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Reign in Blood
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<p><i>Reign in Blood</i> is the third studio album by American <a href="/facts/Thrash_metal/TJJ0bhAc">thrash metal</a> band <a href="/facts/Slayer/tGVSVlNn">Slayer</a>, released on October 20, 1986, by <a href="/facts/Def_Jam_Recordings/Eb133YGl">Def Jam Recordings</a>. The album was the band's first collaboration with producer <a href="/facts/Rick_Rubin/5vNfvRJK">Rick Rubin</a>, whose input helped the band's sound evolve. The release date of the album was delayed because of concerns regarding the lyrical subject matter of the opening track "<a href="/facts/Angel_of_Death_(Slayer_song)/zAu4uoKS">Angel of Death</a>", which refers to <a href="/facts/Josef_Mengele/vSyWjCNg">Josef Mengele</a> and describes acts such as <a href="/facts/Human_experimentation/w57417CS">human experimentation</a> that he committed at the <a href="/facts/Auschwitz_concentration_camp/6o3xax0D">Auschwitz concentration camp</a>. The band's members stated that they did not condone Nazism and were merely interested in the subject. </p><p><i>Reign in Blood</i> was well received by both critics and fans, and was responsible for bringing Slayer to the attention of a mainstream metal audience. It is often mentioned among the greatest heavy metal records ever. Alongside <a href="/facts/Anthrax_(American_band)/fRxDzPwa">Anthrax</a>'s <i><a href="/facts/Among_the_Living/0wSyCuc7">Among the Living</a></i>, <a href="/facts/Megadeth/tPbxcbuR">Megadeth</a>'s <i><a href="/facts/Peace_Sells..._but_Who%2527s_Buying%253F/v00EXQwS">Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?</a></i>, and <a href="/facts/Metallica/pxaTB2vo">Metallica</a>'s <i><a href="/facts/Master_of_Puppets/r4SIxurT">Master of Puppets</a></i>, <i>Reign in Blood</i> helped define the sound of the emerging US thrash metal scene in the mid-1980s, and has remained influential since. The album was Slayer's first to enter the <a href="/facts/Billboard_200/XtbnoFSM">US <i>Billboard</i> 200</a>, peaking at number 94, and was certified Gold in 1992. In 2013, <i><a href="/facts/NME/EAscmwXq">NME</a></i> ranked it at number 287 in its list of <a href="/facts/NME%2527s_The_500_Greatest_Albums_of_All_Time/dv6yruYh">the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time</a>. In their 2017 listing of the 100 Greatest Metal albums of all time, <i><a href="/facts/Rolling_Stone/HhCFoJ9F">Rolling Stone</a></i> magazine ranked <i>Reign in Blood</i> at number six. </p>