10 Amazing Rock Albums That Will Scare You To Death

At the dawn of the '80s, metal was ready to take thing up a notch. In between the New Wave of British Heavy Metal coming over from Europe and the Sunset glitter rock making waves out of California, the thrash scene was getting born as well, with bands like Metallica and Anthrax cutting their teeth playing a more frenzied version of what bands like Judas Priest were hinting at a few years before. It was all about speed and intensity, but Slayer were the first ones to practically use the listener as a punching bag on Reign in Blood.

With two thrash classics already under their belt, this is about as compact a beating that you will ever get out of an album, as Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman trade licks back and forth with machine gun like intensity. Anyone can make their licks sound evil, but the lyrics on here are probably the most shocking, with songs like Angel of Death detailing the gruesome activities of concentration camps and Necrophobic being a punk rock take on what a horror movie score should sound like.

For all of the mayhem going on at once though, this is still one of the shorter albums Slayer would ever create, clocking in at just under a half hour until the final thunderclap of Raining Blood finally lets you go. Slayer already had a pedigree of being much more intense than any other thrash band, but no one felt short changed by having something this short as your masterpiece. When you have songs this intense, a half hour is about all you can take.