I saw on Blabbermouth that Reign in Blood came out 25 years ago today. They quote some folks from the metal community, who tell their stories about how they remember it. So, for fun, here's my story:
I was 15 years old and living in a small town in Missouri. Having been a devoted metal head for some few years already, it was Slayer (not Metallica) that had opened my eyes to the underground, 'ultra-heavy,' scene that was gathering speed. I remember mail ordering Show No Mercy purely on the merit of having seen a picture of Slayer in Cream (yes, Cream) magazine. There was an article about the underground scene, and Slayer were mentioned almost in passing. In fact, they mentioned that there were two up and coming bands named Slayer, though I can't remember where the other was from.
Anyway, on hearing Show No Mercy I was hooked straight away. Slayer became my number one, and remained so through Haunting the Chapel and Hell Awaits.
When Reign in Blood came out, I was probably one of the few who was a little dissapointed. I felt that Rick Rubin had taken out too much of the balls and bass, and just generally felt the album and songs were too short. In fact, it was kind of the beginning of the end of my teenage devotion to Slayer. It was the first Slayer album that I had on cassette instead of LP. I got it the first day at a very small record store that I had asked to pre-order it.
Anyway, that's the way I remember it.
I was 15 years old and living in a small town in Missouri. Having been a devoted metal head for some few years already, it was Slayer (not Metallica) that had opened my eyes to the underground, 'ultra-heavy,' scene that was gathering speed. I remember mail ordering Show No Mercy purely on the merit of having seen a picture of Slayer in Cream (yes, Cream) magazine. There was an article about the underground scene, and Slayer were mentioned almost in passing. In fact, they mentioned that there were two up and coming bands named Slayer, though I can't remember where the other was from.
Anyway, on hearing Show No Mercy I was hooked straight away. Slayer became my number one, and remained so through Haunting the Chapel and Hell Awaits.
When Reign in Blood came out, I was probably one of the few who was a little dissapointed. I felt that Rick Rubin had taken out too much of the balls and bass, and just generally felt the album and songs were too short. In fact, it was kind of the beginning of the end of my teenage devotion to Slayer. It was the first Slayer album that I had on cassette instead of LP. I got it the first day at a very small record store that I had asked to pre-order it.
Anyway, that's the way I remember it.
