walking upstream…
Slayer
Slayer spent the 1980s racing every other thrash band to the bottom of the tempo dial, welding Judas Priest's twin-guitar precision to hardcore punk's speed and sneer until the result was uglier and faster than anything else in the genre's self-declared Big Four. Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman's riffs were less about hooks than velocity and dread, and Tom Araya's lyrics leaned into serial killers, war atrocities, and Satanic imagery with a bluntness that made the band a genuine target of moral panic. Reign in Blood, all twenty-nine minutes of it, remains the reference point for how extreme a widely heard metal record could get.
the sound in question
1986
Raining BloodSlayer
walk the tributaries ↓
Judas Priest1980s · Heavy metal
Slayer's early riff-writing — galloping rhythm guitar built around a riff-as-weapon mentality — comes directly out of the NWOBHM records King and Hanneman traded as teenagers. King has said he stuck to 'classic metal outfits: Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath' and cited Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing as his biggest guitar influences; he and Hanneman bonded over playing Priest songs together.
listen: upstream & here
1980
Breaking the LawJudas Priest
1983
Show No MercySlayer
listen forThe chugging verse riff in 'Show No Mercy' moves at the same canter as 'Breaking the Law,' just sped up and stripped of any hint of swing.
Iron Maiden1980s · Heavy metal / Hard rock / New wave of British heavy metal
The galloping, downstroke rhythm-guitar figure that drives Slayer's fastest songs is a direct descendant of the NWOBHM gallop Iron Maiden popularized; Slayer started out as teenagers covering Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath and Venom at parties.
listen: upstream & here
1980
Running FreeIron Maiden
1986
Angel of DeathSlayer
listen forThe intro riff of 'Angel of Death' gallops the same way 'Running Free' does — just cranked up to a tempo Maiden never touched.
Dead Kennedys1980s · Hardcore punk / Punk rock
Jeff Hanneman's hardcore-punk listening — Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Minor Threat — pushed Slayer's tempos and song lengths down toward something closer to a hardcore track than a metal one, and he's credited with getting the rest of the band into the genre.
listen: upstream & here
1980
Holiday in CambodiaDead Kennedys
1984
Chemical WarfareSlayer
listen for'Chemical Warfare' barely clears two minutes and never lets up — the same runaway-train pace and sneering brevity as 'Holiday in Cambodia.'