Slayer’s 1983 debut, Show No Mercy, was a watershed moment in thrash, setting the stage for the genre of death metal. Vocalist/bassist Tom Araya, guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, and drummer Dave Lombardo came together in Huntington Park, CA, in 1981, taking inspiration from metal pioneers and the local punk scene while drawing on Satanism for lyrical imagery. For a moment it feels like the listener is being pulled back from a scene of carnage - or else being completed overtaken by the band’s violent onslaught.īoasting curdled vocals, apocalyptic riffs, and an unrelenting sense of doom, Slayer spent four decades as one of thrash metal’s premier bands. “Hardening of the Arteries” fades out on the tribal pounding of Dave Lombardo’s drums, as the guitar writhes and claws like a body submerged in lava. “At Dawn They Sleep” and “Praise of Death” shift between chugging rhythms and breakneck assaults, while the punishing “Crypts of Eternity” culminates in a torrent of guitar and a blood-curdling scream from Tom Araya. Brian Slagel’s production style is deeper and sludgier than Show No Mercy. The opening song begins as a descent into Hades: deranged guitar fades in as the listener is greeted with a backwards recording of a demonic voice repeating the phrase “join us.” Like a locomotive picking up steam, “Hell Awaits” starts out as a steady punching riff before exploding into a torrent of bliztkrieg guitar. It's fully immersed in the band’s signature style of hellish thrash. Hell Awaits is a huge leap forward from Slayer’s debut album, Show No Mercy.
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