Reign in Blood

Reign in Blood is the third studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on October 20, 1986, by Def Jam Recordings. It was the first Slayer album to be released by Def Jam and the first to be produced by Rick Rubin, whose input helped the band's sound evolve. The release of the album was delayed due to 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. The band defended the song, stating that they did not condone Nazism and were merely interested in exploring the subject.

Reign in Blood received widespread acclaim upon release and was responsible for bringing Slayer to the attention of a mainstream metal audience. Alongside Anthrax's Among the Living, Megadeth's Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?, and Metallica's Master of Puppets, Reign in Blood is credited with defining the sound of the emerging American thrash metal scene in the mid-1980s. It was the first Slayer album to enter the US Billboard 200, peaking at number 94, and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1992.

Often considered to be one the greatest and most influential metal albums of all time, NME ranked Reign in Blood at number 287 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2013. In their 2017 listing of the 100 Greatest Metal albums of all time, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album at number 6.

Slayer composed the material for Reign in Blood following their return from a tour of Europe. Guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman wrote much of the album's music on their own, and quickly taught it to drummer Dave Lombardo. The band recorded instrumental demos of the songs (which King described as "just the best 10 songs we had at that point") and took them to Brian Slagel, the band's manager at the time.

Following the positive reception Slayer's previous release Hell Awaits had received, the band's producer and manager Brian Slagel realized the band were in a position to hit the "big time" with their next album. Slagel negotiated with several record labels, among them Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons' Def Jam Recordings. However, Slagel was reluctant to have the band signed to what was at the time primarily a hip hop label. Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo was made aware of Rubin's interest, and he initiated contact with the producer. However, Slayer's remaining members were apprehensive of leaving Metal Blade Records, with whom they were already under contract.

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. Friedman had produced Suicidal Tendencies's self-titled debut album, in which Slayer vocalist Tom Araya made a guest appearance in the music video for the album's single "Institutionalized", pushing Suicidal Tendencies's vocalist Mike Muir. Around this time, Rubin asked Friedman if he knew Slayer.

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. Slagel paid a personal tribute to Rubin, and said that Rubin was the most passionate of all the label representatives the band were in negotiations with. Following the agreement, Friedman brought the band members to Seattle for two days of publicity shots, possible record shots, and photos for a tour book; Rubin felt no good photos of the band had been taken before that point. One of the photos was used on the back cover of the band's 1988 release South of Heaven.

The cover artwork was designed by Larry Carroll, who at the time was creating political illustrations for The Progressive, Village Voice, and The New York Times. Carroll was hired at Rubin's behest. Despite its warm reception, the band members themselves originally did not like the image. King said, "Nobody in the band wanted that cover. We were stuck with it." He even described the artist as a "warped demented freak," although Carroll went on to make cover arts for their next two albums, South of Heaven (1988) and Seasons in the Abyss (1990). Carroll also illustrated the cover art for Christ Illusion (2006). By a differing account, Araya recalled that he "thought it was amazing" and "liked it immediately". He also stated that there were three different variations of the album cover in its conceptual stages, with the final version incorporating elements of all three.