History Music / ReignInBlood

* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Reign in Blood'' is notable for being the first hint of mainstream success the darker, more sonically violent brand of thrash more popular in Germany and Brazil than the United States received, a sound that made it clear they were a completely different beast compared to bands like Music/{{Metallica}} and Music/{{Megadeth}}.

* {{Gorn}}: Several of the songs on the album get extremely nasty, notably "Angel of Death", "Piece by Piece", and "Necrophobic". Even the album cover art could be an example.

* HateSink: "Angel of Death", infamous Nazi Doctor Josef Mengele, whose same nickname coined the song's title, is portrayed in as horrific fashion as ever, reveling in his depraved experiments as the song's narrator condemns him as a "butcher" and his acts as "sickening".

* HateSink: Infamous Nazi Doctor Josef Mengele is portrayed in as horrific fashion as ever, reveling in his depraved experiments as the song's narrator condemns him as a "butcher" and his acts as "sickening".

# "Aggressive Perfector" (2:30)[[note]] A different version than the version of the song on the ''Haunting the Chapel'' EP. [[/note]]

''Reign in Blood'' is the third studio album by Music/{{Slayer}}, released in 1986. The album began the band's long-term relationship with Music/RickRubin (who would produce every Slayer album until the band signed to Nuclear Blast in 2014 and released ''Repentless'' the next year) and was their first on a major label -- Rubin's Def Jam Recordings, which before was largely restricted to HipHop. It was a BreakthroughHit for the band, marking Slayer's debut on the Billboard 200 album charts and later their first of four gold sellers.

* DeathMetal: ''Reign in Blood'' itself is not a death metal album, but its blistering speeds, atypical playing techniques, and morbid lyrical themes were all-important in laying down the blueprints for the genre and in some cases ended up [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer getting this label strapped onto Slayer anyway]]. (Infamously, ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' was guilty of making this mistake).

* MadLibMetalLyrics: Most of the albums' lyrics ultimately end up like a bunch of phrases strapped together to illustrate dark imagery. "Criminally Insane" is one major example.
** It's quite likely that the band often chose words for their sounds as much as for their meanings; in addition to the dark imagery, an awful lot of the words used contain strident consonants that make them fun to belt out. Araya spends most of the album chewing the scenery, but the strident consonants particularly coincide with his hammiest moments on the microphone here.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: The whole album is around 9 territory, but at the time of its release it'd probably be considered 10, with a few songs (namely "Angel of Death", which today is an extremely hard 9) going up to 11.

** It's quite likely that the band often chose words for their sounds as much as for their meanings; in addition to the dark imagery, an awful lot of the words used contain strident consonants that make them fun to belt out.

[[caption-width-right:350: ''Reign in Blood''.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''Reign in Blood''.]]

''Reign in Blood'' is the third studio album by Music/{{Slayer}}, released in 1986. The album began the band's long-term relationship with Music/RickRubin (who would produce every Slayer album until the band signed to Nuclear Blast in 2014 and released ''Repentless'' the next year) and was their first on a major label - Rubin's Def Jam Recordings, which before was largely restricted to HipHop. It was a BreakthroughHit for the band, marking Slayer's debut on the Billboard 200 album charts and later their first of four gold sellers.

The album contains the band's two [[SignatureSong signature songs]], "Raining Blood" and "Angel of Death", the former later being notorious for being one of the hardest things to ever set foot in ''VideoGame/GuitarHero''. Other popular songs include "Postmortem", "Jesus Saves" and "Altar of Sacrifice". The band has been performed the album in its entirety on more than one occasion, including a DVD of the album ''Still Reigning''.

# "Aggressive Perfector" (2:30)[[note]]A different version than the version of the song on the ''Haunting the Chapel'' EP.[[/note]]

!!Principal Members:

* AlbumTitleDrop: The last line in "Raining Blood"

* DeathMetal: ''Reign in Blood'' itself is not a death metal album, but its blistering speeds, atypical playing techniques and morbid lyrical themes were all-important in laying down the blueprints for the genre and in some cases ended up [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer getting this label strapped onto Slayer anyway]]. (Infamously, ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' was guilty of making this mistake).
* DramaticThunder: Used at the beginning [[BookEnds and end of]] "Raining Blood" (the latter being used to denote the end of the actual music - the track continues with the sound of rain after that).

* {{Gorn}}: Several of the songs on the album get extremely nasty, notably "Angel of Death", "Piece by Piece" and "Necrophobic". Even the album cover art could be an example.

* MotorMouth: One of the album's trademarks is its often ridiculously fast vocal delivery, with "Jesus Saves", "Reborn" and "Necrophobic" being standouts.
* NewSoundAlbum: Slayer was always a ThrashMetal band, but their first two albums have a bit of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness to them (''Show No Mercy'' was heavily NewWaveOfBritishHeavyMetal-influenced and ''Hell Awaits'' had long songs with a heavier emphasis on darkness than straight-up brutality). ''Reign in Blood'' saw Slayer pumping their music's HardcorePunk influence way up, paving the way for some of the heaviest, fastest, [[MinisculeRocking shortest]] and morbid thrash ever, setting the scene for many other "brutal" thrash acts and much of the early death metal movement. The album is also different lyrically, focusing less on the satanic themes of the first two (religious songs now generally lean towards ReligionRantSong than about Satan or Hell) for more "street level" but still very dark topics.

* SarcasticTitle: ...which isn't exactly indicated in the song's title.

'''''Reign in Blood''''' is the third studio album by Music/{{Slayer}}, released in 1986. The album began the band's long-term relationship with Music/RickRubin (who would produce every Slayer album until the band signed to Nuclear Blast in 2014 and released ''Repentless'' the next year) and was their first on a major label - Rubin's Def Jam Recordings, which before was largely restricted to HipHop. It was a BreakthroughHit for the band, marking Slayer's debut on the Billboard 200 album charts and later their first of four gold sellers.

* AlbumTitleDrop: The last line in ''Raining Blood''

* MinisculeRocking: The main album is just under half an hour, with only three songs longer than three minutes and one song ("Necrophobic") under two. The album sticks out for this as the 37-minute-long ''Hell Awaits'' had seven songs leaning towards the [[EpicRocking opposite direction]].

This album remains Slayer's most successful and (in)famous record, not only due to highly controversial lyrics and cover art but also highly influential music in the metal community. This album combined Slayer's dark thrash sound from their first two albums with the tempos and song lengths of HardcorePunk to create an extremely high tempo album filled with gruesome thematics and chaotic performances. It quickly became a huge hit in the extreme metal community and inspired bands across all genres, perhaps most significantly on DeathMetal. Even today, ''Reign in Blood'' is widely considered a thrash classic and one of the best albums ever produced in heavy metal.

The album contains the band's two [[SignatureSong signature songs]], "Raining Blood" and "Angel of Death", the former later being notorious for being one of the hardest things to ever set foot in ''VideoGame/GuitarHero''. Other popular songs include "Postmortem", "Jesus Saves" and "Altar of Sacrifice". The band has been performed the album in its entirety on more the one occasion, including a DVD of the album ''Still Reigning''.

* DeathMetal: ''Reign in Blood'' itself is not a death metal album, but its blistering speeds, atypical playing techniques and morbid lyrical themes were all important in laying down the blueprints for the genre and in some cases ended up getting this label strapped onto Slayer anyway.

* FadingIntoTheNextSong: "Altar of Sacrifice" into "Jesus Saves" and far more famously, "Postmortem" into "Raining Blood".

* HorribleHistoryMetal / ThoseWackyNazis: "Angel of Death", about the titular "angel of death" Josef Mengele, who was notorious for performing horrific experiments on concretation camp prisoners during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

* MinisculeRocking: The main album is just under half an hour, with only three songs longer than three minutes and one song ("Necrophobic") under two. The album sticks out for this as the 37 minute long ''Hell Awaits'' had seven songs leaning towards the [[EpicRocking opposite direction]].

* NewSoundAlbum: Slayer was always a ThrashMetal band, but their first two albums have a bit of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness to them (''Show No Mercy'' was heavily NewWaveOfBritishHeavyMetal influenced and ''Hell Awaits'' had long songs with a heavier emphasis on darkness than straight-up brutality). ''Reign in Blood'' saw Slayer pumping up their music's HardcorePunk influence way up, paving the way for some of the heaviest, fastest, [[MinisculeRocking shortest]] and morbid thrash ever, setting the scene for many other "brutal" thrash acts and much of the early death metal movement. The album is also different lyrically, focusing less on the satanic themes of the first two (religious songs now generally lean towards ReligionRantSong than about Satan or Hell) for more "street level" but still very dark topics.

* SarcasticTitle: ...which isn't exactly indicative in the song's title.