Description
Check the exclusive video showing this LP for sale
Check the exclusive video showing this LP for sale
Slayer – Reign In Blood
Label: Geffen Records – 924 131-1, Def Jam Recordings – 924 131-1
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Special Cut
Country: Europe
Released: 1986
Style: Thrash Metal
A1 Angel Of Death Lyrics By, Music By – Hanneman* 4:50
A2 Piece By Piece Lyrics By, Music By – King* 2:02
A3 Necrophobic Lyrics By, Music By – Hanneman*, King* 1:38
A4 Altar Of Sacrifice Lyrics By – King* Music By – Hanneman* 2:49
A5 Jesus Saves Lyrics By – King* Music By – Hanneman*, King* 2:49
B1 Criminally Insane Lyrics By, Music By – Hanneman*, King* 2:13
B2 Reborn Lyrics By – King* Music By – Hanneman* 2:20
B3 Epidemic Lyrics By – King* Music By – Hanneman*, King* 2:12
B4 Postmortem Lyrics By, Music By – Hanneman* 2:44
B5 Raining Blood Lyrics By – Hanneman*, King* Music By – Hanneman* 4:23
Manufactured By – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
Copyright © – Def Jam Recordings Inc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Def Jam Recordings Inc.
Pressed By – Record Service Alsdorf
Made By – WEA Musik GmbH
Published By – Def Jam Music
Mastered At – Masterdisk
Mastered At – Allied Record Company
Mastered At – Sheffield Lab Matrix – △ 14362
Drums – Dave Lombardo
Engineer – Andy Wallace
Lead Guitar – Jeff Hanneman, Kerry King
Producer – Rick Rubin, Slayer
Vocals, Bass – Tom Araya
Includes a printed inner sleeve with lyrics & credits.
The final track, “Raining Blood”, ends in a locked groove.
All songs © 1986 Def Jam Music ASCAP.
Manufactured exclusively by Warner Bros. Records Inc., a Warner Communications Company.
© ℗ 1986 Def Jam Recordings, Inc.
Manufactured in Germany by Record Service GmbH, Alsdorf.
Pressé en Allemagne par Record Service GmbH, Alsdorf.
Embossed “W” logo on back of sleeve, bottom-right.
Notes on runouts:
– “MASTERDISK”, “R / S Alsdorf 924131-1-A”, “R / S Alsdorf 924131-1-B” & the “a” logo are machine-stamped, all else is hand-etched.
Barcode (Text): 0 7599-24131-1
Barcode (Scanned, UPC A): 075992413114
Rights Society: GEMA/BIEM
Rights Society: ASCAP
Label Code: LC 7266
Price Code (France:): WE 381
Price Code: Ⓤ
Reign in Blood is the third studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on October 7, 1986, by Def Jam Recordings. The album was the band’s first collaboration with producer Rick Rubin, whose input helped the band’s sound evolve. The release date of the album was delayed because of concerns regarding the lyrical subject matter of the opening track “Angel of Death”, which refers to Josef Mengele and describes acts such as human experimentation that he committed at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The band’s members stated that they did not condone Nazism and were merely interested in the subject.
Reign in Blood was well received by both critics and fans, and was responsible for bringing Slayer to the attention of a mainstream metal audience. Today, it is often mentioned among the greatest heavy metal records ever. Reign in Blood helped define the sound of the emerging US thrash metal scene in the mid-1980s, and has remained influential since. The album was Slayer’s first to enter the US Billboard 200, peaking at number 94, and was certified Gold on November 20, 1992.
Background
Following the positive reception Slayer’s previous release Hell Awaits had received, the band’s producer and manager Brian Slagel realized the band were in a position to hit the “big time” with their next album. Slagel negotiated with several record labels, among them Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons’ Def Jam Recordings. However, Slagel was reluctant to have the band signed to what was at the time primarily a hip hop label. Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo was made aware of Rubin’s interest, and he initiated contact with the producer. However, Slayer’s remaining members were apprehensive of leaving Metal Blade Records, with whom they were already under contract.
Lombardo contacted Columbia Records, which was Def Jam’s distributor, and managed to get in touch with Rubin, who along with photographer Glen E. Friedman agreed to attend one of the band’s concerts. Friedman had produced Suicidal Tendencies’s self-titled debut album, in which Slayer vocalist Tom Araya made a guest appearance in the music video for the album’s single “Institutionalized”, pushing Suicidal Tendencies’s vocalist Mike Muir. Around this time, Rubin asked Friedman if he knew Slayer.
Guitarist Jeff Hanneman was surprised by Rubin’s interest in the band, and was impressed by his work with the hip hop acts Run DMC and LL Cool J. During a visit by Slagel to a European music convention, Rubin spoke with the band directly, and persuaded them to sign with Def Jam. Slagel paid a personal tribute to Rubin, and said that Rubin was the most passionate of all the label representatives the band were in negotiations with. Following the agreement, Friedman brought the band members to Seattle for two days of publicity shots, possible record shots, and photos for a tour book; Rubin felt no good photos of the band had been taken before that point. One of the photos was used on the back cover of the band’s 1988 release South of Heaven.
Cover art
The cover artwork was designed by Larry Carroll, who at the time was creating political illustrations for The Progressive, Village Voice, and The New York Times. The cover art was featured in Blender Magazine’s 2006 “top ten heavy metal album covers of all time.” Despite its warm reception, the band members themselves originally did not like the image. King said, “nobody in the band wanted that cover. We were stuck with it.” He even described the artist as a “warped demented freak,” although Carroll went on to make cover arts for their next albums South of Heaven (1988), Seasons in the Abyss (1990) and Christ Illusion (2006).
It was believed that Columbia Records initially refused to release Reign in Blood because of the disturbing imagery. Araya refuted this claim in 2016 saying that it was because of the song “Angel of Death” and it had nothing to do with the cover art.
Recording
Reign in Blood was recorded and produced at Hit City West in Los Angeles with Rubin producing and Andy Wallace engineering. The album was the label boss’ first professional experience with heavy metal, and his fresh perspective led to a drastic makeover of Slayer’s sound. Steve Huey of AllMusic believed Rubin drew tighter and faster songs from the band, and delivered a cleanly produced sound that contrasted sharply with their previous recordings. This resulted in drastic changes to Slayer’s sound, and changed audiences’ perception of the band. Araya has since stated their two previous releases were not up to par production-wise. Guitarist Kerry King later remarked that “it was like, ‘Wow—you can hear everything, and those guys aren’t just playing fast; those notes are on time.”
According to Araya, it was Hanneman’s idea to add the scream for the introduction in “Angel of Death.” Araya did several takes but ended up using the first one.
Hanneman later admitted that while the band was listening to Metallica and Megadeth at the time, they were finding the repetition of guitar riffs tiring. He said, “If we do a verse two or three times, we’re already bored with it. So we weren’t trying to make the songs shorter—that’s just what we were into,” which resulted in the album’s short duration of 29 minutes. The band realized the album’s runtime only when they were finishing up with its mixing with engineer Andy Wallace. The band weren’t sure whether they would have to hit the studio to create more material or just leave it, so they turned to Rubin. “His only reply was that it had 10 songs, verses, choruses and leads and that’s what constituted an album. He didn’t have any issue with it”.
Lombardo’s departure:
Lombardo (pictured) on departing Slayer: “I wasn’t making any money. I think I had just gotten married, and I figured if we were gonna be doing this professionally—on a major label—I wanted my rent and utilities paid.”
Following the album’s recording sessions, Slayer embarked on the Reign in Pain tour with the bands Overkill in the United States and Malice in Europe; they also served as the opening act for W.A.S.P.’s U.S. tour in 1987. In late 1986, drummer Lombardo quit the band. To continue the tour Slayer enlisted Whiplash drummer Tony Scaglione.
Rubin called Lombardo daily to insist he return, telling him: “Dude, you gotta come back in the band.” Rubin offered Lombardo a salary, but he was still hesitant about returning; at this point Lombardo had been out of the band for several months. Lombardo returned in 1987; Rubin came to his house and picked him up in his Porsche, taking him to a Slayer rehearsal.
Here are 10 facts only Slayer super fans would know about the legendary Reign in Blood.
1. It was released on a hip-hop label.
Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, which was a hip-hop label. The producer was known for his work with groups such as Run DMC and LL Cool J, which did make Slayer slightly reluctant to sign to the label, especially since they were already under contract with Metal Blade Records.
“I first met [Slayer] at their show at The Ritz in NYC,” Rubin told Metal Hammer regarding his initial impression of the band. “I knew nothing about them before the show and they blew me away.”
2. The band were unaware of its short runtime.
The band only realized the album’s runtime once they were finishing up with its mixing with engineer Andy Wallace. Reign in Blood is just a few seconds short of 29 minutes, and when Tom Araya looked up and saw the number, he asked if that was the total time for all of the songs. The band weren’t sure whether they would have to hit the studio to create more material or just leave it, so they turned to Rubin.
“His only reply was that it had 10 songs, verses, choruses and leads and that’s what constituted an album. He didn’t have any issue with it,” Araya told Metal Hammer.
3. One-sided.
Due to the album’s short length, it all fit on one side of a cassette in its entirety. “You could listen to it, flip it over, and play it again,” guitarist Kerry King told Decibel Magazine. “We’d never been about putting songs and music on our records that doesn’t need to be there. Hour-long records seem to be the trend these days, but you know, you listen and it’s like, ‘You could lose this part, you could cut this song completely,’ and make a much more intense record, which is what we’re all about”
4. The band hated the album artwork at the time.
The album art was painted by American political artist Larry Carroll, who was only aware of the band’s desire to have a goat on the cover. “Their lyrics are quite visual…..They’re always quite provocative, always touching on subjects that a lot of people shy away from. They certainly don’t hold back. So it was suited for the kind of work that I do,” Carroll said, according to D.X. Ferris’s book Slayer’s Reign in Blood.
“Nobody in the band wanted that cover,” Kerry King told Metal Hammer. “We were stuck with it.”
Slayer, ‘Reign in Blood’
5. The Columbia controversy.
Columbia was Def Jam’s distributor, but they refused to distribute the album primarily because of the artwork and its opening track, “Angel of Death.” The song discusses the atrocious acts of the Nazi physician Josef Mengele, who was nicknamed the “Angel of Death,” during the Holocaust.
“Sadistic, surgeon of demise / Sadist of the noblest blood / Destroying, without mercy / To benefit the Aryan race” were among some of the lyrics featured in the song, but the band weren’t by any means attempting to glorify Mengele or Naziism.
“Writing that, I wasn’t going to state the obvious,” Jeff Hanneman explained in Slayer’s Reign in Blood. “That’s like talking down to whoever’s reading it. I think they know he’s a bad guy. I don’t have to say, “Angel of Death / Bad guy.’ That would be stupid.”
Geffen ultimately distributed the album.
6. Hanneman’s German ties.
Hanneman actually had indirect connections to Nazi Germany. His father fought in World War II, but on the allied side, and later fought in Vietnam, as well. Growing up with a father so entrenched in warfare sparked an interest in Hanneman, thus he wrote “Angel of Death” and made other references to the Holocaust.
“I collect medals and other Nazi stuff that my dad got me started on because he gave me all this shit he got off of dead Nazis,” Hanneman told Decibel Magazine. “I remember stopping some place where I bought two books on Mengele…So when it came time to do the record, that stuff was still in my head—that’s where the lyrics to ‘Angel of Death’ came from. Next thing I know, we’re neo-Nazis.”
7. The scream of death.
Araya’s bone-rattling scream in the intro of “Angel of Death” only took him two takes.
8. No attention from the radio.
The album received zero airplay whatsoever, but was still the first of Slayer’s albums to break the Billboard 200. It debuted at No. 127, and peaked at No. 94 six weeks later.
9. Recycled riffage.
The main riff in “Altar of Sacrifice” was originally meant to be used in a track called “Ice Titan,” which never ended up getting recorded for the album. A live version from 1983 was later released on the Soundtrack to the Apocalypse box set.
10. Still raining.
Prior to the 1998 reissue of Reign in Blood, “Raining Blood” was the closing track on the album. For the filming of their 2004 live DVD Still Reigning, the band actually soaked themselves in fake blood during the performance of the legendary song. The band suffered a few technical difficulties from the dramatic stage effect.
“It was messy,” Araya later told Rolling Stone. “I couldn’t play because the initial dump at the beginning of the song got all over me. I couldn’t hold my pick. I was slapping my bass trying to get sound out of it.”
