Slayer – Show No Mercy (1983)

March 16, 2024

I’m just gonna say it: Slayer were way cooler when they did Bathory-esque metal (pre-Bathory metal, even!). I’ve coined it “evil Slayer” (original, I know) and it’s better than “thrash Slayer”, “nu metal Slayer” and “legacy band releasing shit for the sake of it Slayer” all put together (thrash Slayer is pretty cool though). I’m obviously breaking bawls here but fuck this shit rules so hard. In layman’s terms this is Slayer’s Kill ‘Em All, but even such a debut from a youthful incarnation of the band showcases excellent songwriting prowess and that “special sauce” feeling that these guys really had something special, even back then.