Reign In Blood

     It's time for another of my rare forays into metal with what I've been told is a thrash classic. Reign In Blood is pretty similar to what I've heard from Metallica but not quite as inventive. That's really all I can compare it too since my experience with this genre is very limited as of time of writing. This album shares the same general sound/vibe and song structure with Metallica but oddly the tracks are a good deal shorter, averaging around 2-2:30 minutes. I feel like this really limits what the band can do on each track and doesn't allow for much exploration of each song individually (although maybe I'm just too accustomed to bands that lean toward the much longer side of things). As a result of this most of the tracks sound samey and blend together, which isn't always a bad thing, but here I think that it holds back the larger work. Some upsides are that what traits that it exhibits can be pretty good. The rhythm and flow is generally really good which is reflected in the lyrics and vocal delivery coming off super smooth and well suited for the rest of the music, no doubt thanks to the great vocals by Tom Araya who pulls off a lot of astoundingly fast sections and a few screams very nicely. The instrumental breaks and guitar riffs that periodically pop up are great too, even if I do wish that they had appeared more often and beared more weight on each song, again, like Metallica does. Each individual track doesn't try to do much outside the box aside from a couple sections that take a more experimental approach but even they don't really feel that special due to how they don't go far enough. I think that overall the album is good, but doesn't quite set itself apart from anything else I've heard (aside from the actual lyrics and their oftentimes revolting nature which made me uncomfortable, which I'm pretty sure is intentional and achieved what it set out to do) for me to get that into it. I hate to say it, but it's kinda just Metallica but not as good. 

    Highlights: Necrophobic, Epidemic, Post-Mortem, Raining Blood. 

Rating: 4/6