10 Most Important Albums In Metal History

Towards the mid '80s, metal was going through a bit of an adjustment period. As much as bands like Iron Maiden may have been keeping the name of metal strong in England, something different was happening half a world away, with the Bay Area music scene mining a style called thrash, taking the aesthetic of metal and pairing it with the speed and intensity of punk rock. While metal and punk may not have been the best of collaborations most of the time, Slayer found that middle ground and beat the sh*t out of us all on Reign in Blood.

Because this album is not for the people just getting into the metal genre. At just under a half hour, this is about as easily condensed as a metal experience can be, as the songs go by at breakneck speeds and get more and more chaotic as the album plays on. Compared to the likes of Megadeth and Metallica of the time, Slayer was still the heaviest that you could think of coming out of the Bay Area, with Tom Araya barking at you on songs like Angel of Death and Necrophobic, all while Dave Lombardo goes for your chest with his relentless double bass assault.

By the time you reach the end with Raining Blood, it's practically all out mayhem, kicking things up a notch and Kerry King flying all over the fretboard until the whole thing ends with the sound of a loud thunderclap. Thrash was still the name of the game here, but Slayer is metal on hard mode for any of the fairweather fans of the genre.