10 Darkest Rock Music Albums Of The 80s

Every single heavy genre felt like it was inching closer to thrash metal during the '80s. After going from hard rock to punk to heavy metal, this was the one genre that mixed them all together into one ball of noise, which was perfect to headbang to and shout along with in concert. It was always about fun, but no one had ever thought to treat their listener like a punching bag like Reign in Blood.

Across every second of Slayer's magnum opus, they practically put their audience through the ringer in terms of how dark thrash metal can get, singing about everything from demons to the savage treatment of our fellow man in songs like Angel of Death. Along with some insane shredding by Jeff Hannemann, this is what thrash sounded like if it took the hardcore scene very seriously, with tremolo riffs that would give most people tendonitis if they even tried to play them.

There's no real let up from the album either, being just a meaty piece of metal goodness in under a half hour, leaving you drenched in a crimson shower on the song Raining Blood. That really is the only way to experience something like this though. You go in, you put their brain through a woodchipper, and you get out as fast as you possibly can. Considering what we have here, it's no wonder Slayer opted to slow things down and get more ominous as the years went on. This is the gold standard, and it would be silly to try to get any darker than this.