CLASSIC ALBUMS REVISITED: Slayer Released Their Debut Album “Show No Mercy” 40 Years Ago


 

Melding their NWOBHM influences with their sinister intentions and hella fast speed Metal, Slayer hit the scene as a band in 1981. After their recorded debut on Metal Blade’s Metal Massacre II, and then later that year – Show No Mercy would arrive on December 3rd, 1983, also via Metal Blade. This was less than a month after being hastily recorded. Few understood how important a debut or band would become.

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Slayer to Re-Issue Their Thrash Metal Classic “Reign In Blood” in 2024 As a Part of “Record Store Day Essentials”


 

Slayer’s classic Thrash Metal album Reign In Blood will be part of a new series next year dubbed “Record Store Day Essentials” via Record Store Day. The exclusive splatter vinyl patter is a limited edition and will release/ship on March, 1st, 2024. Joining the album will be Beach Boys iconic Pet Sounds and 1990s staple So Tonight I Might See by Alt-Rock legends Mazzy Star. Following the retirement of Slayer in 2019 and the other core band members have been quiet, although Kerry King is making moves for his solo band in 2024.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Cavalera – Bestial Devastation and Morbid Visions


 

Okay, so it was decided that Bestial Devastation and Morbid Visions (Nuclear Blast) were to be plucked from the Sepultura catalog for re-recording by founding members Max and Igor Cavalera. Can we all agree on that? Great. Now legions of fans will pound and holler about “we already have those available on CD and on streaming.” Then the other side of the audience moans about the Cavalera siblings being greedy or some such shit.

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Nervosa – Downfall of Mankind


In the thirty-two years since the savage double gut-punch of Reign In Blood (DefJam) and Darkness Descends (Combat), the popularity and aesthetic of Thrash Metal has gone on an undulating journey, from the progressive convolutions of …And Justice For All (Vertigo), through the refining and streamlining of a Persistence of Time (Island), to a decade in the wasteland where ideas and delivery effectively choked in the dust of a seemingly redundant style. Resurrection was found in the party Thrash rebirth headed by the likes of Municipal Waste, and then the more fundamental stylings of Evile and the like. But throughout it all, the Metal underground never lost sight of the devastation that 1986 brutality – the extreme edge of Thrash espoused by Dark Angel, Kreator and Sodom – and the effectiveness of vicious riffing, feral vocals and a relentless battery brings, it’s just that nowadays it’s possible to bring the noise to a wider audience.

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FEATURE: Slayer: Postmortem


Slayer are the only band I have ever fallen in love with without hearing a note.

It was in 1994 when I was sixteen – despite growing up in a house full of Rock music I started caring about it quite late. Until fifteen, my only interests were video games, movies and books (initially about dragons, later about eldritch tentacle horrors – I must be one of the few Metal fans who got into Lovecraft before the music), with Rock arriving very suddenly through the surprising medium of Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet (Mercury). From there it was a rapid journey through Guns n’ Roses, Motörhead and Black Sabbath, and then a family friend put Master Of Puppets (Elektra) on and by the time ‘Battery’ had finished I was a different person.Continue reading


Watch Testament’s Chuck Billy Discuss His Musical Heroes


ROME, ITALY- JULY 27, 2016: Testament photographed at The Roman Collisseium in Rome, Italy on July 27,2016. © Gene Ambo

Testament. Photo credit by© Gene Ambo

Testament’s Brotherhood of The Snake is out today via Nuclear Blast. In an exclusive video at Ghost Cult, watch Chuck Billy discuss his musical heroes: Continue reading


Chuck Billy Of Testament Talks Brotherhood Of The Snake


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It’s the hottest day of the year so far in London and before you start imagining a lovely picture of a sundrenched European capital with happy citizens, joyfully going about their business, well, think again. The heat is cloying and claustrophobic; offices without air conditioning units become like bakers ovens. Everyone is sweaty and grumpy. Everyone it seems with the exception of Testament’s lead vocalist and driving force Chuck Billy. Continue reading


Slayer’s Reign In Blood Celebrates It’s 30th Anniversary


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The almighty Slayer released Reign In Blood (Def Jam) on October 7th, 1986, and completely changed the game. The follow-up to 1983’s Show No Mercy (Metal Blade) and 1985’s Hell Awaits (Metal Blade) was highly anticipated by fans all over the world, and the four legends delivered on every level. Reign In Blood immediately became an instant classic in the metal scene, and thirty years later, it’s still considered one of the most important records in the history of heavy metal.Continue reading


My Favorite Concert Memory: David Christian of Sabbath Assembly


Sabbath Assembly photo credit svart records

 

I saw Slayer open for W.A.S.P. in a small town in Texas on the Reign in Blood (Def Jam) tour. Slayer was out of hand, I remember blacking out from being crushed in the mosh pit. And then everyone left when W.A.S.P. came on. Blackie Lawless was so pissed! It was the end of the bullshit hair-era and the dawn of thrash!

 

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Sabbath Assembly are touring this summer with Christian Mistress. Their new self-titled album releases on September 11th from Svart Records.