I totally agree on Show No Mercy being n.1... To me it has something that all other Slayer records are lacking: a more melodic and diverse songwriting that keeps you interested in what's coming up next as the album progresses. Sure, Slayer built their carrier on brutal fast and primitive thrash bangers, and it's great, but as you were saying regarding Reign in Blood, when you find yourself in the middle of the album the tracks start to get forgettable because it's just one long hammering and there's a lack of build-up and climax in what you're listening. In show no mercy you have a great balance of every element, you still have really fast and hammering stuff like black magic, but you also have all these amazing melodic tracks like metal storm that are truly epic and interesting to listen to, and they work as interludes and build-ups to more aggressive/headbanging sections... the variety in the type of riffs is also amazing, instead of the usual open E string and power chords you have these "Iron Maiden-inspired" licks like the main riff in Tormentor wich give off an epic old school feeling.
@@RuthlessMetalYT show no mercy is my favorite slayer album and my favorite songs on there is the die by the sword the Antichrist and black magic are very awesome songs
Absolutely my favorite as well. I should turn this show off, I have never been in agreement with the common Slayer fan opinions. Love SOUTH and SEASONS. Cant understand the REIGN worship, two great songs. So, hey it's all good. Take what you want, walk from the rest. I am grateful to have won Slayer tickets in 98, the live show converted me 100%, great live band.
I don't wanna listen to it because the grotesque monster looks like your grandad's old goat that hasn't seen the sun in roughly a third of its lifetime. (No offense, if you look at it the right way you'll see it)
South Of Heaven is probably my #1 which is unpopular here by the looks of things, just the most varied and best written album IMO, Seasons is quite overrated
While I most like Show no mercy I agree that from a musical standpoint South of Heaven (and Seasons in the abyss) are better. These two are also my second and third places.
1 Hell Awaits (trademark eerie atmosphere and unique ‘visciousness’ on top of their most ambitious songwriting) 2 Reign in Blood (classic, despite Lombardo’s tasty fills really saving most short songs from sounding too similar) 3 Seasons in the Abyss (peak lombardo, great riffs and good songwriting) 4 South of Heaven (a few fillers / low points. But the high points are some of Slayer’s best songs (Ghosts of War, Silent Scream etc)) 5 Show No Mercy (simplistic, but melodic and ..fun?! Awesome songs in general, despite not having the trademark post-84 Slayer ferocity)
Been a slayer fan since hell awaits came out and in my opinion SLAYER has never had a bad album...some are better than others but all are great in my opinion..I'm 48 and still listen to SLAYER every day
1. South of Heaven -- mainly because Dave's drumming hits an even higher level on this record 2. Hell Awaits 3. Reign in Blood 4. Show No Mercy 5. Seasons in the Abyss 6. Divine Intervention 7. Christ Illusion 8. World Painted Blood 9. Repentless 10. God Hates Us All 11. Diabolus in Musica 12. Undisputed Attitude
There are several redeemable qualities of the criminally underrated Diabolus in Musica. It has superb drumming (as was on the other criminally underrated and overlooked Divine Intervention). It has some of the heaviest breakdowns of any Slayer album. There are KILLER songs on the album, such as Bitter Peace, Stain of Mind, Perversions of Pain, and Unguarded Instinct, to name just a few. Even the follow-up album, God Hates Us All, has several great songs, such as Disciple, God Send Death, Threshold, Bloodline, Here Comes The Pain (BRUTALLY heavy song), and Payback.
1. Reign In Blood 2. Hell Awaits 3. Show No Mercy 4. World Painted Blood 5. Seasons In The Abyss 6. Christ Illusion 7. South Of Heaven 8. Diabolus In Musica 9. Divine Intervention 10. Repentless
Every song on Divine Intervention was bad ass.. Very underated album..I dont understand why it got dissed by fans.. Its hard to replace Dave on drums i understand.. Divine wasnt better than Seasons in the Abyss..but still..Every song on Divine Was good from start to finish.
1. Reign In Blood 2. Show No Mercy 3. Hell Awaits 4. South Of Heaven 5. Seasons In The Abyss 6. Divine Intervention Those are the Slayer albums I listen to. I don't listen to the other that often, if at all.
Yeah! Honestly, I think world painted blood is better than south of heaven, and probably even better than show no mercy too. I'd say it's my 5th favorite slayer album.
I'm definitely an old school Slayer listener. I pretty much stopped looking for other Slayer's records after Seasons Of The Abyss. World Painted Blood and Repentless had few good songs, but that's that. Here's my: 1. South Of Heaven 2. Reign In Blood 3. Show No mercy 4. Hell Awaits 5. Seasons Of The Abyss
That's exactly my top five man , SOH is by far their best one and top 3 of Thrah Metal history ! I really appreciate Ruthless Metal work but when it comes to Slayer there is no debate !! Live undead is my favorite song on the album ! Cheers
Oh, when taking about ''God Hates Us All'' you mentioned the retuen of thrash metal to scene. I think you should make a list of top albums of ressurection era, in the beginning of XXIth century.
My favorite Slayer album can change at any given time (always the first four though). Overall SNM is my favorite and I always shake my head when people don’t think it is the best debut of the big 4! SNM brilliant Hell Awaits I personally love the muddy sound ( please don’t remaster) RIB when you need 28 minutes to power through hitting the weights SOH I agree had no chance to live up to RIB but I still love it’s slower, droning darkness Seasons definitely in 5th, released when I was a Senior in High School and I wore out the CD but as time has passed I just appreciate the first four albums even more. Very little to love after Seasons, like all thrash especially for people like me who grew up in the 80’s. Another great list RM!
No argument from me. Your Top 5(as a whole) is spot on. If Reign in Blood was 7-10 minutes longer with 2-3 better songs in the middle it'd be no contest 4 me. Hell Awaits was my 1st Slayer album so it's my #1. Seasons and South are so equal so they're tied at #4.
1. Reign in Blood 2. Show No Mercy 3. Hell Awaits 4. Seasons in the Abyss 5. South of Heaven Can’t go wrong with this 5 RIP Slayer the thrashiest of the big 4 🤘😔🤘
Got my Show no Mercy,first press back in 1989... Show no Mercy was the first thrash metal album I heard(1986)...to me it was a shock!!! Those vocals, guitars and specialy the drums...melted my brain!!! Never forget the first impression... Became my all time favorite thrash metal album!!!
This is what I mean! If you never listened to another Slayer album before, "Show No Mercy" MUST be your favourite! All the others ranking "Reign In Blood" at No. 1, never heard that album before....!!! :)
I’m totally okay with Show No Mercy being ranked as number 1. That album was my introduction to Slayer, and I find myself liking a lot of things about that album better than some of their other releases. I’d say my favorite Slayer album is a tie between Show No Mercy and South of Heaven
oh boy, anthrax coming next, i know the bush era albums will go on the bottom, but as a disclaimer, it was scott's and charlie's fault who wanted to stay relevant and trendy doing grunge/groove metal, i have too much respect for bush for what he did on armored saint and he truly shines vocally and musically on there, so i hope its not just a "bush bad" rant, because again, it was scott and charlie
We can argue about the order of the first 3 records, but they are in any case "Hell Awaits", "Show no Mercy" and "Raign in Blood". My all time favorite is "Hell Awaits"
My first Slayer Vinyl was Live Undead in 1987.... My list is: 1. Reign in Blood 2. Show No Mercy 3. Seasons in the Abyss 4. Hell Awaits 5. South of Heaven 6. Divine Intervention 7. Repentless 8. Christ Ilusion 9. World Painted Blood 10. Undisputed Attitude 11. God Hates us All 12. Diabolous in Musica
Think I'd flip your one and two and your four and five. Agree that Reign in Blood is three. Black Magic, Die By the Sword, and The Antichrist are probably my three favorite Slayer songs, but I like Hell Awaits better as a total album. Good list.
I haven't really listened to anything past Seasons yet, so this is my classic albums ranking: 1. Hell Awaits (it's their most brutal record, imo) 2. South Of Heaven (love Tom's vocals in this one) 3. Show No Mercy 4. Reign In Blood 5. Seasons In The Abyss
hell awaits was my least favorite slayer album a few years ago, now it’s my favorite. it’s so interesting and i love the progressive riffs and arrangements, i agree i wish they sounded like that forever! also, you have to rank testament’s albums, best thrash discography overall for sure!
My list is pretty similar to yours, but I really love Divine Intervention and those songs live are extra ferocious. Here is my Slayer preference: 1 - Show No Mercy 2 - Reign In Blood 3 - Hell Awaits 4 - Divine Intervention 5 - Seasons In The Abyss 6 - South Of Heaven 7 - Christ Illusion 8 - World Painted Blood 9 - Repentless 10 - Undisputed Attitude 11 - God Hates Us All 12 - Diabolus In Musica
I am a South of Heaven fan. I can’t put a thumb on it but it is the one Slayer I can listen to from beginning to end without feeling like hitting skip or pause.
I have only listened to a few Slayer albums, so this will be my rank: 1 Seasons in the Abyss 2 Show no Mercy 3 Divine Intervention 4 Reign in Blood 5 South of Heaven 6 Hell Awaits 7 Diabolus in Musica
South Of Heaven. I thought that doing an album with songs that were sooo much slower than Reign In Blood after Reign In Blood was absolutely brilliant. It was a very good risk-take and a gamble that totally paid off. Amazing. Genius. I loved it. It's a huge part of how they cemented their name in the annals of history as a band who had gigantic balls. Love it or hate it: there is no denying that fact!
@@brianmellon4238 Cool but I personally can't understand why you wouldn't just include the album opener and title track on that list and make it a series of 6. 'South Of Heaven', with it's iconic opening riff, the gradual build up of dynamics into the slow chug of the mid-section riff, seguing into the catchy, groovy mid-section when the first introductory verse appears and ends with the immortal, iconic line: "Before you see the light... You must DIIIIIIIE"! Then the hammer-ons that introduce the catchy mid-paced riff, truncated by Lombardo's inventive beat that leading into the 2nd verse... The fact it has, almost, a post-rock structure, building a largely linear 'piece / section' way (besides maybe a very short bit of what you could call standard 'verse / chorus' structure in the middle) and ends with roughly 2 minutes of drum and guitar soloing madness, ending in a long, atmospheric, anticipation whetting, fade-out that precludes and builds up expectation for the 5 songs that you are on about. So, with that in mind, while I'm glad that you like those 5 songs, I find your exclusion of the first song to call it a set of 6, absolutely, head-scratchingly, baffling to say the least.
@@LouisWinthorpe622 Personal preference I guess. The song is too just too slow for my tastes. When I see them live, I always go get a beer during that song or Seasons in the Abyss…or both.
I remember when Undisputed Attitude came out people at the time complained about it being a cover album, but I really loved it. I never would have heard most of these songs if Slayer didn't cover them, and they are all cranked to 11 with Slayer's brutal delivery. You don't like the one original song, Gemini? It's a really cool song that ends just one verse too soon.
Undisputed Attitude came out at a time in the 90's when Alt Rock and Pop were probably at their height of being whiny and annoying and the bad music seemed inescapable. Undisputed Attitude was like the perfect antidote. Nothing like Slayer storming through punk rock covers to get Macarena out of your head!
Most people I've heard who say they hate Undisputed Attitude also hate Punk Rock. I love Punk, almost as much as metal. I think the 2 scenes belong together.
I have to put reign in blood at the top. I almost fell like people who don't have just managed to play it too much. I'm an amateur drummer and just can't overstate the importance of Dave Lombardo, who in my mind really carries the band even more so than the riffs on this record
My top 10 1.South of Heaven 2. Show No Mercy 3. Reign in Blood 4. Hell Awaits 5. Seasons in the Abyss 6. God Hates Us All 7. Christ Illusion 8. Divine Intervention 9. World Painted Blood 10. Repentless
Hell Awaits #1 for me easily. "Praise of Death" and "Necrophiliac" are some of the best speed/thrash tracks ever recorded. Production could be better, they should get it remastered.
Wow, this is the first time that one of your lists has the exact same order as I'd rank them (with some very tight competition amongst the top 3, depending on my mood that day).
Reign in Blood changed everything. It may, or may not be my favorite. I go from Hell Awaits, Seasons, The first album, Divine. They are all so epic, but Reign is their most important album. It absolutely took the Metal World by the balls on its release.
@@curly_wyn How is RIB commercial ? Just because they had a better producer doesnt mean its commercial or compressed Every record that its for sale its commercial, no matter if its Show no mercy or South of heaven. There are all commercial releases.
2 года назад+1
What a great fucking channel. I’ve seen all your videos in just one week. I hope you make a lot of money with this project (this channel) because you deserve it. So objective and so informative. 10 out of 10. Congrats my man!
1- Reign in blood 2- Show no mercy 3- Seasons in the abbys 4- South of heaven 5- Hellawaits 6- Divine intervention (Mención honorífica, "Haunting the chappel") Greetings from Chili 🇨🇱
Finnaly someone giving christ illusion some love! Look, we all know it wasn't a masterpiece but man this is definitely the best 'modern day' slayer record. 100% agreed with you 👊
This is the one we've been waiting for 🤘💀🤘💀anyway this is my humble opinion. 1 hell awaits, 2 reign in blood, 3 South of heaven, 4 haunting the Chapel (yes I cheated) 5. Seasons in the abyss, 6 show no mercy, 7 divine intervention, 8 God hates us all, 9 christ illusion, 10 repentless, 11 world painted blood, 12 undisputed, 13 diabolus in musica. Thanks mate
Show No Mercy is just a jewel of an album, my favourite Slayer album by a long shot. Tormentor, The Antichrist, Crionics... I mean, it's pretty much speed metal perfection
I can live with this order. Throw “haunting the chapel” in your top 4 and we’ve got a deal. You are correct that many of us were disappointed with south of heaven, though still a good album. Everyone, even the band, knew they could not touch Reign in Blood. Vocally, from Reign on backwards was ideal. Would love to have heard them try, to dethrone the masterpiece, but this band never really repeats themselves in an exact way. I felt like continuing in the vein of reign in blood with more atmospheric components would have been interesting, and having them emerge into more of the death metal genre they helped to formulate with haunting, hell awaits, and reign.
Slayer is sorta like Metallica for me (tho i never saw them live) A few titles like Show No Mercy, Hell Awaits on cassette and South Of Heaven on CD,,,gave those to my son. All I need is Reign In Blood. Ha, i've often thought of this as the Abbey Road of Heavy Metal. One of the greatest ever.
One of the things that the modern Slayer albums lack is Tom Araya's scream. It's like a trademark of his own, it's such a remarkable sound that you just can't get bored of. As Tom ones said: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Yeah I really wish he stayed with his earlier style, but nevertheless his voice was unique and good especially with the slow tone he used in South of Heaven album.
Show is great but Reign is my favourite. I think for a lot of bands the first album defines their sound but it's refined to its peak around the 4th album.
1. Reign in Blood 2. Show No Mercy 3. Hell Awaits 4. Season in the Abyss 5. South of Heaven The rest... Haunting the Chapel (EP) is so important in metal it deserves a spot on the list, probably between 1 & 2 or 2 & 3.
My favorite Slayer albums are Show no mercy, Hell awaits, Reign in blood, South of heaven, Seasons in the abyss, the EP Haunting the chapel and Christ Illusion. Long live Slayer!!!
Slayer's favorite album from some famous Metal/Rock musicians in general (taken from various lists of the top 10 albums by each of the musicians): * Phil Anselmo (Pantera, Down) - Hell Awaits (1985) * Adam “Nergal” (Behemoth) - Reign In Blood (1986) * Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) - God Hates Us All (2001) * Johan Hegg (Amon Amarth) - Seasons In The Abyss (1990) * Henkka T. Blacksmith (Children of Bodom) - Seasons In The Abyss (1990) (His favorite Metal Album of all time) * Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom) - Seasons In The Abyss (1990) * Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse) - Hell Awaits (1985) and Reign In Blood (1986) * Jack Owen (Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Six Feet Under) - Hell Awaits (1985) and Reign In Blood (1986) * Andrea Cantarelli (Labyrinth) - Reign in Blood (1986) * Craig Neilsen (Flotsam and Jetsam) - Seasons In The Abyss (1990) * Michael Amott (Carcass, Arch Enemy, Spiritual Beggars) - Reign in Blood (1986) * Max Cavalera (Sepultura, Soufly) - Haunting the Chapel (1984 - EP) * Jerry Horton (Papa Roach) - Seasons In The Abyss (1990) * David Buckner(Papa Roach) - Seasons In The Abyss (1990) * Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian) - Reign In Blood (1986) * Robb Flynn (Machine Head, Violence) - Hell Awaits (1985) * Corey Taylor (Slipknot, Stone Sour) - Reign In Blood (1986) * Alex Auburn (Cryptopsy) - Reign In Blood (1986) * Blaze Bayley (Iron Maiden, Wolfsbane and Blaze) - Reign In Blood (1986) * Shagrath (Dimmu Borgir) - Reign In Blood (1986) * Danny Cavanagh (Anathema) - South Of Heaven (1988) * Jorgen Sandstrom (Grave, Entombed) - Reign In Blood (1986) and South Of Heaven (1988) * Joacim Cans (Hammerfall) - Reign In Blood (1986) * Schmier (Destruction) - Hell Awaits (1985) * Nick Holmes from Paradise Lost - Reign In Blood (1986), God Hates Us All (2001) and South Of Heaven (1988) * Mille Petrozza (Kreator) - Seasons In The Abyss (1990) * Galder (Old Man’s Child, Dimmu Borgir, Dødheimsgard) - Reign In Blood (1986) and Seasons In The Abyss (1990) * Tomas Haake (Meshuggah) - Reign In Blood (1986) * Marten Hagstrom (Meshuggah) - Reign In Blood (1986) * Sami Lopakka (Sentenced) - Reign In Blood (1986) and South Of Heaven (1988) * Mem Von Stein (Exumer) - Hell Awaits (1985) * Andrew Craighan (My Dying Bride) - Reign In Blood (1986) * Jason Newsted (Metallica, Flotsam and Jetsam) - Show No Mercy (1983) * Rob Halford (Judas Priest, Fight, Halford) - Reign In Blood (1986) * Warrel Dane (Nevermore, Sanctuary, Warrel Dane) - Reign in Blood (1986) * Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) - Reign in Blood (1986)
South is my favorite record. The band sounds focused and justifyingly so because they actually had a plan going into it. A mature band that knew they could not do another Reign in Blood.
Exactly ! I could not say it better sir ! South of Heaven is by far their best album imo.. the main reasons : Dave's drumming , Tom's vocals , Jeff"s and Kerry's riffs , Rick Rubin's production at their peak .
I am totally in line with this ranking except for the top3. From personal point of view i would place Show No Mercy on 3. RIB on 2 and Hell Awaits on number 1. Great ranking 👌🏻
Seasons In The Abyss and Hell Awaits are basically tied for my #1 spot because I like them for different reasons. Seasons is the mature Slayer album with their best riffs, writing and lyrics but is still dark and heavy enough to qualify. Hell Awaits is a marvelous cacophony and it is the one album where Tom's bass tone and playing is just as vicious as the guitar attack.
Great list, mine would only differ with- 1a) Hell Awaits (also my favorite cover art) 1b) Show No Mercy 2) Reign In Blood(also my second favorite cover art and, c'mon, the cassette had the whole album on both sides. Which was awesome) And while I agree with your ranking of Diabolus In Musica, my biggest complaint about that album is if you were going to dabble into groove metal, I kinda wish they fully committed. Would it have been a better album or Slayer album? I dunno, but I'd have liked to hear it. 🤘🏼✌🏽
Just found South of Heaven on vinyl yesterday. I wasn't very familiar with it except for a few songs and I played it all the way through and it was amazing. I like it better than Reign in Blood even.
Great List. Still remember seeing Slayer at the Trocodero in Philly 1996. The Air Conditioning Broke, we were drinking IPAs totally dehydrated over 100 degrees F, Chemical Warfare! Just insane in August so 🔥🔥🔥🔥! Had to drink some much Gatorade it hurt! Awesome.
Show No Mercy Hell Awaits Reign In Blood Seasons in the Abyss South of Heaven Are pretty much the only Slayer albums I still listen to with any regularity. You could have put them in any order for the top 5imho, but I think you got it right. I think Show No Mercy gets a bit overlooked in favour of Reign In Blood, but Show No Mercy just has a rawness that they lost over time. Great vid thanks for making and sharing.
I was 16 in 1984 and heard Slayer ‘Die By The Sword’ for the first time. I was instantly hooked and bought the LP at Tower Records the next day. Got to see them twice in ‘85 when they were still fresh out of the gate. Once with Dark Angel at the Reseda Country Club and the other at Hollywood Palladium with Venom and Exodus. The shows were fucking amazing. They played everything from ‘Show No Mercy’, ‘Haunting The Chapel’ and ‘Hell Awaits’ which were all released by that time.
My #1 slayer album since the day of release is their most evil and sinister and are the true sounds of the underworld which is Hell Awaits, At Dawn They Sleep may be their best riff ever Crypts of Eternity is a masterpiece. Kill again , Necrophiliac,the title track....man this album is a total ridiculous violent ball of energy or it turns me into one, perfect 10
Again, hard to disagree with your list - just have to put Seasons into number 1 position and Reign in #2, with Hell Awaits 3rd - was introduced to Slayer at 11 years old with vinyl versions of Hell Awaits and Haunting the Chapel, then my 3rd record purchase was Reign, and Seasons felt like a capstone to end the golden era of thrash. Can’t wait to see you tackle Kreator and perhaps the underrated Destruction 🤔
@@andremariano6263 Totally on the same page with you, so many great thrash/speed metal bands and genre-defining albums with golden period Metallica, Slayer, Kreator, Destruction, Sodom, Testament, Exodus, Sepultura, etc. Was also a big fan of Megadeth from Peace Sells... through to Countdown, but could never, and prob never will, get used to Dave’s voice. Amazing guitarist and interesting songwriter overall, just a cringey singing style. Anthrax were similarly kinda hokey, with dumb lyrics and glammed up vocals at times but musically, top notch, thrash tunes. Then there’s the parallel death and prog/technical metal scenes which were just as innovative, maybe more, with fantastic bands like Celtic Frost, Voivod, Coroner, Morbid Angel, Entombed, Nile, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Carcass, Meshuggah, etc. A fantastic era in music
Here's my most favorites. Slayer has been one of my favorite groups since 1985. #1 - Hell Awaits. #2 - Reign In Blood. #3 - Seasons. #4 - South of Heaven. #5 - Christ Illusion. #6 - Show No Mercy. (I know it sounds Crazy but I really love Christ illusion).😂 I agree it's their greatest modern Slayer album.🙂 really love your rankings videos. Keep up the great work here.\m/
I think this is mostly fair. South of Heaven will always be special for me because it was my introduction to Slayer. I really love Seasons In The Abyss too, mainly because it has the creepiest song I've ever heard - Dead Skin Mask. Reign In Blood was the first CD I bought (in about 1993, I think), before I even had a CD player. Because the album was no longer available on vinyl (at least, it never appeared in any of the secondhand record shops or record fairs I used to go to), and I had to own it one way or another.
Yeah I pretty much agree with your list. Love Slayer but I will admit anything post Divine Intervention (outside of a few really good songs) I kinda loose interest a little bit. I'd put WPB very low as while I'm not a production guy, I can't stand how that album sounds, it sounds very empty and hollow.
You seem to usually prefer the early records in a band's career, like when they didn't know wtf they were doing yet,lol. You like it raw. My fav is Seasons.
Ruthless Metal that’s your opinion. Money brought their best albums in MY opinion. But I agree that Hell Awaits has got that sweet menacing sound that is necessary on occasion.
I think THE most impressive aspect of 80's Slayer is how those first 4 albums sound completely different to each other. I'm hard pressed to imagine any song from the first four fitting in anywhere else on the other three 80's releases. Seasons, while still great and with innovation all its own, was the first time they began to recycle the formula. Also the first time they referenced past albums when describing the new one, "Yeah, Seasons sounds like Reign mixed with South...". I've gone back and forth over the decades regarding my personal #1 (SNM vs. RIB) but the two albums I have the most difficulty deciding between the better one are South vs Seasons. I think South has it on consistency whereas Seasons IMO contained their first filler tracks (Temptation, Expendable Youth - sorry Ruthless!), its best songs (War Ensemble, Dead Skin Mask, title track) outdid anything on South.
Seasons is the first album refining everything they did before, with the better production of their career until that point. I don't see any filler and because of all these factors it's my favorite Slayer album of all time.
I get why fans love No Mercy and Hell Awaits, but Reign in Blood is truly a metal masterpiece in my opinion. I'm not sure how much Rubin had to do with the recording process or if the band was finally able to achieve the sound they wanted, but it is more in your face and no longer sounds like they're recording in a cave. The triumvirate of Reign, South of Heaven and Seasons is maybe the 3 best consecutive records from any band in history.
I saw Slayer on the God Hates Us All tour when I was a senior in high school, mostly because I wanted to see Hatebreed lol. They were fantastic and I got into their music more later on and fortunately saw them again in Tampa this last go around and could truly appreciate what I was seeing. Side note- in my opinion Reign in Blood is what you get if you distill thrash down into its purest possible form. Piece by Piece being a personal favorite, and the opening riffing to Epidemic being particularly face melting
My top 5 is: 1. Reign in Blood (it has many fast and recognizable songs) 2. Seasons in the Abyss (scary wording and my dad used to listen to it when he worked out when I was little so it is pretty nostalgic for me) 3. South of Heaven (Tone sounds different from the others, it sounds more chunky and futuristic type I don’t know how to explain it) 4. Hell awaits (it had scary ambience and a lot more unholy) 5. Show no Mercy (first album of Slayer and was a lot more melodic than the others and Tom Araya had the best screeches in this album) I didn’t really say the cons of every album but whatever. I’d hate to judge Slayer like that.
Couldn't agree more with your list, mine would probably be very similar! I rarely listen to modern Slayer, Im a huge fan of their first records but I struggle getting into modern Slayer. It's just not the same at all. Show no mercy is my favorite Slayer album. The intro Metal Storm, preparing us for face the slayer. That's definitely one of my favorite parts in their entire discography. You don't really see that in their recent albums, that song is just a masterpiece. It's so under-rated. We often talk about black magic, die by the sword and antichrist just to name a few, but I believe that song should be up there too. I also am a big fan of hell awaits which is my 2nd favorite. Reign in blood is also very good. But as many say, after angel of death, raining blood, postmortem and jesus saves the quality of the tracks degrades. South of heaven is also good but definitely not as good as the previous 3 albums. Seasons in the abyss is maybe less old chool but still an amazing album nonetheless !
It wasn't great like their classic stuff, but still a good album and I did listen to it quite a bit when it came out. The production was unfortunately quite harsh, which was fashionable at the time.
I've watched a few different Slayer album rankings and almost all had Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits in the top 3 if not top 2. I'm glad they are getting the recognition they deserve, very underrated albums in the Slayer catalog. And to answer your question from the end of the video Reign in Blood is not my favorite Slayer album. I would go in no particular order, Seasons, Hell Awaits, South of Heaven and Show No Mercy, it changes all the time so no ranking. Reign would be #5.
Reign in Blood is not only Slayer’s greatest album, it’s one of the greatest albums in the history of music.
Yep
Yes
"Well, that's, just like uh, your opinion man."-Big Lebowski
I could not agree more
yes
South of Heaven has aged like a fine wine. Probably my favourite Thrash album ever.
Cheers!
South of Heaven is great, but it doesn't hold a candle to "Show No Mercy"
South of heaven is my favorite
TBH I only watched this video to see where that album ranked
Thats where they jumped the shark.
It’s the album I go back to most by Slayer
I totally agree on Show No Mercy being n.1... To me it has something that all other Slayer records are lacking: a more melodic and diverse songwriting that keeps you interested in what's coming up next as the album progresses. Sure, Slayer built their carrier on brutal fast and primitive thrash bangers, and it's great, but as you were saying regarding Reign in Blood, when you find yourself in the middle of the album the tracks start to get forgettable because it's just one long hammering and there's a lack of build-up and climax in what you're listening. In show no mercy you have a great balance of every element, you still have really fast and hammering stuff like black magic, but you also have all these amazing melodic tracks like metal storm that are truly epic and interesting to listen to, and they work as interludes and build-ups to more aggressive/headbanging sections... the variety in the type of riffs is also amazing, instead of the usual open E string and power chords you have these "Iron Maiden-inspired" licks like the main riff in Tormentor wich give off an epic old school feeling.
TOTALLY AGREE!
You brought it to the point!
It's NWOBHM influenced album
🤘🤘
Fun fact about Show no Mercy.
Dave had to first play the drums without cymbals, and then add them after.
For some weird reason.
Hell Awaits is extremely various as well, and I actually like it musically way better.
Notable mention: Haunting the Chapel EP
Absolutely!
played that cassette😁 to deth🤘💀🤘🕺✌😎
@@RuthlessMetalYT show no mercy is my favorite slayer album and my favorite songs on there is the die by the sword the Antichrist and black magic are very awesome songs
I think the title track needs a lot more love. Great ep
It's my 4 favorite slayer release after hell awaits, reign and South of heaven
'' Seasons in the Abyss '' from beginning to end, the best ..
Top 5. ;) Cheers!
💯
Definitely a consistent album, not my personal favorite but a solid choice. Slayer at the top of their game, it's all downhill after that
Absolutely my favorite as well. I should turn this show off, I have never been in agreement with the common Slayer fan opinions. Love SOUTH and SEASONS. Cant understand the REIGN worship, two great songs. So, hey it's all good. Take what you want, walk from the rest. I am grateful to have won Slayer tickets in 98, the live show converted me 100%, great live band.
@@saltpeter7429 Are you me? I always say that about reign in blood and seasons is my favourite album. I do love hell awaits though
Show no mercy is a masterpiece
true.
I don't wanna listen to it because the grotesque monster looks like your grandad's old goat that hasn't seen the sun in roughly a third of its lifetime.
(No offense, if you look at it the right way you'll see it)
South Of Heaven is probably my #1 which is unpopular here by the looks of things, just the most varied and best written album IMO, Seasons is quite overrated
Totally agree! I would go between Reign and South as their best two
I agree South of Heaven is their best. But I probably would put Seasons in second place.
Agreed. South is Lombardo at his finest... Seasons is my number 3.
South of heaven has great production and sound quality and great tracks I agree should be number one
While I most like Show no mercy I agree that from a musical standpoint South of Heaven (and Seasons in the abyss) are better. These two are also my second and third places.
Seasons will always be my favorite 🤘
Cheers! 🤘🏽
Mine too
With South of heaven
An absolute masterpiece from start to finish!
My ranking:
1. Show no Mercy
2. Reign in Blood
3. Seasons in the Abyss
4. South of Heaven
5. Hell Awaits.
1. Show no Mercy
2. Hell awaits
3. Reign in blood
4. Seasons in the abyss
5. South of Heaven ( my favorite Slayer song is Mandatory Suicide)
🤘🤘
1 Hell Awaits (trademark eerie atmosphere and unique ‘visciousness’ on top of their most ambitious songwriting)
2 Reign in Blood (classic, despite Lombardo’s tasty fills really saving most short songs from sounding too similar)
3 Seasons in the Abyss (peak lombardo, great riffs and good songwriting)
4 South of Heaven (a few fillers / low points. But the high points are some of Slayer’s best songs (Ghosts of War, Silent Scream etc))
5 Show No Mercy (simplistic, but melodic and ..fun?! Awesome songs in general, despite not having the trademark post-84 Slayer ferocity)
Cheers!
Nice, you definitely know what you are talking about. Good points on the classics!
@@derrickkowalewski9239 you spelled ur name wrong fellow derrick
Lol
@@dereksable9941 I think I know how to spell my name dude
You’re a hero for putting that obviously distressed man shouting “SLAYERRRR” at the beginning!
hehe, I had to. ;) 🤘
You should watch the entire interview. That man is a legend. Metal to the core.
@@Pleurotus that entire section on Slayer fans is a case study in bad life decisions! 😂😂😂
I'm very old school...
1. Reign In Blood (1986)
2. Show No Mercy (1983)
3. South Of Heaven (1988)
4. a tie for all remaining albums (studio/live/ep)
Been a slayer fan since hell awaits came out and in my opinion SLAYER has never had a bad album...some are better than others but all are great in my opinion..I'm 48 and still listen to SLAYER every day
I'm 51, lucky enough to listen to "Show No Mercy" first!
Still listen to Slayer, but not thaaat often.... ;)
1. South of Heaven -- mainly because Dave's drumming hits an even higher level on this record
2. Hell Awaits
3. Reign in Blood
4. Show No Mercy
5. Seasons in the Abyss
6. Divine Intervention
7. Christ Illusion
8. World Painted Blood
9. Repentless
10. God Hates Us All
11. Diabolus in Musica
12. Undisputed Attitude
I have the same top 6 just a different order! Rock on!
Makes no sense just as it should not. Nice list!
There are several redeemable qualities of the criminally underrated Diabolus in Musica. It has superb drumming (as was on the other criminally underrated and overlooked Divine Intervention). It has some of the heaviest breakdowns of any Slayer album. There are KILLER songs on the album, such as Bitter Peace, Stain of Mind, Perversions of Pain, and Unguarded Instinct, to name just a few. Even the follow-up album, God Hates Us All, has several great songs, such as Disciple, God Send Death, Threshold, Bloodline, Here Comes The Pain (BRUTALLY heavy song), and Payback.
I too love Divine Intervention
Once again don't diss my metal
Hell awaits
1. Show No Mercy/Haunting the Chapel
2. Hell Awaits
3. Reign In Blood
4. South of Heaven
5. Seasons in the Abyss
The End.
🩸🩸
1. Reign In Blood
2. Hell Awaits
3. Show No Mercy
4. World Painted Blood
5. Seasons In The Abyss
6. Christ Illusion
7. South Of Heaven
8. Diabolus In Musica
9. Divine Intervention
10. Repentless
Every song on Divine Intervention was bad ass.. Very underated album..I dont understand why it got dissed by fans.. Its hard to replace Dave on drums i understand.. Divine wasnt better than Seasons in the Abyss..but still..Every song on Divine Was good from start to finish.
Nope
🤘🤘
Amazing album
I always liked it and I agree that all the tracks are superb on the album!
I totally agree with you.
1. Reign In Blood
2. Show No Mercy
3. Hell Awaits
4. South Of Heaven
5. Seasons In The Abyss
6. Divine Intervention
Those are the Slayer albums I listen to. I don't listen to the other that often, if at all.
good stuff! 🤘🤘
Damn Mikey….
probably the strongest Slayer
list I’ve ever seen!!
No filler albums here!!
@@BRO77TX Right on! Rock on! Cheers!
Sounds right on..
World painted blood is up there with the classics... Listen to it properly.
Yeah! Honestly, I think world painted blood is better than south of heaven, and probably even better than show no mercy too. I'd say it's my 5th favorite slayer album.
no. :)
I'm definitely an old school Slayer listener. I pretty much stopped looking for other Slayer's records after Seasons Of The Abyss. World Painted Blood and Repentless had few good songs, but that's that. Here's my:
1. South Of Heaven
2. Reign In Blood
3. Show No mercy
4. Hell Awaits
5. Seasons Of The Abyss
Yeah, they are quite lacklustre. 🤘
That's exactly my top five man , SOH is by far their best one and top 3 of Thrah Metal history ! I really appreciate Ruthless Metal work but when it comes to Slayer there is no debate !! Live undead is my favorite song on the album ! Cheers
Oh, when taking about ''God Hates Us All'' you mentioned the retuen of thrash metal to scene. I think you should make a list of top albums of ressurection era, in the beginning of XXIth century.
I might do that some day, rank the best comeback albums or something from old thrash bands. We'll see. Cheers! 🤘🏽
I like Death Angel's post-2000 releases...especially "The Art of Dying"
@@thomasangelripper Sodom M16
Somehow I missed this one, but once again we have similar taste.
Yeah, I've ranked so many bands it's hard to keep up. ;) Cheers!
Could you rank pantera's albums including their glam albums? @@RuthlessMetalYT
@@PIZZAdayisback already done that.
@@RuthlessMetalYT really?
My favorite Slayer album can change at any given time (always the first four though).
Overall SNM is my favorite and I always shake my head when people don’t think it is the best debut of the big 4!
SNM brilliant
Hell Awaits I personally love the muddy sound ( please don’t remaster)
RIB when you need 28 minutes to power through hitting the weights
SOH I agree had no chance to live up to RIB
but I still love it’s slower, droning darkness
Seasons definitely in 5th, released when I was a Senior in High School and I wore out the CD but as time has passed I just appreciate the first four albums even more.
Very little to love after Seasons, like all thrash especially for people like me who grew up in the 80’s.
Another great list RM!
1-show no mercy
2-hell awaits
3- divine intervention
4-south of heaven
5- seasons in the abyss
🩸🩸
No argument from me. Your Top 5(as a whole) is spot on. If Reign in Blood was 7-10 minutes longer with 2-3 better songs in the middle it'd be no contest 4 me. Hell Awaits was my 1st Slayer album so it's my #1. Seasons and South are so equal so they're tied at #4.
Cheers! 🤘🤘
1. Reign in Blood
2. Show No Mercy
3. Hell Awaits
4. Seasons in the Abyss
5. South of Heaven
Can’t go wrong with this 5 RIP Slayer the thrashiest of the big 4 🤘😔🤘
Cheers! 🤘🏽
Got my Show no Mercy,first press back in 1989...
Show no Mercy was the first thrash metal album I heard(1986)...to me it was a shock!!! Those vocals, guitars and specialy the drums...melted my brain!!!
Never forget the first impression...
Became my all time favorite thrash metal album!!!
This is what I mean! If you never listened to another Slayer album before, "Show No Mercy" MUST be your favourite!
All the others ranking "Reign In Blood" at No. 1, never heard that album before....!!! :)
I’m totally okay with Show No Mercy being ranked as number 1. That album was my introduction to Slayer, and I find myself liking a lot of things about that album better than some of their other releases. I’d say my favorite Slayer album is a tie between Show No Mercy and South of Heaven
good stuff! 🤘
I agree with you on South of Heaven. That is definitely my fav Slayer album.
When War Ensamble and Seasons In The Abyss hit the Airwaves I would keep my radio on KNAC in Los Angeles on 24/7 until the album was released..
Cheers!
You are 110% spot ON!!!! When Show No Mercy came out, I was knee deep in venom! This was the best record I ever heard!!!!!
thanks, Cheers!
100& same here.
oh boy, anthrax coming next, i know the bush era albums will go on the bottom, but as a disclaimer, it was scott's and charlie's fault who wanted to stay relevant and trendy doing grunge/groove metal, i have too much respect for bush for what he did on armored saint and he truly shines vocally and musically on there, so i hope its not just a "bush bad" rant, because again, it was scott and charlie
yeah, I don't know if it was even their fault, it seems like every thrash band went alternative rock in the 90s. it was strange.
We can argue about the order of the first 3 records, but they are in any case "Hell Awaits", "Show no Mercy" and "Raign in Blood".
My all time favorite is "Hell Awaits"
If you would have listened to "Show No Mercy" before "Hell Awaits", you would have a different opinion, I would bet!!! ;)
@@maze2490 Was hell awaits was they first or show no mercy? I forgot haven't heard Slayer in a while.
@@Gen965 Show no mercy was in 1984, Hell awaits in 1985. Cheers!
So I reached the end of the video and I do agree completely. Thanks for the video!
You have some good taste in Slayer then. ;) Cheers! 🤘🏽
My first Slayer Vinyl was Live Undead in 1987....
My list is:
1. Reign in Blood
2. Show No Mercy
3. Seasons in the Abyss
4. Hell Awaits
5. South of Heaven
6. Divine Intervention
7. Repentless
8. Christ Ilusion
9. World Painted Blood
10. Undisputed Attitude
11. God Hates us All
12. Diabolous in Musica
Cheers!
Think I'd flip your one and two and your four and five. Agree that Reign in Blood is three. Black Magic, Die By the Sword, and The Antichrist are probably my three favorite Slayer songs, but I like Hell Awaits better as a total album. Good list.
Thank you Sir, Cheers! 🤘🏽
I haven't really listened to anything past Seasons yet, so this is my classic albums ranking:
1. Hell Awaits (it's their most brutal record, imo)
2. South Of Heaven (love Tom's vocals in this one)
3. Show No Mercy
4. Reign In Blood
5. Seasons In The Abyss
Yeah, the best stuff was definitely made between 83-90 so. :) Solid!
hell awaits was my least favorite slayer album a few years ago, now it’s my favorite. it’s so interesting and i love the progressive riffs and arrangements, i agree i wish they sounded like that forever!
also, you have to rank testament’s albums, best thrash discography overall for sure!
I definitely will rank Testament's discography in a week or three. :) Cheers!
My list is pretty similar to yours, but I really love Divine Intervention and those songs live are extra ferocious. Here is my Slayer preference:
1 - Show No Mercy
2 - Reign In Blood
3 - Hell Awaits
4 - Divine Intervention
5 - Seasons In The Abyss
6 - South Of Heaven
7 - Christ Illusion
8 - World Painted Blood
9 - Repentless
10 - Undisputed Attitude
11 - God Hates Us All
12 - Diabolus In Musica
I am a South of Heaven fan. I can’t put a thumb on it but it is the one Slayer I can listen to from beginning to end without feeling like hitting skip or pause.
Cheers!
I have only listened to a few Slayer albums, so this will be my rank:
1 Seasons in the Abyss
2 Show no Mercy
3 Divine Intervention
4 Reign in Blood
5 South of Heaven
6 Hell Awaits
7 Diabolus in Musica
Cheers!
South Of Heaven. I thought that doing an album with songs that were sooo much slower than Reign In Blood after Reign In Blood was absolutely brilliant. It was a very good risk-take and a gamble that totally paid off. Amazing. Genius. I loved it. It's a huge part of how they cemented their name in the annals of history as a band who had gigantic balls. Love it or hate it: there is no denying that fact!
They realized they couldn't top the speed of reign in blood so they slowed down. I personally love South of heaven especially ghosts of war
South is my favorite from Slayer. Silent Screams through Ghosts of War is in my opinion the best 5 song sequence on any album ever.
@@brianmellon4238 Cool but I personally can't understand why you wouldn't just include the album opener and title track on that list and make it a series of 6. 'South Of Heaven', with it's iconic opening riff, the gradual build up of dynamics into the slow chug of the mid-section riff, seguing into the catchy, groovy mid-section when the first introductory verse appears and ends with the immortal, iconic line: "Before you see the light... You must DIIIIIIIE"! Then the hammer-ons that introduce the catchy mid-paced riff, truncated by Lombardo's inventive beat that leading into the 2nd verse... The fact it has, almost, a post-rock structure, building a largely linear 'piece / section' way (besides maybe a very short bit of what you could call standard 'verse / chorus' structure in the middle) and ends with roughly 2 minutes of drum and guitar soloing madness, ending in a long, atmospheric, anticipation whetting, fade-out that precludes and builds up expectation for the 5 songs that you are on about. So, with that in mind, while I'm glad that you like those 5 songs, I find your exclusion of the first song to call it a set of 6, absolutely, head-scratchingly, baffling to say the least.
@@LouisWinthorpe622 Personal preference I guess. The song is too just too slow for my tastes. When I see them live, I always go get a beer during that song or Seasons in the Abyss…or both.
@@brianmellon4238 include read between the lies there too. jeffs solo is fuckin trippy dark
I remember when Undisputed Attitude came out people at the time complained about it being a cover album, but I really loved it. I never would have heard most of these songs if Slayer didn't cover them, and they are all cranked to 11 with Slayer's brutal delivery. You don't like the one original song, Gemini? It's a really cool song that ends just one verse too soon.
Yeah, pre internet days most kids hadn't heard those bands today it's a bit different I guess. No Gemini was kinda bad. ;) Cheers! 🤘🏽
@@RuthlessMetalYT I would say that Gemini is one of the most overlooked songs in their career. Not a thrash song, but heavy, doomy and incredible
Undisputed Attitude came out at a time in the 90's when Alt Rock and Pop were probably at their height of being whiny and annoying and the bad music seemed inescapable. Undisputed Attitude was like the perfect antidote. Nothing like Slayer storming through punk rock covers to get Macarena out of your head!
Most people I've heard who say they hate Undisputed Attitude also hate Punk Rock. I love Punk, almost as much as metal. I think the 2 scenes belong together.
I don't care much for the covers Slayer made... But I am a huge sucker for covers of Slayer songs.
I have to put reign in blood at the top. I almost fell like people who don't have just managed to play it too much. I'm an amateur drummer and just can't overstate the importance of Dave Lombardo, who in my mind really carries the band even more so than the riffs on this record
Yeah he is a remarkable drummer.
Nice ranking totally agree black magic is one of my fav slayer songs \m/
Cheers!
I'm taking Seasons as an overall album, but South of Heaven is definitely my favorite song. So good.
My top 10
1.South of Heaven
2. Show No Mercy
3. Reign in Blood
4. Hell Awaits
5. Seasons in the Abyss
6. God Hates Us All
7. Christ Illusion
8. Divine Intervention
9. World Painted Blood
10. Repentless
🤘🤘
Hell Awaits #1 for me easily. "Praise of Death" and "Necrophiliac" are some of the best speed/thrash tracks ever recorded. Production could be better, they should get it remastered.
🤘🤘
Wow, this is the first time that one of your lists has the exact same order as I'd rank them (with some very tight competition amongst the top 3, depending on my mood that day).
Cheers!
Reign in Blood changed everything. It may, or may not be my favorite. I go from Hell Awaits, Seasons, The first album, Divine. They are all so epic, but Reign is their most important album. It absolutely took the Metal World by the balls on its release.
for sure!
For sounding slick and compressed and commercial? That’s what it was, so what lol
@@curly_wyn
How is RIB commercial ? Just because they had a better producer doesnt mean its commercial or compressed
Every record that its for sale its commercial, no matter if its Show no mercy or South of heaven. There are all commercial releases.
What a great fucking channel. I’ve seen all your videos in just one week. I hope you make a lot of money with this project (this channel) because you deserve it. So objective and so informative. 10 out of 10. Congrats my man!
Thank you. Unfortunately I earn hardly nothing. Haha Cheers
You're totally right to put Show No Mercy at #1. It's my absolute favorite.
cheers!
1- Reign in blood
2- Show no mercy
3- Seasons in the abbys
4- South of heaven
5- Hellawaits
6- Divine intervention
(Mención honorífica, "Haunting the chappel") Greetings from Chili 🇨🇱
🤘🤘
I personally love Reign In Blood, Hell Await, South Of Heaven, Show no Mercy and Season in the abyss.
🤘🤘
Can’t go wrong with the first 5 at all
Finnaly someone giving christ illusion some love! Look, we all know it wasn't a masterpiece but man this is definitely the best 'modern day' slayer record. 100% agreed with you 👊
Cheerios, wouldnt call myself a fan of it but it's decent.
Season was my soundtrack for sure. Front to back it was full of good songs
This is the one we've been waiting for 🤘💀🤘💀anyway this is my humble opinion. 1 hell awaits, 2 reign in blood, 3 South of heaven, 4 haunting the Chapel (yes I cheated) 5. Seasons in the abyss, 6 show no mercy, 7 divine intervention, 8 God hates us all, 9 christ illusion, 10 repentless, 11 world painted blood, 12 undisputed, 13 diabolus in musica. Thanks mate
Show No Mercy is just a jewel of an album, my favourite Slayer album by a long shot. Tormentor, The Antichrist, Crionics... I mean, it's pretty much speed metal perfection
it's amazing. Cheers!
goated username
I can live with this order. Throw “haunting the chapel” in your top 4 and we’ve got a deal. You are correct that many of us were disappointed with south of heaven, though still a good album. Everyone, even the band, knew they could not touch Reign in Blood. Vocally, from Reign on backwards was ideal. Would love to have heard them try, to dethrone the masterpiece, but this band never really repeats themselves in an exact way. I felt like continuing in the vein of reign in blood with more atmospheric components would have been interesting, and having them emerge into more of the death metal genre they helped to formulate with haunting, hell awaits, and reign.
Yeah, South of Heaven might not be a Reign in Blood but it's still one of the better thrash records of the year.
@@RuthlessMetalYT BTW great breakdown
Sunday morning, coffee and Slayer!!!
When I see the top 5 I can only grin with joy. 👍🤘🤘🤘
🤘🤘
Slayer is sorta like Metallica for me (tho i never saw them live)
A few titles like Show No Mercy, Hell Awaits on cassette and South Of Heaven on CD,,,gave those to my son.
All I need is Reign In Blood. Ha, i've often thought of this as the Abbey Road of Heavy Metal.
One of the greatest ever.
One of the things that the modern Slayer albums lack is Tom Araya's scream. It's like a trademark of his own, it's such a remarkable sound that you just can't get bored of.
As Tom ones said: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Yeah, they got older, Cheers! 🤘🏽
@@RuthlessMetalYT indeed, but still one of the greatest🤘🏽
Every post-Reign in Blood album also lacks his raspy, almost lisping pronounciation. That visciousness was lost fast..
He definitely lost most of that ferocious character in voice with the later albums
Yeah I really wish he stayed with his earlier style, but nevertheless his voice was unique and good especially with the slow tone he used in South of Heaven album.
1. Seasons 2. Divine Intervention 3. Hell Awaits 4. Reign In Blood 5. Show no Mercy 6. Haunting the Chapel 7. South of Heaven 8. World Painted Blood 9. Undisputed 10. Diabolus 11-12-13. GHUA/ Repentless/ Christ Illussion. Cheers!
Show is great but Reign is my favourite. I think for a lot of bands the first album defines their sound but it's refined to its peak around the 4th album.
🤘
You and I agree 100% on you top 9. I have said for years "Show No Mercy" is their Best and "Hell Awaits" is their 2nd.
yes sir! there's no denying that.
Ive stated this before:
Reign in Blood - Fast and Aggressive
South of Heaven - Slow and Aggressive
Seasons- Just right!
Bravo, I agreed with your top 3 picks. Makes me feel like I'm getting closer to my Thrash Metal PhD.
hehe, cheers! 🤘
SSSLLLAAAYYYEEERRRR!!!
SLAAYAYYAYAYYAYAYAYYAYA! Cheers!
1. Reign in Blood
2. Show No Mercy
3. Hell Awaits
4. Season in the Abyss
5. South of Heaven
The rest...
Haunting the Chapel (EP) is so important in metal it deserves a spot on the list, probably between 1 & 2 or 2 & 3.
Cheers!
My favorite Slayer albums are Show no mercy, Hell awaits, Reign in blood, South of heaven, Seasons in the abyss, the EP Haunting the chapel and Christ Illusion. Long live Slayer!!!
"Chemical Warfare" is great! I hardly can imagine a Slayer show ending with another song...;)
Slayer's favorite album from some famous Metal/Rock musicians in general (taken from various lists of the top 10 albums by each of the musicians):
* Phil Anselmo (Pantera, Down) - Hell Awaits (1985)
* Adam “Nergal” (Behemoth) - Reign In Blood (1986)
* Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) - God Hates Us All (2001)
* Johan Hegg (Amon Amarth) - Seasons In The Abyss (1990)
* Henkka T. Blacksmith (Children of Bodom) - Seasons In The Abyss (1990) (His favorite Metal Album of all time)
* Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom) - Seasons In The Abyss (1990)
* Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse) - Hell Awaits (1985) and Reign In Blood (1986)
* Jack Owen (Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Six Feet Under) - Hell Awaits (1985) and Reign In Blood (1986)
* Andrea Cantarelli (Labyrinth) - Reign in Blood (1986)
* Craig Neilsen (Flotsam and Jetsam) - Seasons In The Abyss (1990)
* Michael Amott (Carcass, Arch Enemy, Spiritual Beggars) - Reign in Blood (1986)
* Max Cavalera (Sepultura, Soufly) - Haunting the Chapel (1984 - EP)
* Jerry Horton (Papa Roach) - Seasons In The Abyss (1990)
* David Buckner(Papa Roach) - Seasons In The Abyss (1990)
* Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian) - Reign In Blood (1986)
* Robb Flynn (Machine Head, Violence) - Hell Awaits (1985)
* Corey Taylor (Slipknot, Stone Sour) - Reign In Blood (1986)
* Alex Auburn (Cryptopsy) - Reign In Blood (1986)
* Blaze Bayley (Iron Maiden, Wolfsbane and Blaze) - Reign In Blood (1986)
* Shagrath (Dimmu Borgir) - Reign In Blood (1986)
* Danny Cavanagh (Anathema) - South Of Heaven (1988)
* Jorgen Sandstrom (Grave, Entombed) - Reign In Blood (1986) and South Of Heaven (1988)
* Joacim Cans (Hammerfall) - Reign In Blood (1986)
* Schmier (Destruction) - Hell Awaits (1985)
* Nick Holmes from Paradise Lost - Reign In Blood (1986), God Hates Us All (2001) and South Of Heaven (1988)
* Mille Petrozza (Kreator) - Seasons In The Abyss (1990)
* Galder (Old Man’s Child, Dimmu Borgir, Dødheimsgard) - Reign In Blood (1986) and Seasons In The Abyss (1990)
* Tomas Haake (Meshuggah) - Reign In Blood (1986)
* Marten Hagstrom (Meshuggah) - Reign In Blood (1986)
* Sami Lopakka (Sentenced) - Reign In Blood (1986) and South Of Heaven (1988)
* Mem Von Stein (Exumer) - Hell Awaits (1985)
* Andrew Craighan (My Dying Bride) - Reign In Blood (1986)
* Jason Newsted (Metallica, Flotsam and Jetsam) - Show No Mercy (1983)
* Rob Halford (Judas Priest, Fight, Halford) - Reign In Blood (1986)
* Warrel Dane (Nevermore, Sanctuary, Warrel Dane) - Reign in Blood (1986)
* Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) - Reign in Blood (1986)
That is cool. :D Cheers!
South is my favorite record. The band sounds focused and justifyingly so because they actually had a plan going into it. A mature band that knew they could not do another Reign in Blood.
Cheers!
Exactly ! I could not say it better sir ! South of Heaven is by far their best album imo.. the main reasons : Dave's drumming , Tom's vocals , Jeff"s and Kerry's riffs , Rick Rubin's production at their peak .
I am totally in line with this ranking except for the top3. From personal point of view i would place Show No Mercy on 3. RIB on 2 and Hell Awaits on number 1.
Great ranking 👌🏻
thanks boss, cheers!
Seasons In The Abyss and Hell Awaits are basically tied for my #1 spot because I like them for different reasons. Seasons is the mature Slayer album with their best riffs, writing and lyrics but is still dark and heavy enough to qualify. Hell Awaits is a marvelous cacophony and it is the one album where Tom's bass tone and playing is just as vicious as the guitar attack.
I mean, “mature” is not really what I want from Slayer.
Great list, mine would only differ with-
1a) Hell Awaits (also my favorite cover art)
1b) Show No Mercy
2) Reign In Blood(also my second favorite cover art and, c'mon, the cassette had the whole album on both sides. Which was awesome)
And while I agree with your ranking of Diabolus In Musica, my biggest complaint about that album is if you were going to dabble into groove metal, I kinda wish they fully committed.
Would it have been a better album or Slayer album? I dunno, but I'd have liked to hear it.
🤘🏼✌🏽
solid!
Just found South of Heaven on vinyl yesterday. I wasn't very familiar with it except for a few songs and I played it all the way through and it was amazing. I like it better than Reign in Blood even.
yes, great album! 🤘
It's simply their best , i bought on vinyl it back in '88 when it came out and still play it ! Live undead is my favorite song ! Cheers !
Great List. Still remember seeing Slayer at the Trocodero in Philly 1996. The Air Conditioning Broke, we were drinking IPAs totally dehydrated over 100 degrees F, Chemical Warfare! Just insane in August so 🔥🔥🔥🔥! Had to drink some much Gatorade it hurt! Awesome.
Show No Mercy
Hell Awaits
Reign In Blood
Seasons in the Abyss
South of Heaven
Are pretty much the only Slayer albums I still listen to with any regularity. You could have put them in any order for the top 5imho, but I think you got it right. I think Show No Mercy gets a bit overlooked in favour of Reign In Blood, but Show No Mercy just has a rawness that they lost over time. Great vid thanks for making and sharing.
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I was 16 in 1984 and heard Slayer ‘Die By The Sword’ for the first time. I was instantly hooked and bought the LP at Tower Records the next day. Got to see them twice in ‘85 when they were still fresh out of the gate. Once with Dark Angel at the Reseda Country Club and the other at Hollywood Palladium with Venom and Exodus. The shows were fucking amazing. They played everything from ‘Show No Mercy’, ‘Haunting The Chapel’ and ‘Hell Awaits’ which were all released by that time.
I saw a live video of them playing songs of the first two albums with the speed of RiB. Damn good!
good stuff, 🤘🤘
I may disagree on some placements but the first 3 well that is how i would rank them
Great video as always Sir
Thanks boss! 🤘
Great list! My top 3 is the same as yours.
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My #1 slayer album since the day of release is their most evil and sinister and are the true sounds of the underworld which is Hell Awaits, At Dawn They Sleep may be their best riff ever Crypts of Eternity is a masterpiece. Kill again , Necrophiliac,the title track....man this album is a total ridiculous violent ball of energy or it turns me into one, perfect 10
great one for sure.
Again, hard to disagree with your list - just have to put Seasons into number 1 position and Reign in #2, with Hell Awaits 3rd - was introduced to Slayer at 11 years old with vinyl versions of Hell Awaits and Haunting the Chapel, then my 3rd record purchase was Reign, and Seasons felt like a capstone to end the golden era of thrash. Can’t wait to see you tackle Kreator and perhaps the underrated Destruction 🤔
Yeah I might do those some day too. :) Cheers! 🤘🏽
@@andremariano6263 Totally on the same page with you, so many great thrash/speed metal bands and genre-defining albums with golden period Metallica, Slayer, Kreator, Destruction, Sodom, Testament, Exodus, Sepultura, etc. Was also a big fan of Megadeth from Peace Sells... through to Countdown, but could never, and prob never will, get used to Dave’s voice. Amazing guitarist and interesting songwriter overall, just a cringey singing style. Anthrax were similarly kinda hokey, with dumb lyrics and glammed up vocals at times but musically, top notch, thrash tunes. Then there’s the parallel death and prog/technical metal scenes which were just as innovative, maybe more, with fantastic bands like Celtic Frost, Voivod, Coroner, Morbid Angel, Entombed, Nile, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Carcass, Meshuggah, etc. A fantastic era in music
Not to mention Chuck Schuldiner’s Death, of course.
Here's my most favorites.
Slayer has been one of my favorite groups since 1985.
#1 - Hell Awaits.
#2 - Reign In Blood.
#3 - Seasons.
#4 - South of Heaven.
#5 - Christ Illusion.
#6 - Show No Mercy. (I know it sounds Crazy but I really love Christ illusion).😂 I agree it's their greatest modern Slayer album.🙂 really love your rankings videos. Keep up the great work here.\m/
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I think this is mostly fair.
South of Heaven will always be special for me because it was my introduction to Slayer. I really love Seasons In The Abyss too, mainly because it has the creepiest song I've ever heard - Dead Skin Mask.
Reign In Blood was the first CD I bought (in about 1993, I think), before I even had a CD player. Because the album was no longer available on vinyl (at least, it never appeared in any of the secondhand record shops or record fairs I used to go to), and I had to own it one way or another.
Yeah I pretty much agree with your list. Love Slayer but I will admit anything post Divine Intervention (outside of a few really good songs) I kinda loose interest a little bit. I'd put WPB very low as while I'm not a production guy, I can't stand how that album sounds, it sounds very empty and hollow.
You seem to usually prefer the early records in a band's career, like when they didn't know wtf they were doing yet,lol. You like it raw. My fav is Seasons.
Definitely, when they get those big dollar contracts everything that made them great is usually just scrubbed away. :)
Ruthless Metal that’s your opinion. Money brought their best albums in MY opinion. But I agree that Hell Awaits has got that sweet menacing sound that is necessary on occasion.
1 - Reign in Blood
2 - Show no Mercy
3 - South of Heaven
4 - Hell Awaits
5 - Seasons in the Abyss
I think THE most impressive aspect of 80's Slayer is how those first 4 albums sound completely different to each other. I'm hard pressed to imagine any song from the first four fitting in anywhere else on the other three 80's releases. Seasons, while still great and with innovation all its own, was the first time they began to recycle the formula. Also the first time they referenced past albums when describing the new one, "Yeah, Seasons sounds like Reign mixed with South...".
I've gone back and forth over the decades regarding my personal #1 (SNM vs. RIB) but the two albums I have the most difficulty deciding between the better one are South vs Seasons. I think South has it on consistency whereas Seasons IMO contained their first filler tracks (Temptation, Expendable Youth - sorry Ruthless!), its best songs (War Ensemble, Dead Skin Mask, title track) outdid anything on South.
Yeah, they managed to reinvent themselfes a couple of times while remaining Slayer. :)
Seasons is the first album refining everything they did before, with the better production of their career until that point. I don't see any filler and because of all these factors it's my favorite Slayer album of all time.
Another great video I agree with your ranking on slayer looking forward to that TESTAMENT video 🤘🏻🤘🏻
It's coming sooner or later, Cheers!
I get why fans love No Mercy and Hell Awaits, but Reign in Blood is truly a metal masterpiece in my opinion. I'm not sure how much Rubin had to do with the recording process or if the band was finally able to achieve the sound they wanted, but it is more in your face and no longer sounds like they're recording in a cave. The triumvirate of Reign, South of Heaven and Seasons is maybe the 3 best consecutive records from any band in history.
Rick Rubin ruined the band and their sound imo.
I saw Slayer on the God Hates Us All tour when I was a senior in high school, mostly because I wanted to see Hatebreed lol. They were fantastic and I got into their music more later on and fortunately saw them again in Tampa this last go around and could truly appreciate what I was seeing.
Side note- in my opinion Reign in Blood is what you get if you distill thrash down into its purest possible form. Piece by Piece being a personal favorite, and the opening riffing to Epidemic being particularly face melting
hell yeah sunday morning coffee and Slayer ! My gf just broke my fav coffee cup ! Getting a Ruthless Metal Cup !
My top 5 is:
1. Reign in Blood (it has many fast and recognizable songs)
2. Seasons in the Abyss (scary wording and my dad used to listen to it when he worked out when I was little so it is pretty nostalgic for me)
3. South of Heaven (Tone sounds different from the others, it sounds more chunky and futuristic type I don’t know how to explain it)
4. Hell awaits (it had scary ambience and a lot more unholy)
5. Show no Mercy (first album of Slayer and was a lot more melodic than the others and Tom Araya had the best screeches in this album)
I didn’t really say the cons of every album but whatever. I’d hate to judge Slayer like that.
Cheers!
Divine Intervention (1994) is underrated. Great, aggressive album. My favourites.
Couldn't agree more with your list, mine would probably be very similar! I rarely listen to modern Slayer, Im a huge fan of their first records but I struggle getting into modern Slayer. It's just not the same at all. Show no mercy is my favorite Slayer album. The intro Metal Storm, preparing us for face the slayer. That's definitely one of my favorite parts in their entire discography. You don't really see that in their recent albums, that song is just a masterpiece. It's so under-rated. We often talk about black magic, die by the sword and antichrist just to name a few, but I believe that song should be up there too. I also am a big fan of hell awaits which is my 2nd favorite. Reign in blood is also very good. But as many say, after angel of death, raining blood, postmortem and jesus saves the quality of the tracks degrades. South of heaven is also good but definitely not as good as the previous 3 albums. Seasons in the abyss is maybe less old chool but still an amazing album nonetheless !
yeah, modern metal is weird. there has been a big decline overall. Cheers!
Divine Intervention was cool
Cheers!
It wasn't great like their classic stuff, but still a good album and I did listen to it quite a bit when it came out. The production was unfortunately quite harsh, which was fashionable at the time.
I've watched a few different Slayer album rankings and almost all had Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits in the top 3 if not top 2. I'm glad they are getting the recognition they deserve, very underrated albums in the Slayer catalog. And to answer your question from the end of the video Reign in Blood is not my favorite Slayer album. I would go in no particular order, Seasons, Hell Awaits, South of Heaven and Show No Mercy, it changes all the time so no ranking. Reign would be #5.
1. Hell Awaits!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheers!