Zer0

It’s been roughly ten years now since I first got my hands on this album as a fifteen year-old. I was already familiar with Metallica, Megadeth and Iron Maiden at that point but this felt different. Reign In Blood was the first album to actually intimidate and maybe even scare me. I felt like I had crossed a line but it seemed exciting all the same. Just looking at the album cover alone with its pseudo-satanic imagery and impaled bodies felt badass to me but the music was something else. I felt like I had crossed into a new and exciting world, how my parents rejoiced.

At first I was probably dismayed at the length of the songs and the album’s short length, but this ended up being one of the album’s strengths. It’s brief and to the point, it leaves you flabbergasted and excited, it leaves you wanting more. From the opening riff of ‘Angel Of Death’ to the thunder and rain in the outro of ‘Raining Blood’ feels like a rush of adrenaline and an assault on the listener, rarely letting up or giving you a moment to catch your breath. ‘Angel of Death’ is undoubtedly one of the finest thrash metal songs ever recorded and still sounds amazing after countless plays. Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King’s guitar solos sound like they are taking turns to strangle and mutilate someone, like they are trying to squeeze the most evil sounds possible from their guitars. Dave Lombardo’s drumming drags you along for the ride, giving you that sensation that you are going faster than you actually are while the rest of the band do their best to keep up. The warp-speed ‘Necrophobic’ was unlike anything I had heard before, I had never heard a band play this fast or even knew it was possible to play this fast without sounding like a mess. Eat that Metallica.

Even at fifteen I thought that religion was a load of bollocks, so the likes of ‘Altar of Sacrifice’ and ‘Jesus Saves’ rang a bell with me, but I never took it too seriously. Slayer actually sounded like they wanted to go to hell and get a kick out of it but I certainly wouldn’t go that far. ‘Raining Blood’ is the perfect way the end this album, mainly because it’s a song that can’t be followed. The impact of the song’s chaotic and then unexpected ending leaves you feeling stunned as to what just unfolded over the past twenty-eight minutes as the rain, thunder and darkness surrounds you and leaves you feeling alone. Oh and those guitar refrains, yum.

It was Reign In Blood more so than Master Of Puppets that prompted me to explore metal more but I owe it to both albums really. Coincidently the album was also released the same year I was born and still sounds like it could have been released today. It still gives me a buzz of excitement, maybe not as much as it did ten years ago as I’ve heard more extreme, evil-sounding and better metal albums since then, but it still hits that sweet spot nicely.

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