Rypro 525

I'm gonna go with Reign In Blood. Its the quintessential thrash metal album of all time. I've probably listened to that cd hundreds of times and never get tired of it. What happens alot of times is that due to its short run time, i sometimes listen to it 2 or 3 times in a row. I'll listen to Angel of Death, blast through the other 8 tracks, hear the thunder strike for Raining Blood, and kind of go "its over already"??, and then as soon as it ends, go back and repeat.

I also have Seasons of the Abyss, God Hates Us All and Christ Illusion. I really want to get Hell Awaits, mainly since the allmusic review mentions that there are more prog elements and even some key changes, and 3 songs over 6 minutes.

TheMadMonk

Did you even bother to vote? I just voted for Reign, and it is the only vote listed for anything so far.

Trout

Reign in Blood for me too. It was one of the first gore albums that I bought...Piece by piece and Necrophobic being my favorites.

Hiro11

I prefer seasons...

zombiezilla

RIB is the best thing ever to come from Slayer, and I'm a longtime fan. It's one of the best death/speed/heavy metal albums ever, let alone Slayer's best.

zombeaner

Reign In Blood. No question. Though you cannot discount Seasons in the Abyss or South of Heaven. Hell Awaits is pretty awesome in its cheese factor.

porieux

Reign in Blood
South of Heaven
Hell Awaits

Chemical Warfare is a pretty damn cool song too though.

Johnny Zhivago

Reign in Blood

When that album was released and I first dropped the needle on the vinyl - showing my age here, no? - it blew me the fock away. I was into most of the thrash and hardcore bands by the mid 80's but nothing that came before Reign was even close to packing that punch. It's still the best metal album that I have ever heard.

Show No Mercy is the only one that I don't really listen to anymore... I dig the rest of them though.

joeblow69

I didn't vote. The only Slayer anyone needs is Decade of Aggression.

woofman

Reign In Blood. My introduction to Slayer-the year it was released no less, and the introduction to what immediately became-and has remained my favorite album of all time. Classic from start to finish.

Can't wait for the 33 1/3 book to come out documenting that era.

dick_grayson

1) Seasons in the Abyss
2) South of Heaven
3) Reign in Blood

FantasticVSDoom

Probably Reign in Blood for me, but I really like Haunting the Chapel eventhough its just an EP.

cultshock

Reign in Blood, no question. The first Slayer song I heard was "Black Magic" (on some metal compilation album). I really liked it, so I picked up their then most current album, Reign in Blood. "Black Magic" (from Show No Mercy) couldn't even begin to prepare me for the brilliance that was Reign in Blood. I'm also a big fan of Seasons and South of Heaven (these seem to be the big three most liked albums) and I also like "Chemical Warfare" from the Haunting the Chapel EP.

islandclaws

I've been a Slayer fan for over 16 years, and there's a reaosn Reign In Blood is such a revered and respected album: it's fucking awesome. It's short, tight and extremely punishing.

I'm also a huge supported of Divine Intervention. I think that's easily their most underrated album.

edclem

While South of Heaven and Season in the Abyss are excellent albums, I don't think there's even a question here: Reign in Blood is their masterpiece.

CTH

Reign In Blood hands down.

nodeerforamonth

Should've been titled "best Slayer album besides Reign In Blood". I like Hell Awaits better. I just wish the production was better. They should do what they did for Reign and play the whole album from front to back live in concert.

I like "God Hates Us All" a lot, even thought that seems to be universally hated by Slayer "fans".

There's a 400 page Slayer biography coming out in June. FYI...

wishbone

Reign in Blood is not only Slayer's best album but it is pretty much the most influential album in its genre.

Seasons in the Abyss and South of Heaven are very strong albums too. Divine Intervention has too many self-plaigiarized riffs IMO. The newer albums are not bad but I have not listened to them as much.

Excerpt from Joel McIver's book that nodeerforamonth mentions.

JOE29

My first choice is Seasons in the Abyss. I like Reign in Blood also which seems to be the majority vote so far but with songs like Dead Skin Mask, how can you go wrong. I also love the video they did for the song Seasons in the Abyss. South of Heaven is excellent also.

Snowmaker

I don't know. Seasons of the Abyss is pretty good too.


Reign in Blood is by far the best from start to finish though.

wishbone

Since Slayer followed a pattern with respect to the placement of the title track on their albums,

"Show No Mercy" (last track)
"Hell Awaits" (first track)
"Raining Blood" (last track)
"South of Heaven" (first track)

a friend correctly guessed that "Seasons in the Abyss" would be the last track on that album when it was released. Of course Slayer threw this pattern out of whack with the release of "Divine Intervention" by placing the title track in the middle of the album.

tonyc3742

My instant answer of course is Reign in Blood, but Seasons and South of Heaven are very very close tie for second. Decade of Aggression is indeed a great album(s), one of my favorite live albums.

joeblow69

My problem with Slayer is that I bought Decade of Aggression FIRST, and then went back and bought Raining Blood. The live versions of those songs kick so much ass, but the studio versions suck in comparison. Tom's school girl screams on the studio album ruin it for me.