Quote:
Originally Posted by Engine
That's okay but you should try to understand why Reign In Blood is a classic....
For these reasons it deserves all of the praise it receives and, I repeat, if you don't like it then you simply don't understand or care about what was going on when it was made. It's fine if you don't, but everybody who understands and likes that stuff knows why the album rates highly.
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I never say anywhere in my review that "Reign in Blood" is not a classic album, for I do believe that
it is a classic album and an important one in metal history, but that doesn't mean that it resonates with me personally as a listener (thus the 5-star rating). In fact, I spend some of the review praising many elements of the album: King's speedy playing, Lombardo's outstanding drumming, and Rubin's expert production; however, as impressive as all those elements are, it just doesn't save the album for me. I even go out of my way to preface my statements with phrases like "for me" or "personally."
My criticisms of the album are based on facts, that almost all the commenters in this thread have agreed with these facts. Those facts are that 1) the songs are short and often times not fully developed, 2) there is no diversity on the album, 3) there is a lack of melody and harmony, and 4) Tom's vocals don't resonate with me, and his voice often struggles to keep up with the pace of the music. With these facts stated, I fully understand that it for these exact reasons that so many people love this album, and they are the same reasons that it is considered a classic and one of the most important metal albums ever recorded, but that still doesn't mean that it has to work for me.
Lastly to say that... "you simply don't understand or care about what was going on when it was made"... is an unfair statement. Just because I don't rate the album as a 10-star album doesn't mean that I don't understand or care. If that were the case, I would not have reviewed the album to start with it. And for the record, I have owned the album since the early 90's, and I listened to it countless times when I bought it, and I listened to it countless more times before writing this review, as I do with all my reviews.
All in all, I'm not denying that "Reign In Blood" deserves its place in metal history as a classic, I'm simply saying that it doesn't resonate with me personally, and as evidence of this. Here is my last paragraph from my original review:
"Ultimately, “Reign in Blood” was a let down for me for because everything is sacrificed for speed, and as impressive as the speed of their playing might be, there’s certainly more to music than just speed; however, with that being said, I think the album is worth hearing as a document of one of the fastest metal albums ever recorded."
