The excellent mixture of satanic themes and Metal guitars drives Slayer’s musical output. From their debut album, 1983’s Show No Mercy, the four young men made an instant impression on the world of music, specifically, the Thrash Metal Music scene. Although this album is not seen in the same light as later releases, such as Reign In Blood (1986) or South Of Heaven (1988), this is one of the more important Slayer album releases in their lengthy back catalogue history. Slayer makes Thrash Metal with references to devilish sounds, horror music-styled cultural references and screaming guitars. The band consisted of: Tom Araya (bass guitars and vocals); Kerry King (guitars); Jeff Hanneman (guitars) and Dave Lombardo (drums). The album was recorded at Eldorado and was produced by Slayer and Brian Slagel. It was released on 8 April 1985 on Metal Blade Records. Let’s listen to this album; indeed, we shall hear if Hell Awaits.

1. Hell Awaits begins with the sound of screaming guitars and satanic sounds abound. It sounds super creepy, but awesome if you think about it. This is exactly the sound of hell, set to music. A very creepy yet powerful tune that has some surprises, before launching into a fantastic-sounding piece of music. This is very lo-fi, but it doesn’t matter a huge deal. Slayer kicks rear, and they do what they do quite well. This launches into some awesome drumming and heavy guitars, which sound sweet and awesome throughout. A wonderful and powerful tune that, although is very raw and ready, sounds absolutely awesome to listen to. It progresses into a sensationally wonderful musical progression, that honestly could have benefitted from some better production and recording. This quickly enters into a super-fast second half of the song that sounds absolutely wonderful to listen to. A fine and top-notch song with many references to satanism and the evils of the world, this is a pure winner to listen to. It sounds monumentally fantastic, and the vocals throughout are mind-blowingly top. This launches into a fully sick second half with some screaming guitar solos, before continuing on with the mayhem. Really cool and great, these guys have the ability to blow people’s minds and hearts away. Fantastic music. Great to hear. The guitar solo at the end is outstandingly insane.

2. Kill Again is five minutes of devilish glory. It begins with some powerful and pounding drums, which sound absolutely massive. It follows into a thrashy and powerful tune that has some mind-melting drumming throughout. A cool and valuable tune, this sounds like the sort of music that Marilyn Manson would have gotten into. A fast, blistering and awesome tune throughout, this music is sensationally good. With some rather raw and explicit lyrics, Slayer sounds absolutely fantastic here. The music throughout is really great to listen to, and the vocals in particular sound absolutely amazing to listen to. An awesome and textured winner of a song, this sounds definitely furiously amazing. The guitar solos and thrashy drum work sound absolutely insanely good. This is not Slayer’s best by far, but it does bang a wallop and sounds amazing in the process. A really fantastic and powerful tune that is totally worth hearing, this is the answer to hugely religious fanatics in the south of the USA. All in all, great. Worth it, once again.

3. At Dawn They Sleep begins with some dark and demonic sounding guitar riffs, and launches into a sweet and punchy tune that sounds absolutely phenomenally great. Tom Araya’s vocals in particular sound really amazing on this tune, and Kerry King’s guitars are fantastic here, as well. A real winner and satanic listening experience, this sounds superbly wonderful and excellent throughout. Enough to get one furiously headbanging, the guitar solo is shredtastic and insanely good here. These alternate between channels and sound extremely sweet throughout. A solidly cool tune, this has a drastic change in the midsection which sounds super dark, demonic and cool throughout. A monster of a tune, this sounds extremely cool to listen to. A punchy, powerful and different listening experience, this is a powerful one. A very cool and inspired, hard rocking tune, this eventually speeds up and has the phrase: “Kill!” repeated throughout. It follows straight into a seismic and powerful guitar solo section, which sounds absolutely wonderful. A very, very cool listen throughout with some guitar soloing shredding throughout. This wraps up with some turbo-fast and blistering sounding sounds that are monumental. The drum section just before the end is terrific, and this ends abruptly. Brilliant.

4. Praise Of Death is a super fast and hard tune that sounds extremely wonderful. It has multiple layers of brilliant and epic sonic sound throughout. The vocals are spot on, and Tom Araya sounds like a man of his word. This music is perfect for those of you with a grim sense of humour or if you hate religion. It sounds wonderfully miraculous good, all the same. In this tune is some insane guitar shredding and powerful drums, although the mix doesn’t really support it. The doom-and-gloom guitar chords throughout sound sweet and insanely good to listen to. A very loud, interesting and nicely played piece of music, this sounds undeniably loudly awesome. A very cool and interesting tune, the sounds throughout this song had never really been done before. Even so, this is a miraculous wonder throughout. In the second half is some whammy guitar work, followed by some feedback and wailing, before drums kick in and this tune really gets going. A thoroughly fantastic listening experience from start to finish. Very wonderful.

5. Necrophiliac begins with some weird guitar riffing and enters into a loud, punchy and percussive tune that has some interesting guitar riffing and drum soloing. Some interesting lyricism is throughout this tune which is quite clearly satanic. A powerful and devilish listening experience that has some good and glorious playing and musicianship throughout, this is an absolute winner. A very cool tune, this has some awesome and blistering sounds that are nicely structured. A punchy listen, these guys definitely could surprise and please, in the most warped musical way. A fantastic song to listen to, this is a short and sweet listen with a roaring vocal towards the end. It speeds up and has a wailing guitar solo to conclude. Excellent.

6. Crypts of Eternity begins with some slowish kick drums and enters into a melodic piece of guitar-based music that sounds really loud and different. Again, this is a very warped listen that sounds excellent. It quickly has some Thrash Metal sounds, in particular with guitars, which sounds really cool. The song eventually gets going with some loud, interesting and sweet instrumentation that sounds exceptionally good. A wonderful and interesting listen, with a hint of Metallica-styled riffing present on this tune, it sounds really wonderful and fantastic to listen to. This tune is a real headbanger’s delight. It sounds awe-inspiring and fantastic throughout, with some absolutely wonderful and powerful music that sounds really top. With lyrics about witches and sorcery, this is a cool tune to hear. The music and playing are really sensationally good. Slayer were, in many ways, some of the best musicians of the time. A gloriously satanic listen, this works many genuine wonders throughout. Towards the middle is a slowed-down rifftastic section of music that sounds furious and passionate. A very cool and out-there listen, this is the sort of music to freak out your high school friends who don’t know or trust in God. It sounds superbly energetic and very much a great listen. Some high-pitched screaming and wailing with both vocals and guitars are here, followed by a thrashy and hard section of musical playing. This gets much more intense towards the end of it all, sounding absolutely mental. This music is a powerful and excellent listening experience, and it wraps up with a glorious amount of drumming and musicianship to conclude with.

7. Hardening of the Arteries begins with some creepy-sounding guitars, and some extremely fast drumming and enters into an absurdly fast song about death itself. A fantastic and powerful listen, this is a surprisingly well-done and imaginative piece of music about jumping off this mortal coil. Some neat guitar wailing and shredding throughout is absurdly good to listen to here, and it just sounds really awesomely cool to listen to. A very cool and interesting song, this has many interesting sections of musicianship and playing that simply sound very great. The second half sounds just like the soundtrack to a horror film, being very loud and direct. This gradually builds up to a fantastic guitar solo section that closes this album. A very decent listening experience.

This is a brutal and melodic album that has many, many layers of inventive sounds and exploration throughout. This is far and away from being Slayer’s best album, sadly. However, having said that, this is a great album and a monumental listening experience that sounds resoundingly fresh, to this very day. Beware, this music is only really appropriate for Satanists. Therefore, listen but if you are religious, do not even go near this album. Still, it is a good effort for what it is.

Evil and deadly sounding.

7/10