Slayer - Reign in Blood - October 7, 1986

Earlier in 1986, Metallica released an album that featured songs with extended run-times, with somewhat more complex arrangements and riffs that were repeated over and over, almost to the point of ridicule. Later that same year, Slayer decided to go in the exact opposite direction. With the exception of the opening and closing tracks, Slayer almost forego song development completely in favour of short, violent bursts of evil the likes of which the world had never seen. Their tactic is successful in a way, in that when the album is playing it is very enjoyable to someone who loves fast, energetic, evil-as-fuck music. However, once the music is over there's not a whole lot to remember.

If Slayer had made an album full of "Angel of Death" and "Raining Blood", it would truly be one for the ages! But instead we have two fantastic songs, a few lesser lights like "Postmortem" and "Altar of Sacrifice", and then a bunch of under-developed drive-by's. The influence of this album is far-reaching, inspiring a host of death and thrash metal bands to up the violence and aggression, and to start playing those strangled-guitar solos that I kind of wish Kerry and Jeff never decided to play.

Overrated? Absolutely. This is nowhere near the best thrash album ever, and I really question why so many people feel it is. Innovative? Somewhat. Hirax did the fast, short, metallic bursts already, but Slayer brings a new level of credibility, professionalism and pure evil to it. Is it good? Yeah, it's good. It's fun as hell, but just not very memorable nor is it deserving of a lot of the praise that is thrown its way. That said, it still shits on a good share of the thrash albums that have come out up to this point and beyond, which is a testament to just how good a band Slayer were in their prime.

1. Angel of Death
2. Piece By Piece
3. Necrophobic
4. Altar of Sacrifice
5. Jesus Saves
6. Criminally Insane
7. Reborn
8. Epidemic
9. Postmortem
10. Raining Blood

Score: 8/10

Hirax - Hate, Fear & Power - August, 1986

The problem with Hirax's first album, released a year earlier was that it was just too much of the same thing. 2-minute blast after 2-minute blast for a half hour can get tedious and is the main reason I've never been able to get into hardcore or grindcore. Whether it was intentional or not, Hirax improved on their debut in two ways. The first is that it's about half as long at a whopping 16 minutes. The second is that they figured out that good thrash isn't always full-speed ahead.

That second point is the key to this album being much better than their first album. Even though the first three tracks are straight-ahead speed freaks, with the 40-second title track featuring something that resembles a blast beat, it's the second half of the album where we see Hirax start to vary their songwriting. "The Last War" features an excellent, punishing main riff that sounds very similar to what Slayer would start doing a couple years later. The slower parts also give Katon's soaring vocals room to breathe and in doing so makes you wonder why they didn't do more of it. It's a shame that Hirax wouldn't be heard from again (other than a demo in 1987) until 2004, because there's a whole lot of potential in this release.

1. Hate, Fear & Power
2. Blind Faith
3. Unholy Sacrifice
4. Lightning Thunder
5. The Last War
6. The Plague
7. Imprisoned By Ignorance
8. Criminal Punishment

Score: 7/10

Detente - Recognize No Authority - August, 1986

Dawn Crosby is the fourth female thrash vocalist we've heard from and is definitely one of the more intriguing ones. Somewhere between the melodic shouting of Sentinel Beast's Debbie Gunn and the proto-death metal stylings of Holy Moses' Sabina Classen, Crosby is somehow more pissed-off sounding than Classen. She comes off like a female Paul Baloff -- very little real singing talent, but all attitude, and just fucking livid-sounding. Indeed, she did have some issues, dying about 10 years later due to liver failure.

What about the rest of the band? The album itself? Well, it's not awful, but it's pretty unspectacular. The band struggles to find an identity, mashing together some pretty decent, catchy choruses with verse riffs that just don't want to go together. The band definitely sound better when they're doing more mid-paced epic-sounding stuff, as opposed to the speedy, crossover parts they tend to fall into more often, but really the whole recording lacks intensity, so much so that it makes Crosby's vocals sound almost comical or tiresome. There are some bright spots, but they're mostly during the choruses when the whole band comes together with solid riffs and hooky vocals. Being that this is 1986, and we've already heard a large amount of truly classic thrash, well that just ain't gonna cut it.

1. Losers
2. Russian Roulette
3. It's Your Fate
4. Holy War
5. Catalepsy
6. Shattered Illusions
7. Life is Pain
8. Blood I Bleed
9. Widow's Walk
10. Vultures in the Sky

Score: 5/10

Megadeth - Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? - July 20, 1986

Ever since he was unceremoniously ousted from Metallica in 1983, Dave Mustaine has vowed to be better than Metallica. This album was the closest he ever got. Sure, it's better than every single Metallica album, except for one. Ride the Lightning beats Peace Sells just because of the simple fact that it's totally fucking perfect, but Peace Sells is really, really damn close.

There's so much to like about this album. First of all, the overall sound is really pleasing. It's a shame that albums don't sound like this anymore. The guitars crush, the bass is clearly audible, the drums and vocals are both where they should be. The songs are very well written too, all of them excellent, varied pieces of thrash metal that expand on Dave's original vision from Killing 'Em All is my Business. Then there are the riffs. Oh good fucking god, the riffs! These riffs are so twisted and neck-snapping that only an egomaniacal control-freak with a substance abuse problem like Dave Mustaine could write them. What about the guitar solos? Well, my friends, almost every solo on this record is the type that makes you air guitar and stick out your tongue, prompting passers-by to wonder about your sanity.

Yes kids, this is fucking THRASH METAL, capitalized forever. The fact that the so-called 'unholy trinity' gets talked about when talking thrash in 1986, the fact that Master of Puppets gets talked about when talking thrash in 1986 before this albums gets talked about is a fucking travesty. This is the best of 1986 (that I've heard so far, anyway -- maybe Anvil Bitch will change my mind!) and it would be absolutely fucking perfect if it weren't for one thing. THAT STUPID FUCKING COVER SONG!! Why, Dave? Why?! It's not a bad cover by any means, but it totally fucks with the momentum of this masterpiece. It also cuts the album's awesome closing track, "My Last Words" off from the rest of the album. Silly. Metallica kept all their covers on separate releases, Dave! D'oh!

1. Wake Up Dead
2. The Conjuring
3. Peace Sells
4. Devil's Island
5. Good Mourning/Black Friday
6. Bad Omen
7. I Ain't Superstitious
8. My Last Words

Score: 9.5/10

Hirax - Raging Violence - October, 1985

Hirax were a pretty unique band in the 80's thrash scene. They played a heads-down, full-speed-ahead, crossover style but with Katon W De Pena's soaring, almost boyish vocals over top, they stood out from the pack. Just looking over the song lengths on their debut, you can see that they're all pretty short bursts of violence, which is fine but it leaves little room for variety. By the time you get about halfway through the album, the constant speed and De Pena's incessant warbling gets kind of tiresome. It's always been my opinion that good thrash should have a good amount of mid-paced and even slow parts to set up the breakneck, I'll-fucking-murder-your-family riffs. In that respect, Hirax fails. It's a fun album to listen to in short doses, but I can't see myself sitting down and listening to the whole 30:52 any time soon.

1. Demons - Evil Forces
2. Blitzkrieg Air Attack
3. Guardian Protector
4. Bombs of Death
5. Defeat of Amalek
6. Raging Violence
7. Call of the Gods
8. Warlords Command
9. Suicide
10. Executed
11. The Gauntlet
12. Destruction and Terror
13. Destroy
14. Bloodbath

Score: 5/10

Slayer - Hell Awaits - September 16, 1985

Of all the classic Slayer albums, Hell Awaits seems to be the one that gets forgotten about. Sandwiched in between the groundbreaking debut and  their 1986 tour de force, Reign in Blood, Hell Awaits seems to just be along for the ride, allowing the other albums to take all the credit for Slayer's notoriety. And even though Hell Awaits took a while to really hit me, let me tell you, it stands tall on its own merits.

Hell Awaits more or less continues where the Haunting the Chapel EP left off, albeit with a muddier production that takes away some definition from the guitars but adds to the oppressive, evil feeling of the album. The songwriting has gotten more aggressive and complex, with most of the songs clocking in at 5 minutes or more. All of the songs feature some pretty pummeling riffage and dark imagery, influencing a slew of thrash, death and black metal bands for years to come. All in all, this has got to be the most underrated Slayer album there is. Before I started listening to it for the purpose of this review, I didn't have a very high opinion of it. I can't fucking put it down now!

1. Hell Awaits
2. Kill Again
3. At Dawn They Sleep
4. Praise of Death
5. Necrophiliac
6. Crypts of Eternity
7. Hardening of the Arteries

Score: 9/10

Dark Angel - We Have Arrived - November 5, 1984

Some bands who attain greatness at some point in their career have rather mediocre debuts. Dark Angel is one of those bands. We Have Arrived is neither good nor bad -- it's just kind of there. There are flashes of brilliance to be sure, hell "Merciless Death" is one of the best songs they've ever written but it sounds a hell of a lot better on Darkness Descends. "No Tomorrow" has some good moments too, as does the title track but the over all feel just isn't the vicious, riffdiculous Dark Angel we would all come to love.

1. We Have Arrived

2. Merciless Death

3. Falling From the Sky

4. Welcome to the Slaughter House

5. No Tomorrow

6. Hell's on its Knees

7. Vendetta

Score: 5/10

Slayer - Haunting the Chapel - August 4, 1984

This EP, this little tiny 3-song EP is where thrash becomes THRASH. It's almost immediately recognizable. As "Chemical Warfare" kicks in, there's a noticeable increase in darkness, in aggression, in violence... and then Araya comes in sounding like a demented madman and it's settled: this is what thrash will be. "Chemical Warfare" is easily the best song here, and among the best in Slayer's vast catalog. The other two are still good, just a little less so. The title track really has an "Angel of Death" vibe going on during the verse. The guitar solos are a little more towards that dissonant style that Slayer would develop later but still pretty good, and Lombardo still isn't amazing either. This is some quality, early thrash though. I just wish there was more of it.

1. Chemical Warfare
2. Captor of Sin
3. Haunting the Chapel

Score: 8.5/10

Slayer - Show No Mercy - December 3, 1983

The second thrash LP! It's really a unique album for Slayer, nothing else in their catalogue sounds much like it. The main reason for that is probably the fact that, like Kill 'Em All, it's still really heavily rooted in the NWOBHM sound, albeit a bit more on the evil side with Slayer playing Venom to Metallica's Motorhead. Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman actually bust out some pretty nice solos here too, which is something later Slayer records lack. Lombardo's work here is not his best, but it's light years ahead of Ulrich's. Sorry to keep comparing the two, but Show No Mercy and Kill 'Em All will always be linked in my mind. They were the first two, and still among the best.

1. Evil Has No Boundaries
2. The Antichrist
3. Die By the Sword
4. Fight Till Death
5. Metal Storm/Face the Slayer
6. Black Magic
7. Tormentor
8. The Final Command
9. Crionics
10. Show No Mercy

Score: 8.5/10