, to chaining myself to a big tree. During a cat,5 hurricane! It hurts, it's deafening, and it's not pleasant! And after you're half dead, deaf, and not feeling good at all. If by chance, there are trick-or-treaters, I'm greeting all tomorrow as The Grim Reaper, since I already look the part now! Peace & Love-----BOO!!!!

I'm a prog guy so this was obviously my least favorite of their first five albums. I appreciate the full-on hardcore punk attack they had here but the first two albums had so many odd time-signatures and tempo changes and the two albums that followed were more melodic that I enjoyed them better. But as I grow older I kinda love this attitude they had on this album more and more.

To this day still think that the principle of slapping down 10 great tracks in half an hour is a virtue and a lesson many bands could benefit from. Don't overstay your welcome. Make your statement. Drop the mic and get out.

In March 1986 Metallica released the greatest Thrash Metal album of all time……for seven months. Because in October Slayer released the greatest Thrash metal album of all time. REIGN IN BLOOD!!!!!

Jesus saves Criminally insane Reborn The greatest three song piece in music history

And don’t trip on Kerry King launching his own new band. He’s far from done Slaying.

Necrophobic or Necrophilliac? Make up your mind Slayer! I always say that when i hear either song by them 😀

Check out the track Among The Living by Anthrax.It'll destroy ya mate!

Alter of sacrifice and Jesus saved you had to play them together... The outro of alter of sacrifice where it slows down is the transition to Jesus saves,, that's why it starts slow and built up....same with Postmortem and Raining Blood

Are you ever going to react to non US/European rock blues jazz ....There´s a lot there waiting to be discovered Manal(that´s the name of the band ) first single from 1968 in Argentina perhaps ?

This fckn album, man..

Good old trash metal 🕺

Whether you like it or not, This album set a standard That not many bands met At the time of it’s release. Yes, it’s fast, it’s caustic, Rude and crude, but it’s Got a certain charm that Still holds up today. Is it The greatest thrash LP Of all time? Probably not, But it doesn’t discount The fact that Slayer was A band to be reckoned With…

Ahhh, the memories. Really liked this bitd, and still got my copy somewhere. Can't say i've listened to it in an age though. Not been my bag for sometime now this stuff. That said, If I find myself in a decent rock bar and Raining Blood was on the jukie, I'd likely put it on for old times sake.

I'm old enough to have seen Hardcore punk (Discharge, GBH, Black Flag, Bad Brains etc) mutate into punk/metal crossover (Suicidal Tendencies, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, Stormtroopers Of Death etc) then into thrash metal. At each stage, I became less engaged as metal cliches increased. Lyrical content became less related to the real world and technical virtuosity and solos replaced honest, basic anger and aggression.

Slayer was big fans of bassist Percy Jones who was on Brian Eno's... Screw it. I can't perpetuate a lie. Carry on.

Not my thing.

Oh hell no, all of it?! As groundbreaking as this album was in terms of production and time of release, it's a repetitive mess with speed and shock value elevated over substance, and solos made for the bin. Darkness Descends by Dark Angel and Peace Sells by Megadeth would've been infinitely better choices from 1986. Avoid early Slayer if you want good thrash metal.

The scratching of the strings in Thrash occurs going from top to bottom, followed by the return movement upwards. That is, the pick has to touch the string downwards and then touch the string again but upwards to execute the movement again. In other words, it is a double plucking of strings, which produces that fast sound. Obviously you have to practice a lot to have the stamina to be able to play these songs for an hour or two.

Hearing thousands of kids scream "enter to the realm of satan" and "praise hell satan" makes me feel all warm inside.

Its a falsetto scream