I don't review enough classic metal, one of the reasons is that everyone knows that stuff already, but man when I listened to Show No Mercy for the first time in a couple years I just had to review it. This is where it all began for Slayer - starting out as a Judas Priest cover band, they decided to join the thrash scene and write some good really good songs - I'm talking thrash classics. One friend once told me that this album sounds like it was recorded in hell and he would have been right - the sort of early eighties hollow classic metal sound is presented here fittingly alongside lyrics dealing with satanism, black magic and general occult themes. Music wise the album sounds surprisngly fresh - not as fast as Slayers next couple of albums (Hell Awaits and the ungodly hyper Reign In Blood)it's still partially a product of the NWOBHM bands that they were probably listening to at the time (Venom, Priest, Etc...)but this album is way darker than priest and less cheesy than Venom. The Hanneman/King dual guitar solos just shred the life out of you and to think these dudes were so young. Songwriting is another A+ creating classics such as Die by the Sword and Black Magic - riffs that get stuck in your head long after the album stops. Not every song is a classic though, but for all intent there's never a dull moment on Show No Mercy. Unfortunatly Slayer is a tired band nowadays, not very interesting but no worries cause they created some classics and it all started with this phenomenal album.
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