The sleeve may look dated, but 'Show No Mercy' was certainly a step on from Sabbath's booming thunder of the '70s and Venom's ghastly efforts two years previous. Slayer may well have borrowed reasonably heavily from Venom's primal rage, donning themselves in leather, studs, upside-down crosses and eye-make up, but 'Show No Mercy' remains one of the first black assaults on the senses.This was the birth of what was to be known as 'thrash metal', something ferocious and of speed, spiralling and almost chaotic solo's, super-fast drumming and screamed vocals. Messrs Hanneman and King supplying the ear-splitting shredding here, with frontman Tom Araya also ripping up the bass as Dave Lombardo thudded the drums. It's not clear here that on this debut record, despite its faults, mainly in the production and almost naivety of the lyrics, that Slayer would go on to become such a mighty band and record some mammoth records of pure evil, but as a starting point this is still a record every metal fan should own.
The sleeve screams out a worship of the dark side, it's primitive facade tempting us leather-wearing maniacs into a sinister world of warlocks, black woods and nasty rituals. The opener, 'Evil Has No Boundaries' remains a Slayer classic even in its hellish, garage-state, with Araya screaming his blasphemies like some cackling demon, veering into a chanting chorus which pleased armies of metal fans who were, at the time seeking something more than Iron Maiden's almost tame teachings. 'The Antichrist' and 'Die By The Sword' are early black metal warnings, with 'Black Magic' being the token Venom clone.
This is great, apocalyptic metal that scared mother's and terrorised the neighbour's for years. Modern bands have, for years attempted to re-create this kind of mystical metal, but without success, because bands like Slayer only come along once under a funeral moon.
8/10
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