Because Depths of Mental Instability, Ltd. just doesn't sound as cool...

Alex’s Reviews #6: Slayer – Hell Awaits (1985)

Tracklist:

1. Hell Awaits

2. Kill Again

3. At Dawn They Sleep

4. Praise of Death

5. Necrophiliac

6. Crypts of Eternity

7. Hardening Of The Arteries

Rating: 3.5/5

The second studio album by the Thrash band Slayer, offers us very fast lyrical singing, to where you cannot understand one word of it. Knowing this, fanatics of the Thrash metal genre hold this CD as a treasure to them. Let it be known, that a little after the 80’s, Slayer began declining further and further down a long and lonesome road, where their thrashy music, became complete shit.

Our descent begins with title track, “Hell Awaits”, which begins kind of slow with a bunch of mumbling (to me, it sounds like people being tortured at some parts), then comes some fast guitar work done by Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, which lasts a short while. After this introduction, we get into super fast vocals. You can’t really understand the lyrics, except at certain parts of the song. The next song, which has a great intro, is “Kill Again”. You can understand some of the song, if you listen well enough, you can hear the chorus quite clearly. This is an underrated song, with fantastic drumming (and very well timed I might add). “At Dawn They Sleep” is a little slower than the first two songs, but not by much. The vocals sound quite clear here, so if you’re into singing Slayer’s songs, this one is for you. Aside from heavy thrashing, they make room for some great guitar harmonies, to provide a great interlude. Halfway through the song, the vocals slow down a bit, but that doesn’t stop Slayer, as they begin a nice little chant of “Kill.. kill.. KILL!!”. The albums speeds up again with “Praise of Death”, bring us a sincere thrash song. “Praise of Death” has an awesome guitar solo in the middle of the song, followed by some weird guitar effects. Slayer continues with a lyrical “murder theme” on this song, and the next song as well. “Necrophiliac” is a very underrated song that many people don’t like, mainly because of its “ridiculous lyrics”. “Necrophiliac” is actually a great tune, packed with nicely done guitar riffs and drumming. This is a very interesting song, regardless of the “ridiculous lyrics”. “Crypts of Eternity” is one of my favorite songs off this album. It begins with kind of a weird guitar intro, but slowly evolves into another great song. A very catchy tune this song has, with understandable lyrics, and shifting guitar riffs. The album ends with “Hardening of the Arteries”, which gets into the song very fast. It’s a great, heart-pounding finale to the album. Oddly enough, the song ending has a familiar sound to the beginning of the album.

This is a recommended album for those wanting to listen to some good ol’ thrash metal. A short, but sweet album (it’s almost forty minutes long). Not their best, but a great album indeed. Buy this CD, and Hell will come to your house!

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Okay, look.  I know what you're thinking: How much can we sue these bastards for?  Well, let me answer that: NOTHING!!!  The pic came from Amazon.com, so sue them, not a couple of broke high school students...  It's not polite.