Decade of Aggression – Slayer

This review is easy to write.

I first got this album on double music cassette in about 1992. I had seen Slayer as part of the “Clash of the Titans” tour at Wembley Arena and really liked them. They recorded the video to “War Ensemble” at that particular concert. I think that some of the songs on this album were recorded at that exact gig that I saw. The tape version has since been supplemented by a CD version and finally an MP3 version on the NAS drive.

This is an AWESOME album.

If you only buy one thrash metal album then it had better be this one and then in all honesty you only need to play the first song as it covers all needs of guitar based turn-on.

My favourite songs on this album are (and I don’t apologise for the length of the list):

  • Hell Awaits
  • War Ensemble
  • South of Heaven
  • Raining Blood
  • Dead Skin Mask
  • Seasons in the Abyss
  • Mandatory Suicide
  • Angel of Death
  • Hallowed Point
  • Blood Red
  • Postmortem
  • Chemical Warfare

The atmosphere conveyed by these disks is brilliant. You can only find one better live album out there (Live After Death). This puts all others to shame. Get it. Play it. LOUD.

The Collection – Anthrax

Look, this is a collection of the best songs by Anthrax. If you like Anthrax then this should be brilliant. I can now confirm that it is.

All the songs on this album are great. It’s pretty hard to choose the songs I should highlight. I’ve already mentioned “Anti-Social” in a previous review so I can skip that. There’s something special about the music produced by bands at the start of a new movement. It really does affect how you think and move. Anthrax were, and still are, one of the big four, so the recognition amongst metal fans is great. It’s a shame that only Metallica have really penetrated the main market, but then they had to sell out to do so.

My favourites are:

  • Armed and Dangerous
  • Bring The Noise
  • Make Me Laugh
  • Got The Time

If you don’t know anything by Anthrax then get this. It’s a great introduction although I think the songs sound better in their original homes on the proper albums in the chain of songs and time where they were put [Not sure if that scans well, I’ll re-write if it’s poor].