Reign in Blood is the third studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on October 20, 1986, by Def Jam Recordings.

The release date of the album was delayed because of concerns regarding the lyrical subject matter of the opening track "Angel of Death", which refers to Josef Mengele and describes acts such as human experimentation that he committed at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

[4] Reign in Blood was well received by both critics and fans, and was responsible for bringing Slayer to the attention of a mainstream metal audience.

In their 2017 listing of the 100 Greatest Metal albums of all time, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Reign in Blood at #6.

[5] Alongside Anthrax's Among the Living, Megadeth's Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?, and Metallica's Master of Puppets, Reign in Blood helped define the sound of the emerging US thrash metal scene in the mid-1980s, and has remained influential since.

Guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman wrote much of the album's music on their own, and quickly taught it to drummer Dave Lombardo.

[8] Lombardo contacted Columbia Records, which was Def Jam's distributor, and managed to get in touch with Rubin, who along with photographer Glen E. Friedman agreed to attend one of the band's concerts.

[8] Guitarist Jeff Hanneman was surprised by Rubin's interest in the band, and was impressed by his work with the hip hop acts Run-DMC and LL Cool J.

During a visit by Slagel to a European music convention, Rubin spoke with the band directly, and persuaded them to sign with Def Jam.

He even described the artist as a "warped demented freak,"[10] although Carroll went on to make cover arts for their next two albums, South of Heaven (1988) and Seasons in the Abyss (1990), as well as Christ Illusion (2006).

[13] The album was the label boss' first professional experience with heavy metal, and his fresh perspective led to a drastic makeover of Slayer's sound.

Steve Huey of AllMusic believed Rubin drew tighter and faster songs from the band, and delivered a cleanly produced sound that contrasted sharply with their previous recordings.

[15] Guitarist Kerry King later remarked that "[i]t was like, 'Wow—you can hear everything, and those guys aren't just playing fast; those notes are on time.

Rubin's lack of experience as a heavy metal producer at the time allowed him to work outside the general tropes of the genre.

[19] Hanneman later admitted that while the band was listening to Metallica and Megadeth at the time, they were finding the repetition of guitar riffs tiring.

"[8] The music is abrasive and faster than previous releases, helping to narrow the gap between thrash metal and its predecessor hardcore punk,[14] and is played at an average of 220 beats per minute.

[21] Following the album's recording sessions, Slayer embarked on the Reign in Pain tour with the bands Overkill in the United States and Malice in Europe; they also served as the opening act for W.A.S.P.

[8] Although the album received no radio airplay, it was the band's first release to enter the Billboard 200, where it debuted at #127, and attained its peak position of 94 in its sixth week.

"[28] Jarvis further remarked the song "Angel of Death" "smokes the asses of any band playing fast and/or heavy today.

[41] Adrien Begrand of PopMatters observed that "[t]here's no better song to kick things off than the masterful 'Angel of Death', one of the most monumental songs in metal history, where guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman deliver their intricate riffs, drummer Dave Lombardo performs some of the most powerful drumming ever recorded, and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya screams and snarls his tale of Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele.

[14] In its "Greatest Metal Bands Of All Time" poll, MTV praised Slayer's "downtuned rhythms, infectious guitar licks, graphically violent lyrics and grisly artwork," which they stated "set the standard for dozens of emerging thrash bands," while "Slayer's music was directly responsible for the rise of death metal."

[46] Asked during a press tour for 1994's Divine Intervention about the pressure of living up to Reign in Blood, King replied that the band did not try to better it, but just wanted to make music.

[49] Paul Mazurkiewicz of Cannibal Corpse stated Lombardo's performance on the album helped him play faster throughout his career.

[60] King later said that while the idea of playing Reign in Blood in its entirety was suggested before by their booking agency, it was met with little support.

The band ultimately decided they needed to add more excitement to their live shows, and to avoid repetition incorporated the ideas of raining blood.

"[62] In 2008 the band performed Reign in Blood in its entirety once again, this time in Paris, France, during the third European Unholy Alliance Tour.

In the Unholy Alliance Tour of 2004, however, the album was played in its entirety during Slayer's set as the last ten songs to end the show.

[67] Def Jam's distributor, Columbia Records, refused to distribute the album due to the song "Angel of Death", because of its setting and description of the Holocaust.

"[52] The band utilized the controversy to attract publicity, incorporating the Reichsadler into their logo (also the S in the band's name resembles the Sig runes used by the SS), and writing a song in Divine Intervention titled "SS-3" --- which depicts Reinhard Heydrich, the second in command in the Schutzstaffel, his assassination by the Czechoslovak Resistance, and the bloody reprisals for it.

[75] A Slayer tribute album titled Al Sur del Abismo (Tributo Argentino a Slayer), compiled by Hurling Metal Records, featured sixteen tracks covered by Argentina metal bands, including Asinesia's version of "Angel of Death".