40 years of showing no mercy (Slayer)

Slayer's debut Show No Mercy was released in December 1983.

Something monumental was happening exactly 40 years ago. Let's talk some early Slayer.



I find this a great direct continuation of the sort of NWOBHM style of angry speed metal that in 1983 transitioned into what we now call thrash metal. It didn't have the double kick drums, but it did have big riffs and even some slower heavy riffs. Evil lyrics by Jeff Hanneman, and also the speed and sound the band would later develop further.

A classic recording, it may be 'Slayer in their infancy' but it's a great bridge between the angrier NWOBHM (Venom anyone?) and early thrash metal. Tectonic plates were moving and the underground heavy metal scene was definitely shifting from Europe to US. Heavy speed metal was fading in the UK, but just starting up in the States.

I rank this quite high in their catalogue. Top 3 maybe even? It was a low budget Metal Blade release, but the sound is actually really good and fitting (at least compared to some of the UK NWOBHM bands that were around at the time), and I wouldn't change a thing.

I love the cover art too. Simple, but effective. A muscular minotaur with a 6 foot sword and a flame helmet, posing menacingly. And the now-classic Slayer sword logo.

I asked AI to recreate the album cover. This is what I got:

Not as iconic as Kill ‘Em All, but a very good debut.

The studio engineer had a problem recording Dave Lombardo’s drum cymbals, so he had to redo them (one at a time) and edit them back in the old way (no computers).

Classic album, though honestly I didn't come around to it till years after the fact. I was always aware of Slayer, of course, but for some reason they never quite "clicked" with me till Seasons in the Abyss came out in 1990. After that I back tracked and picked up the albums I'd missed. Nowadays Show No Mercy is one of my go-to's when I'm in a Slayer mood.

I went straight from late 80’s hair metal to thrash when I was a freshman in high school. For some reason I was afraid of Slayer at first. A kid told me to get the Live Undead cassette and I did (it didn’t do much for me). But when I finally heard Seasons in the Abyss shortly after, wow! Talk about kickass thrash! I haven’t been into everything they’ve done since then… but I still love the Seasons album. It’s in my top 10 favorite metal albums.

I am probably one of the very few on this board that saw Slayer in the clubs around So. California. (Metallica too) and that first album is cool as hell (IMHDO) Slayer's gimmick got old quick and I looked elsewhere for that. I'll cop to missing out, but it has been fun going back recently and scoping out the tunes that mostly got ignored.

This is my favorite Slayer album. I love the early "Slaytanic" stuff they were doing.

This is in my top 3 of Slayer albums. I avoided the band in high school because of the evil imagery at first. Hell Awaits being the first Slayer I heard. I thought it was the heaviest thing ever. I got on board after that. While some of their latter releases didn't do as much for me I'm still a fan.

I always avoided Slayer for the longest time as well. I didn't get into them until the mid 90s when a co-worker of mine had Seasons In The Abyss, and that really rocked. I slowly started collecting them over the years since. Not quite complete yet. It took me a long time to get Show No Mercy, having picked it up just a few years ago. Really good album, one of their top releases.

This is my favorite Slayer album and still gets regular spins! The Judas Priest influence really shines on this album. I'll be getting the 40th anniversary reissue on Saturday if its at the Metal Blade store yet. I may just go there today and check.

Lurideath wrote:

This is my favorite Slayer album and still gets regular spins! The Judas Priest influence really shines on this album. I'll be getting the 40th anniversary reissue on Saturday if its at the Metal Blade store yet. I may just go there today and check.

Definite Judas Priest influence on this album.

It’s no secret Kerry King’s favorite band has always been Judas Priest.