10 Darkest Hard Rock Albums Ever Made

At the start of the '80s, metal certainly had some growing up to do. Abandoning the veterans of the genre like Sabbath and Zeppelin, acts like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest were mining a much heavier style of music that tapped into something more feral than your average hard rock tune. That was just the beginning though...Reign in Blood was the quantum leap towards heaviness.

Being one of the most savage assaults of the thrash genre, Slayer's 3rd album is one of the most no-frills metal releases ever conceived. Running at just under a half hour, the record is so air tight in its helpings of thrashy beatdowns, from the first pit starter Angel of Death to the final thunderstorm into Hell with Raining Blood. Even some of the lower lights here like Necrophobic are almost terrifying in their construction, as if Tom Araya is screaming these lyrics by some sort of satanic decree.

Taking the best aspects of punk and metal mixed together, each song is as much an endurance test as it is a headbanger, almost like Kerry King and Dave Lombardo are using you like a sonic speedbag across its runtime. Even though this album is great for what it is, you're probably not walking out of here without a little bit of scars to show for it.