Formed in 1981, Slayer assaulted the world with a new hybrid of metal and punk — heavier, faster and darker than the rest — and set a new standard, defining not only a genre, but an attitude. Throughout Slayer’s history, the band never faltered in unleashing their extreme and focused aural assault, and repudiating temptations, Slayer always chose to remain crushing and brutal, steadfastly refusing to cater to the mainstream.
Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, Show No Mercy is the debut studio album by the American thrash metal masters. The LP was initially released on December 3rd, 1983, by Metal Blade Records, who, in honor of Show No Mercy‘s 40th anniversary, will be releasing two unique pieces of vinyl for fans: a limited-edition “blood”-filled liquid vinyl — limited to 250 worldwide — and the Show No Mercy (40th Anniversary Edition) vinyl set that includes a gold black dust LP mastered for vinyl from the original master tapes by Patrick W. Engel at Temple Of Disharmony, a slipmat, poster, show flyers, signing card, and an LP booklet featuring the story of Show No Mercy, written by J. Bennett. Preorder is available here.
Show No Mercy (40th Anniversary Edition):
* Slipcase with gold hot-foil embossing
* Gold Black Dust LP mastered for vinyl from the original master tapes by Patrick W. Engel at Temple Of Disharmony in May 2023
* 12″ LP booklet
* Slipmat
* Poster
* Show flyers
* Signing card
“Show No Mercy” “blood”-filled liquid vinyl:
* Blood-filled liquid vinyl mastered for vinyl from the original master tapes by Patrick W. Engel at Temple Of Disharmony in May 2023
* Limited to 250 copies worldwide.
Side A:
1. Evil Has No Boundaries
2. The Antichrist
3. Die By The Sword
4. Fight Till Death
5. Metal Storm / Face The Slayer
Side B:
6. Black Magic
7. Tormentor
8. The Final Command
9. Crionics
10. Show No Mercy
Album lineup:
Tom Araya: vocals, bass
Kerry King: guitars
Jeff Hanneman: guitars
Dave Lomabardo: drums’
8 Responses
“Dave Lomabardo”???
This is awesome! I’d love to get the blood filled liquid vinyl version, depending on cost.
1st time seeing Slayer was in a 300 capacity club in 84. They played with DRI. Jeff Hanneman had troubles with his gear, so he ended up playing bass the entire show. Tom Araya just sang….no bass playing.
Got the album the month it was released. It was a game changer. In an era when the “devil’s music” was a prevalent thing concerning the religious groups, the rock music they rallied against was Kiss and a few others. Then came Venom. But Venom were hilarious. Slayer were frightening. Not just imagery, but the songs were brutal, yet musical for a thrash outfit. When Metallica was having Whiplash, Slayer were singing about crionics. It was dark and interesting, and quite different than any other thrash. I introduced my high school to Slayer. The metalheads were all what in the f is this. The heaviest thing in terms of songwriting and dexterity was Metallica and Motorhead. Slayer took that, used it, yet made it uglier, harder, more ferocious. They were unique. There was a local cable access TV show in Southern Connecticut where I live that had a pastor who was a former concert promoter, and he’d have Kiss, VH and Uriah Heep albums to warn everyone about Satan’s metal minions. I met him one day and said man, forget Kiss. Check THIS out, showing him Show Mercy. I thought he was going to collapse, he said this is terrible!! From that moment on, it was his crusade to warn kids about Slayer, Venom and Bathory. Good publicity. Show No Mercy didn’t charge through the gates of Metal, it obliterated them.
I’d love to get that blood filled record, but only 250, I’m sure it’s already sold out lol A friend of mine had the original blood pack cd they released right around the time South of Heaven came out. The blood ended up drying out over the years and it looked like crap. I’d still like to have this, but if I don’t get one, I’ll stick with my first press and call it good.
Excellent post, Mr R & R! I love Slayer! My favorite of all the thrash bands! My first time hearing Slayer was on the Metal Massacre III compilation with the song “Aggressive Perfector”. When “Show Mo Mercy” was released, I was a “first day buyer”. The speed of the songs and the lyrical content was perfect for rebellious young metalheads. But for me, Venom were not hilarious….those albums, “Welcome to Hell” and “Black Metal”, were frightening based on the album covers alone… not to mention Cronos’ voice and lyrics. But a big difference between Slayer and Venom was that Slayer were musicians, while Venom were entertainers.
Rattlehead, thank you for the compliment!