Formed in 1981, SLAYER assaulted the world with a new hybrid of metal and punk — heavier, faster and darker than the rest — and set a new standard, defining not only a genre, but an attitude. Throughout SLAYER's history, the band never faltered in unleashing their extreme and focused aural assault, and repudiating temptations, SLAYER always chose to remain crushing and brutal, steadfastly refusing to cater to the mainstream. [Metal Blade]

Slayer's Metal Blade catalog is being reissued on new colored vinyl combinations, CD and cassette. Classic records Show No Mercy (1983), Haunting the Chapel (1984), Live Undead (1984), and Hell Awaits (1985) are available in various configurations now in the shop.

Ted Nubel recently talked Show No Mercy over at Invisible Oranges:

There's something about short-ish thrash metal albums that just feels right—fast music, fast record, all is well. Show No Mercy, at 35 minutes, is the perfect length for what it is, which is a vicious slice of sorta proto-thrash metal that's got a good amount of heavy metal and speed filling out its runtime. Back before "melodic thrash" and "thrash" were different things, Slayer had no problem blending a lead-driven approach with tight, chunky riffs, nor with experimenting with completely different approaches across the album. It's all unified by the record's permeating sense of evil (and Dave Lombardo's killer drumming).

Show No Mercy track-listing
1. Evil Has No Boundaries
2. The Antichrist
3. Die by the Sword
4. Fight Till Death
5. Metal Storm / Face the Slayer
6. Black Magic
7. Tormentor
8. The Final Command
9. Crionics
10. Show No Mercy

Haunting the Chapel track-listing
1. Chemical Warfare
2. Captor of Sin
3. Haunting the Chapel
4. Aggressive Perfector

Live Undead track-listing
1. Black Magic
2. Die by the Sword
3. Captor of Sin
4. The Antichrist
5. Evil Has No Boundaries
6. Show No Mercy
7. Aggressive Perfector

Hell Awaits track-listing
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
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Pick them up now in the BV shop.