Slayer: Hell Awaits White Vinyl LP

Why you'll love it

This limited white vinyl edition comes with a poster and an insert with lyrics. Hell Awaits was Slayer's darkest, most ambitious record yet, and Brian Slagel says it has sold over a million copies worldwide.

This edition

White vinyl
Limited edition
Poster included
Lyric insert

About the album

Show No Mercy had become Metal Blade's best-selling album, so label boss Brian Slagel did the sensible thing and paid for a proper studio this time. He brought in producer Ron Fair, who had never worked with a metal band, and whose first reaction on meeting Slayer was that they seemed really angry.

Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman were deep into Mercyful Fate at the time, and it shows: the songs are longer and twistier than anything on the debut. The title track opens with that backwards-voice intro before tearing off at full speed, "At Dawn They Sleep" is drummer Dave Lombardo's favourite thanks to its slow, grungy build and double-bass finish, and "Kill Again," "Necrophiliac" and "Crypts Of Eternity" keep the pressure on. "Hardening Of The Arteries" closes by circling back to the opening riff, with Bernie Grundman handling the mastering and Albert Cuellar painting the infernal cover.

AllMusic called it incredibly ahead of its time, and the songs have been covered by a long line of extreme metal bands since. Tom Araya says they could re-record it but asks why they'd ruin it, which is also our policy on the shop's carpet.

Also at Kops: more Slayer on vinyl · browse Metal