Maps of Music

Show No Mercy (1983)

Where the lyrics of Show No Mercy take you, and where it was really made.

The debut was partly paid for with a respiratory therapist's savings and a loan from the guitarist's father.

Key places

Recorded at Track Record Studios (1983)

Recording site Track Record Studios — Show No Mercy was recorded and mixed at Track Record Studios in Los Angeles in November 1983. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Show No Mercy: debut studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer
• Released December 1983 by Metal Blade Records
• Recorded in Los Angeles, California, in November 1983
• Recording sessions ran from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. to cut studio costs
• The band self-financed its full-length debut
• Songs "The Antichrist", "Die by the Sword" and "Black Magic" were played regularly at live shows

Background

• Vocalist Tom Araya used his earnings as a respiratory therapist
• Money borrowed from guitarist Kerry King's father covered the rest
• Slayer opened for Bitch at the Woodstock Club in Los Angeles, playing eight songs, six of them covers
• Brian Slagel spotted the band while they performed an Iron Maiden cover
• The band appeared on the Metal Massacre III compilation, which created underground buzz
• Slagel then signed the band to Metal Blade Records
• Araya cited Venom, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Mercyful Fate as major influences

Recording

• Slagel wanted drummer Dave Lombardo to play without cymbals because of the noise they made
• The cymbals were dampened with towels, and the toms and cymbals were recorded separately
• Gene Hoglan provided backing vocals on "Evil Has No Boundaries"
• Lombardo later said he was not pleased with how the drums were recorded

Cover

• Lawrence R. Reed drew the cover, which depicts Baphomet with a sword
• The back cover featured 'side 666' and inverted crosses

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com · es.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in 1981 in Huntington Park, California by Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman, Dave Lombardo and Tom Araya.
• Started by playing covers of Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Venom at parties and clubs in Southern California.
• Signed with Metal Blade Records after the song "Aggressive Perfector" appeared on Metal Massacre III.

Members

• Current lineup: Kerry King, Tom Araya, Paul Bostaph and Gary Holt; Holt joined in 2011 and became permanent after Hanneman's death in 2013.
• Former members include drummers Dave Lombardo (left three times) and Jon Dette.

Career

• Released twelve studio albums, including Reign in Blood (1986), widely described as one of the most influential thrash metal albums.
• Christ Illusion (2006) won a Grammy for "Eyes of the Insane", the band's first Grammy-related recognition.
• Disbanded in 2019 after a farewell tour and reunited for sporadic shows from 2024.
• Considered one of the "Big Four" of thrash metal alongside Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Kerrang! critic Dave Dickson called the album "pure, unadulterated junk" in 1984
• Metal Forces critic Bernard Doe called it one of the heaviest, fastest and most awesome albums of all time
• Rock Hard gave a positive review, calling Slayer actually the hardest and fastest of its contemporaries
• Reviews were polarized and mostly negative when the album was issued

Reappraisal

• AllMusic reviewer Jeremy Ulrey had mixed feelings and called the musicianship and production amateurish
• Ulrey called the album a solid, if inessential, part of the Slayer legacy
• Sputnikmusic's Hernan M. Campbell described it as fast, heavy and mean
• Martin Popoff praised it as seminal, like Metallica's Kill 'Em All, but found the record stiff and one-dimensional
• Fenriz of Darkthrone cited it as inspiration for mixing NWOBHM with black metal
• Terry Butler of Obituary and Death called it the blueprint for the beginning of death metal

Records

• Metal Blade's highest-selling release, against a label average of five thousand copies
• Sold between 15,500 and 20,000 copies in the United States
• Sold more than 15,000 copies overseas, as Metal Blade held worldwide rights
• Metal Hammer included the cover in its 2023 list of the most hilariously ugly rock and metal album covers

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Brian Slagel signed the band to Metal Blade after watching them perform an Iron Maiden cover
• Araya was still working at the hospital when he phoned the other members about the first US tour
• Doug Goodman, who met the band at their first show in Northern California, took a vacation from his grocery job to help on tour

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact