The Definitive Slayer Album Tier List

It's time to settle it once and for all. This is the official Inner War Strength Slayer album tier list.

I'm not just going to tell you Show No Mercy is great and move on. For every record, I'll give you the cultural context: what else was coming out that year, where metal was heading, and why each album sounds the way it does. Then I'll rate every song and give the album its tier.

Some of these takes may upset you.

The rules

We're ranking every Slayer studio album, plus the Haunting the Chapel EP, in chronological order.

No live albums, so no Live Undead and no Decade of Aggression. No compilations or best-ofs. And no Undisputed Attitude. It's a covers album, so it's not really a Slayer album.

Here's the scale:

S tier: God tier. Absolutely mandatory. If these aren't in your collection, you're a poser.
A tier: Absolutely great and essential, just not quite god tier.
B tier: Good. Maybe not the best, but still worth owning.
C tier: Mid. Average. Nothing special.
D tier: Poor. Below average.
F tier: Trash. Garbage. Skip it altogether.

Let's get into it.

Show No Mercy (1983)

The context

1983 was the dawn of thrash metal. Venom had released Welcome to Hell and Black Metal in the previous couple of years, and they were pretty much the heaviest thing around.

Slayer were famously inspired by hardcore punk, and so was every thrash band of the era. The masterstroke was combining the speed and aggression of hardcore with the technicality and musicianship of legacy heavy metal bands like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Motörhead. That fusion became thrash.

Show No Mercy landed in a big year. Metallica released Kill 'Em All a few months earlier. Exciter put out Heavy Metal Maniac, Mercyful Fate released Melissa, Manowar released Into Glory Ride, and the other Slayer, from San Antonio, released their debut EP. Meanwhile Black Sabbath, Dio, Motörhead and Maiden were all putting out records too.

And Show No Mercy stands out from all of them.

The record

Just look at the cover. A goat-headed figure with a massive sword, a giant Slayer logo, a giant pentagram formed from swords stabbing through a bleeding ring of wood, and the title in flames with a devil's tail. Picture seeing that in a record shop in 1983, sitting next to Another Perfect Day. It must have been striking, and confrontational.

The music was heavier than almost anything else out at the time. Put the record on and "Evil Has No Boundaries" comes screaming in with insane solos at a breakneck tempo. It must have been mind-blowing to hear in 1983.

It's the work of a seriously ambitious band. The guitar work from Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman is phenomenal: the leads, the riffing, the songwriting. If you were a 16-year-old metalhead and put "The Antichrist" on with your buddies in 1983, I guarantee you'd have shit yourself!

For its time, Show No Mercy album was way ahead of the curve, and I'd argue it still stands the test of time. I still give it a few spins every few months, and it's stayed with me for decades.

It has a unique place in the Slayer discography because it's their most traditional heavy metal record. It's not exactly melodic, but it's the most heavy metal they ever sounded. And it was still more evil than anything else that came out that year.

The songs

Evil Has No Boundaries: A
The Antichrist: S. It's been on pretty much every set list since they wrote it.
Die by the Sword: S. One of my favourites on the album.
Fight Till Death: A
Metal Storm/Face the Slayer: B. The weakest song on the album, and it's still a B.
Black Magic: S. An absolute bone-crushing classic. It's practically the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" of thrash metal by now.
Tormentor: S. Total Iron Maiden worship, but it's killer: Iron Maiden on steroids and Satan.
The Final Command: A
Crionics: A
Show No Mercy: S. What a banger.

Banger after banger, and it still holds up all these years later. You can hear the DNA of everything Slayer would become in songs like "Die by the Sword" and "Black Magic."

Verdict: S tier. Absolutely, 100%.

Haunting the Chapel (1984)

The context

1984 brought Ride the Lightning, Mercyful Fate's landmark Don't Break the Oath, Manowar's Hail to England, and Voivod's debut War and Pain. Extreme metal was starting to stir too: Celtic Frost's Morbid Tales, Bathory's classic debut, Anthrax, Running Wild, and Destruction's first EP, Sentence of Death, all came out that year.

The record

If you really listen, the leap from Show No Mercy to Haunting the Chapel is staggering. It's almost night and day.

There are only three songs on this EP: "Chemical Warfare," "Captor of Sin" and "Haunting the Chapel." And every one of them is pure evil.

This is the first sign of Slayer moving somewhere far more extreme. They picked up the pace a lot, and not just in speed. The riffing style changes. This is where you start to hear those chromatic riffs from Hanneman and King, creepy harmonies and genuinely hostile-sounding riffs. There's barely any melody. Just heavy, evil riffs.

There's a bit of a Venom attitude to this record too. I think that's down to Tom Araya's vocals. He's snarling and growling rather than singing in falsetto.

Then there's the production. The production on Show No Mercy was perfectly sufficient for a 1983 metal album, so there's not much to say about it. But Haunting the Chapel is absolutely drenched in reverb. A wet sound was common in the '80s (even Ride the Lightning has plenty of reverb), but there's something especially atmospheric about this one. It sounds like it was recorded in a church. Like Slayer was literally haunting the chapel.

And the cover. It's no wonder we designed a t-shirt around it. "Haunting the Chapel" scrawled in bloody letters, a stripped-down Slayer logo, nothing but black, red and white, and a bloody sword. Absolutely iconic. Seeing it next to Ride the Lightning in a record shop in 1984, I'd probably have picked this one, and Ride the Lightning is one of my favourite records of all time.

The songs

Chemical Warfare: S. Another classic and a set-list mainstay.
Captor of Sin: S. What a banger.
Haunting the Chapel: S. My favourite on the EP, and a really underrated Slayer song.

Verdict: S tier. Undoubtedly. Be sure to check out our Lifting The Barbell collection inspired by this EP.

Hell Awaits (1985)

The context

It's no secret that Hell Awaits is massively influential. Pretty much every death metal band on earth owes its existence to this record.

The mid-'80s is when extreme metal really started picking up, and thrash was approaching its peak. In 1985 alone you had Exodus' Bonded by Blood, Sodom's In the Sign of Evil (practically the dawn of black metal), Carnivore's debut, Bathory's The Return (an extremely evil record then and now), Overkill's Feel the Fire, Onslaught's Power from Hell, Possessed's Seven Churches (literally the birth of death metal), Destruction's Infernal Overkill, and Megadeth's Killing Is My Business.

An incredible year. And Slayer were the band to beat. Nobody was heavier. Nobody was more evil. And they were inspiring bands everywhere to take what they were doing and push it further.

The record

There are only seven songs on Hell Awaits, compared with ten on Show No Mercy. It looks like Slayer are doing less. They're not. These songs are longer, more ambitious and more winding, even progressive in places.

Maybe I'm full of it, but I'd even say there's a classical music influence on this record. A lot of the songs don't follow the standard verse–chorus–bridge–solo formula. They're serpentine and non-linear, with elongated midsections, tempo changes and all kinds of weird stuff going on. It's the sound of a band determined to push itself.

The production follows on from Haunting the Chapel: drenched in reverb, dark and evil, almost cavernous. The intro to the title track are among the most evil pieces of music ever committed to tape. Forty years on, it still stands the test of time.

Kerry King has said Slayer became Slayer on Hell Awaits. I'd argue they took their first steps on Haunting the Chapel, but Hell Awaits is where they truly solidified their sound.

The songs

Hell Awaits: S. There was nothing else like it when it came out, and there still isn't much like it now.
Kill Again: S
At Dawn They Sleep: S. My favourite track on the record. It's slower and more downbeat. Not exactly doom metal, but it has a sinister, methodical pace. The opening riff, with its minor-third harmonies and horrific chromatic movement, is one of the most evil things ever written by man. Perfection.
Praise of Death: S
Necrophiliac: S. What a banger.
Crypts of Eternity: A. Listen to the first Deicide album straight after this, and tell me there isn't a direct line between them.
Hardening of the Arteries: A

Verdict: S tier. 100%.

Reign in Blood (1986)

The context

1986 was another huge year for metal. Metallica released Master of Puppets. Megadeth released Peace Sells. Dark Angel put out Darkness Descends, another absolute thrash classic. Sacrifice released Torment in Fire, Razor released Malicious Intent, Destruction put out Eternal Devastation, and King Diamond released his solo debut, Fatal Portrait. Sepultura came out with Morbid Visions as death metal built momentum, Kreator released Pleasure to Kill (oh, what a record), and Voivod, Whiplash, Nuclear Assault and Chastain all put out albums too.

Insane. But compare all of those records to this one, and there's no contest. As much as I love them, Reign in Blood is just ridiculous.

The record

Even by today's standards, I have yet to hear an album that surpasses it in sheer intensity. Yes, there are bands that play much faster nowadays, but nothing sounds as fast as this.

Reign in Blood is a frenetic album. It sounds like a runaway train barrelling down the track, ready to derail at any moment, but somehow it always stays on the rails. Every song sounds like it's on the brink of collapse, like the band is playing so fast they're about to completely fall apart. But crucially, they never do.

Slayer had just signed to Rick Rubin's label, Def Jam, which was a hip-hop label at the time, before he started American Recordings. The rumour goes that in the studio, Rubin would have them record a take, then another a few BPM faster, then faster again, until they couldn't play the songs any faster or they botched the take. Then he'd use the last one before it fell apart.

I don't know how much truth there is to that, and I can't remember where I first heard it. But you can find the Def Jam demos on YouTube, and the album versions are much faster. And remember, they were recording live in the studio. The fact that this album even exists, played at that speed with that precision, is mind-blowing.

But Reign in Blood isn't just about speed. There are slow parts, mid-paced parts, headbanging grooves and a lot of dynamics. It's an incredibly dense record. It's only 28 minutes long, but it may well have more riffs than any other Slayer album. By one estimate, it's somewhere around 150.

This is undoubtedly a classic, and in my opinion the best thrash metal album of all time. Show No Mercy is one of the best heavy metal records ever made, but Reign in Blood sits on the thrash throne. I haven't heard every thrash album ever released of course, but after more than two decades of listening to metal, nothing has knocked it off.

It has everything: speed, aggression and memorable, catchy riffs. Dave Lombardo is on fire, and you can hear how much he progressed from Hell Awaits. Tom Araya is just as bonkers. I've never heard anyone sing that fast.

The production is the exact opposite of Hell Awaits. Where that was wet, reverb-heavy and cavernous, Reign in Blood is bone dry. There's some room sound and a little tasteful reverb when things open up and slow down, but generally it's direct and in your face.

The lyrics follow suit. On earlier records, Slayer took the Venom-style Satanic schlock and turned it up to 11. There's still some of that here, a more metaphysical evil on songs like "Postmortem" and "Reborn." But there's also something more real. "Piece by Piece" is pure Texas Chainsaw Massacre. "Criminally Insane" and "Angel of Death" are rooted in real-world horror.

And Larry Carroll's cover is one of my favourites of all time. It's one of those artworks that pulls you in and swallows you whole. A masterpiece.

The songs

Angel of Death: S
Piece by Piece: S. Probably my favourite on the record.
Necrophobic: S
Altar of Sacrifice: S, hands down.
Jesus Saves: S
Criminally Insane: B. Every masterpiece has at least one weak song.
Reborn: S, no doubt.
Epidemic: S. Apparently Dave Lombardo's favourite Slayer song.
Postmortem: S
Raining Blood: S. Who doesn't know "Raining Blood"? An absolute classic.

Verdict: S tier. Obviously.

South of Heaven (1988)

The context

1988 was an interesting time. Metallica released ...And Justice for All. Iron Maiden released Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Megadeth put out So Far, So Good... So What!, King Diamond released Them, and Manowar released Kings of Metal. Coroner followed up their debut with Punishment for Decadence, Nuclear Assault released Survive, and Razor put out the brutal Violent Restitution. Sadus released Illusions, and the San Antonio Slayer finally put out a full-length.

Meanwhile, extreme metal was in its early prime. Death released Leprosy. Bathory released Blood Fire Death. Carcass released Reek of Putrefaction, which is mind-blowing when you think about it. Napalm Death followed Scum with From Enslavement to Obliteration. Tormentor from Hungary released Anno Domini, and Samael put out their first EP. The first wave of black metal was taking shape.

So if you were a metalhead in 1988, there was all this exciting, extreme stuff coming out. Thrash was maybe starting to feel a little tired. Sure, there was still great thrash metal albums being released, but a lot of interesting, extreme music was starting to creep into the worldwide metal scene.

The record

South of Heaven is known as the slower Slayer record. And it is: slower and more measured.

Think about it. With Reign in Blood, Slayer reached the ultimate peak of extremity. They'd pushed speed, aggression and songwriting density to the absolute limit. Where do you go from there? You can't go any faster or any more extreme. You have to pull back. It was the only logical move, and they pulled it off successfully.

I hate calling albums "mature," but this one is more measured. It's Slayer saying: we've done the hyper-complex, hyper-aggressive thing, so let's write some rock and roll. Where Hell Awaits and Reign in Blood were serpentine and non-linear, South of Heaven is the opposite: linear and rock and roll in its structure.

Tom Araya tries something more melodic with his vocals here. For the most part it's interesting and it works, but on some songs not so much.

It also opens with a slower song, a first for Slayer, and a smart move. It sets the tone for the whole record. Anyone panicking that Slayer had slowed down got "Silent Scream" immediately afterwards.

And again, Larry Carroll's cover is incredible. You can get lost in it, just like Reign in Blood.

It's a good record, and there are some great songs on it. There are also some not-so-great songs. I know a lot of you are about to scream at me that South of Heaven is S tier and the best Slayer album. It's not.

The songs

South of Heaven: S
Silent Scream: A. A great song, don't get me wrong. But it's not a "Reborn" or a "Piece by Piece."
Live Undead: B
Behind the Crooked Cross: C. One of the weakest on the album. This is where the melodic vocal approach just feels off.
Mandatory Suicide: S, and it stayed in their set lists for years.
Ghosts of War: B.
Read Between the Lies: B
Cleanse the Soul: C. It doesn't do it for me. Mid.
Dissident Aggressor: A. Slayer covering Judas Priest is always going to be a good thing.
Spill the Blood: B

A great record, for sure, but a mixed bag.

Verdict: B tier.

Seasons in the Abyss (1990)

The context

I was born around the time South of Heaven came out, so I can't tell you how it was received first-hand. But I'm sure, given the context, the reactions weren't exactly glowing. In hindsight it's considered a great album. At the time, I think Slayer got the message.

By 1990, thrash was old hat. Death and black metal were building momentum underground. Morbid Angel had released Altars of Madness in 1989. Slayer were no longer the heaviest, most extreme or most evil band on the planet, as they had been in the early-to-mid '80s. They'd been overtaken.

But with three or four classics under their belts, they had a massive fanbase and were incredibly influential. They were established.

The record

Seasons in the Abyss feels like Slayer's attempt to be Slayer again: more up-tempo and more evil. It's a mix of South of Heaven's atmosphere and melody with some of Reign in Blood's technicality and speed, and they nailed it. The songwriting is more ambitious again, but keeps some of the rock-and-roll formula that first showed up on South of Heaven.

The production is absolutely incredible, and I should have mentioned that South of Heaven sounds fantastic too. The guitars sound amazing. The drums sound massive. By the late '80s and early '90s, bands had moved away from heavy reverb towards more direct sounds, using reverb sparingly. Here it's used to great effect on the drums.

And Dave Lombardo's performance is insane. This is why he's considered one of the best drummers of all time. Listen to the first five Slayer albums back to back, and you'll hear him get better with every single one.

But like South of Heaven, it's a bit of a mixed bag. There are some amazing songs, and there are some duds.

The songs

War Ensemble: S. What a song. It became a set-list mainstay, and if they didn't play it live, the crowd would probably riot. Then again, they'd probably riot anyway.
Blood Red: D. Not a good song. I skip it automatically every time.
Spirit in Black: S. Probably my favourite on the album, and an underrated Slayer song. Fairly simple, but killer riffs and so catchy.
Expendable Youth: C. Just not good.
Dead Skin Mask: S. Bonafide classic song.
Hallowed Point: C. I'll get hate for this, but it sounds like they needed a couple more fast songs and pulled one out of a hat.
Skeletons of Society: A. I'll get hate for this one too, but it's one of my favourites on the album. The leads are incredibly creative and suit the song perfectly, because the riff is so simple. Add the post-apocalyptic concept, and everything just works.
Temptation: B. Good, not great.
Born of Fire: A. A class track.
Seasons in the Abyss: Basically Slayer's "Enter Sandman." They made a music video for it, it's a super catchy mid-paced rock-and-roll song, and you could probably play it in the car while driving your mum to the doctor without her freaking out. But it's unmistakably Slayer.

Verdict: A tier.

Divine Intervention (1994)

The context

Four years passed between Seasons in the Abyss and Divine Intervention, and a lot happened in those four years.

Grunge exploded. Nirvana hit the mainstream like an atomic bomb, Alice in Chains had broken through, and suddenly everyone wanted to do the grunge thing. Thrash had already been losing ground to death and black metal since the late '80s. Grunge more or less killed metal altogether.

So Slayer were caught in a weird space. They were a thrash band, maybe even a “legacy band” by this point. Not on the level of Black Sabbath or Maiden, but hugely respected and influential for developing a style that others had since built on and since surpassed. They were firmly established, with a fan base and a run of great albums, and still a force to be reckoned with. But they were no longer the freshest thing around. They weren't on the bleeding edge anymore.

The record

For me, Divine Intervention is a confused record.

It's also Paul Bostaph's debut, after Dave Lombardo left. He had massive shoes to fill, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone, but he did a fantastic job. His drumming is phenomenal, and he does some unexpected, left-field things like on the intro to “Killing Fields.”

The production is inconsistent. Slayer have said themselves they took longer than usual recording it, and it sounds like it was recorded in two different sessions. Half the songs have a completely different guitar tone from the other half, and the mix sounds off in places.

That said, there are some really interesting production choices that make it unique in a good way. There's a pitch-shifted delay on the vocals in some parts, which sounds super creepy and atmospheric. You rarely hear that, and I haven't heard it much since. There are weird pitch-shifted guitar bits and dissonant harmonies on the guitars and vocals that give it a sound all its own.

The songwriting is inconsistent too. It feels like Slayer were asking themselves where to go next with a new drummer, dipping their toes into new ideas without fully committing to any of them. "Serenity in Murder" has a melodic vocal line in the verse, but it's also a thrash song, and it feels disjointed. The whole record feels a bit like that.

The songs

Killing Fields: S. A great song, 100%.
Sex. Murder. Art.: C. Probably the shortest Slayer song ever, just shy of two minutes. Good, but mid.
Fictional Reality: B
Dittohead: S. Absolute breakneck speed and aggression, with a really unique riff. It's the first time Slayer used a major interval in a riff, which gives it a weirdly happy feel. In that context, it sounds really off, and somehow super catchy at the same time.
Divine Intervention: A. One of the creepiest songs Slayer ever wrote, and my favourite on the album. Brilliant performances from everyone. Tom Araya sounds like he's in spiritual pain. Underrated and potent.
Circle of Beliefs: C Forgettable. Mid.
SS-3: C Mid.
Serenity in Murder: C Mid. It's fast, then it's not fast, and it doesn't know where it's going.
213: C. There's a lot of potential here, and it's a creepy song, but I think they could have done better with it.
Mind Control: C. Fairly forgettable.

Some good songs, some mediocre songs, some interesting production, and some real weaknesses. It's just not a great Slayer album.

Verdict: C tier. A mid record.

Diabolus in Musica (1998)

The context

By 1998, grunge was on its way out and nu metal was on the rise. Korn already had two or three albums out, and Coal Chamber had released their debut the year before.

The record

Diabolus in Musica is reviled as Slayer's nu metal album. I think that's unfair, because this is not a nu metal album.

But there are three songs on it that are the absolute worst songs Slayer have ever written: "Death's Head," "Stain of Mind" and "Love to Hate." These are garbage-tier songs. I don't know what they were thinking. Actually, I do. I think they were trying to keep up with the Joneses.

There is literally a Coal Chamber riff on a Slayer album. I think it's on "Stain of Mind." A Coal Chamber riff, on a Slayer album. Absolutely terrible.

Get rid of those three, though, and you'd have a pretty solid album.

This is also one of the Slayer albums where I really love the production. They experimented a fair bit without it sounding artsy-fartsy. It still sounds like Slayer, but the guitars are tuned down to C♯ standard, a step and a half down, so everything sounds thicker and heavier.

There's some interesting use of samples too. Not in a cheesy nu metal way. They're used sparingly, mostly in intros, and done so tastefully that they work, most obviously on "Overt Enemy" and "Desire." There are cool guitar effects and interesting treatments on the vocals.

The guitar tone on this album is one of my favourite guitar tones of all time. The drums sound incredible, and Paul Bostaph smashes it out of the park on every single song. It's a great-sounding record.

The songs

Bitter Peace: A. It opens with a slow instrumental build, then comes in as a bona fide thrashing Slayer song.
Death's Head: F. Garbage.
Stain of Mind: F. Garbage.
Overt Enemy: A An absolute sleeper, and probably my favourite on the album. It's so sinister, and the midsection has one of the best Slayer riffs ever written. If you haven't heard it, you should.
Perversions of Pain: C
Love to Hate: F. Absolute garbage. Automatic skip.
Desire: B. One of the most interesting songs on the album, and in Slayer's whole discography. It's the first time you hear Tom Araya singing in an almost sensual way. It's super creepy, not what you'd expect from Slayer at all, and for some reason it works really well.
In the Name of God: B. This album gets a bad rap for being groove-oriented, and sure, this one's groovier. But it's good.
Scrum: B. Thrashier, with a lot of interesting arrangement: distortion on Araya's vocals, and one verse with only bass and drums, which you never heard on a Slayer album before or since.
Screaming from the Sky: A. One of the first songs where Slayer go to drop B and do heavier, plodding riffs, and a good one.
Point: A. A weird one. There's a groovy section where Araya's cadence almost sounds like rapping. I don't know why, but it works.

Three of the worst Slayer songs on any album, sitting alongside some of their greatest material from the '90s.

Verdict: C tier. Unfortunately.

God Hates Us All (2001)

The context

Famously, God Hates Us All came out on 11 September 2001. In typical Slayer fashion, they were ahead of the curve on controversy even when they didn't plan it. It was reportedly banned in a bunch of places, and they took a lot of flak for the cover.

To understand this album, remember the timeline. When Diabolus in Musica came out in 1998, Slipknot hadn't released their first album yet. Nu metal was defined by Korn, Coal Chamber and early Limp Bizkit. Then Slipknot showed up. Say what you want about them (I'm not a fan), but they expressed a more extreme side of nu metal, and they became hugely influential as a result.

The record

God Hates Us All leans more into nu metal than Diabolus in Musica ever did. There's a definite Slipknot influence, and I'd say a lot of Hatebreed influence too. Plenty of the songs are drop-tuned and plodding.

It's one of the most aggressive Slayer albums, and it has the most songs of any of them: 13. Tom Araya is screaming at the top of his lungs throughout, and it works well for the songs.

It's probably the rawest-sounding Slayer album. Everything gels together with less separation than on Diabolus in Musica. It's compressed into one giant block of hate, and that works pretty well.

A quick nerdy aside. In the '80s, almost every thrash band used a scooped guitar tone, all chug-chug-chug. Metallica and Megadeth were well known for it. Slayer did the opposite: a mid-focused tone that made them stand out. This album is one of the first where you hear a hint of that scooped tone creeping in, mostly through the mastering.

They front-loaded the record with the good songs, and it goes downhill from there. A new type of Slayer song appears here, the one I call the slow, broody, plodding drop-B number. "Cast Down," "Seven Faces," "Deviance" and "Here Comes the Pain" all fit the mould.

And then there's the artwork. The overarching theme is a critique of Christianity. How original! The cover is a badly photoshopped Bible with obviously photoshopped nails in it. This is 2001, so we're not expecting miracles. But if you're going to do the bloody Bible with nails, just do it.

This is a band that printed a photo of a fan who'd carved the Slayer logo into his arm in the CD tray of Divine Intervention. And you're telling me they couldn't get a real Bible, carve Slayer into it and hammer some nails in? It feels lazy, like they decided not to go the whole mile.

The booklet is the same: someone scrawling notes and crossing out lines in a Bible, except it's all clearly photoshopped, so it feels fake. A critique of Christianity delivered by someone scribbling in a Bible with a pen like a serial killer just doesn't work. It feels juvenile and half-baked, like edgy-teen energy.

There's also something about this album that gives me an almost redneck America vibe. "Here Comes the Pain" was Brock Lesnar's entrance music in the WWE, and that sums up the spirit of the whole record.

The songs

Darkness of Christ: Basically an intro. Underneath all the samples and the apocalyptic newscaster vocals, it sounds like there's an actual good song in there, and I hope one day we get to hear a mix without all the junk layered on top.
Disciple: S. The only S-tier song on the album. A modern Slayer classic that stayed in their set list for years.
God Send Death: B. It's all right.
New Faith: Mid. A catchy main riff, but not particularly memorable.
Cast Down: D. This is where it starts going downhill. A really heavy, slow, meandering drop-tuned song. Not good.
Threshold: D One of those groovy numbers that's trying to be something without quite getting there. Not good.
Exile: D It feels unfinished, like they played open notes as placeholders until they figured out the riffs, then got bored and left it. It had potential to be a really good song. A shame.
Seven Faces: C. One of the more interesting songs on the album. It's atmospheric, and Araya's vocals have something sinister about them. I initially ranked it as a D, but I'll be generous.
Bloodline: F. An absolutely terrible song, mixed differently from the rest of the album. I don't know why people like it. I'm sorry, it's crap.
Deviance: D The vocals are interesting, but the riffs are stock, plodding and boring.
War Zone: D. Not good.
Here Comes the Pain: D Not a good song. Another slow, plodding drop-B number.
Payback: D Not a good song either.

I still listen to it now and again, just to remind myself that it's not a good album.

Verdict: D tier.

Christ Illusion (2006)

The context

Christ Illusion saw Dave Lombardo return to Slayer, and at the time it was heavily marketed as a return to form. Slayer's back! Lombardo's back! It's just like Reign in Blood! They even brought Larry Carroll back for the cover. Unfortunately, these days you mostly see the censored version on streaming, which is stupid. The cover isn't that bad, and it's a great cover.

They also tuned back up to E♭ standard, the classic Slayer tuning.

The record

It starts off really promising. "Flesh Storm" kicks in and you think, holy crap, here we go. Then "Catalyst" comes in, another thrashy one, and you think, okay, two thrash songs in a row and none of that plodding riffing from God Hates Us All.

Then "Skeleton Christ" and "Eyes of the Insane" arrive, and there it is again. Those two sound like God Hates Us All leftovers.

Lombardo's drumming is, of course, incredible. And for the first time ever, you hear a blast beat in a Slayer song, on "Supremist." It's only for a couple of bars, but when I first heard it, I couldn't believe it. Slayer doing blast beats! It works great, and I think it was really cool that they did it.

But for all the marketing, in reality it was a mixed bag. A few songs recalled '80s Slayer, but we still got some of the slow, plodding drop-tuned material.

The songs

Flesh Storm: A
Catalyst: B
Skeleton Christ: Not good.
Eyes of the Insane: Not good.
Jihad: B
Consfearacy: C. Probably one of the most boomer titles Slayer ever came up with.
Catatonic: C
Black Serenade: C
Cult: A. One of the best newer Slayer songs, for sure, and my favourite on the album.
Supremist: B

Verdict: C tier.

World Painted Blood (2009)

The context

For me, this should have been the final Slayer record.

A few years later, we lost Jeff Hanneman. He passed into the eternal halls. That makes this the last true Slayer album.

By this point I don’t think anyone was expecting much from Slayer, but Christ Illusion had been reasonably well received. It wasn't great, but it was better than God Hates Us All and arguably their strongest material in a decade.

The record

I think Slayer came full circle here. Christ Illusion was their "let's do something thrashy and aggressive" record, so this was their South of Heaven: more focused on melody and atmosphere than breakneck speed.

It's a good album. Maybe not a great album, but a good one. There are a lot of dynamics and a lot of interesting songwriting. There are fast, breakneck songs like the title track, "Unit 731," "Snuff" and "Psychopathy Red," and there are sinister mid-paced, melodic songs too.

The production gets a lot of flak, and I think that's unfair. It was produced by Greg Fidelman, who did Metallica's Death Magnetic the year before, and the two records sound very similar. But I think it's actually really good. If anything, it's almost underproduced. It's very dry, without much EQ or compression, so the drums sound like a real person playing them. Nothing sounds over-processed or over-edited. It sounds like they set up some mics on the amps and drums and left it at that.

That's refreshing, especially now that everything is processed, compressed and quantised to death.

The guitar tone is absolutely thick and chunky, with that trademark mid-forward Slayer tone, plus a nice bite you don't hear on any other Slayer record. It does the songs justice.

The songs

World Painted Blood: B. A cool, thrashy, very catchy song.
Unit 731: A. Breakneck thrash.
Snuff: C. Very aggressive, with some catchy parts, but just okay.
Beauty Through Order: B. A unique song with lots of tempo changes, cool riffs and vocal melodies.
Hate Worldwide: B. That opening riff is so dumb that it's great. It works perfectly.
Public Display of Dismemberment: B. The blast beat comes back.
Human Strain: B. An interesting one. It's almost a dad-rock song, but done well, with a creepy melodic midsection where Tom Araya actually sings.
Americon: Another boomer title from Slayer, but surprisingly enjoyable. A slower, drop-tuned song that isn't as plodding as the others, and pretty good.
Psychopathy Red: S. The first single, and a smart one. Slayer hook you with the fast stuff, then give you a more varied album.
Playing with Dolls: B
Not of This God: Meh. It's the seven-string song of the album. It sounds like two different songs stuck together. C.

It's an album worthy of the Slayer legacy. It's a shame we lost Jeff so soon, but at least his swan song was writing and playing on this record. It should have been the last Slayer album.

Verdict: B tier.

Repentless (2015)

The context

That leaves us with the final Slayer album. And honestly, I don't have much to say about it.

I tried to get into it, but it did absolutely nothing for me. I don't think they should have released it at all. I think Kerry King wanted one more tour cycle before they packed it in.

Jeff Hanneman doesn't play on it. Dave Lombardo quit again, so Paul Bostaph is back. And instead of Jeff, we get Gary Holt.

Gary Holt is a fantastic guitar player and a metal legend in his own right with Exodus. A lot of people say Slayer couldn't have found a better replacement. He's the same age as the rest of the band, they practically grew up together, and as a personality he fits.

But in my opinion, his playing doesn't work on this album. His style is refined, competent and almost melodic. Kerry King's solos were always more structured and composed. Jeff Hanneman's leads were frenetic, chaotic and off the cuff, with a real punk attitude. Gary Holt doesn't have that, and you can hear the gap.

I'm not throwing shade at Gary Holt. I have massive respect for him and for Exodus. It just doesn't work here.

The record

I'm not going to lie to you: this is an awful record. It feels like the worst of Kerry King's indulgences crammed into a single album. It's the Oakley shades of the Slayer discography. The music videos, with Danny Trejo, prison stabbings and all the rest, just remind me of trailer parks, Monster Energy and tribal tattoos.

The songs

Repentless: C. Mid. When I first heard it, I just thought, whatever.
Take Control: D
Vices: D
Cast the First Stone: D
When the Stillness Comes: F. Terrible.
Chasing Death: F
Implode: F
Piano Wire: D
Atrocity Vendor: F. This was originally recorded as a B-side around World Painted Blood, and it sounded better back then. Still not a good song either way.
You Against You: C. Mid.
Pride in Prejudice: F. Bad.