Top 10 Best Slayer Songs

If you are young and weren't around when Slayer first started putting out albums, maybe Raining Blood is the first song you heard, so it is "special to you" or something, and you thereby think it is the best. If you are old enough to have been around when Slayer first started, then you probably have a different perspective. That perspective being that no way on God's green earth is Raining Blood the best. It's not even in the top 10 best, maybe barely squeaks into the top 20. There are at least 15 or 20 Slayer songs that would eat this song for lunch.

Raining Blood is barely three minutes long without those rain effects at the start and end. The ending to that song is also absolutely horrible. This song, on the other hand, is simply the best Slayer song ever. It has a really fast section, a break section, chaotic solos, and the second is also awesome.

Not to mention that high-pitched legendary scream at the start and Dave's absolutely fantastic double bass drumming. People, vote for it, come on, man. This is the best song ever.

Definitely the best Slayer song ever recorded (in my humble opinion, the best thrash metal song of all times). It's full of double bass drumming at really high speeds, has great lyrics, and guitar riffs. Everything about it is perfect. I guess it's really hard to find an equally good song made by any other thrash metal band (no offense to Metallica/Anthrax/Kreator), except for a few ones. Let's say Metallica's Fight Fire with Fire is one of those songs.

In the end, I cannot rate it lower than 666/10.

Why are "Raining Blood" and "Angel of Death" more popular than "Seasons in the Abyss"?

Easy: because people who look up the most popular extreme thrash band do it because they want to headbang mindlessly. Not that this song isn't suitable for that, but it's probably the closest Slayer got to a "ballad" (although nowhere near it).

My opinion here: a good metal song has to remain good without the heaviness. Distortion and speed don't make up for poor songwriting. This song could have a great hard rock cover, and it's not the case for "Raining Blood" or "Angel of Death." I am not saying that metal songs should be "poppy." I am saying that people who like a certain genre will like lots of songs just because they feature the genre requirements, not for the song itself.

This song on the Unholy Alliance DVD, with Jeff Hanneman striking his guitar down in the main riff, was the moment that made me play guitar! I'll never forget that moment, and thanks to Jeff Hanneman, I picked up the greatest instrument ever and learned to pour my emotion into music. Thank you, Hanneman. You will always be the reason I play guitar and always be a part of one of the most important and meaningful moments in my life.

I love all of South of Heaven, but especially this song. To me, there's something just so very dark about that album, and I love that. I love my music being so dark that I can feel it seeping into my ears and affecting my very soul, blackening it a little bit more.

This is, in my book, the absolute best song in the Slayer catalog. It's got everything: fast riffs, fast solos, extremely difficult fast drumming, fast bass, and intense vocals. It has a tasteful breakdown mid-song that just increases everything about the song. Difficult song!

The way this song is structured is beautiful. Very powerful words are chosen to express the violence of war. Relentless guitar work backed by brutal drum work. For me, War Ensemble should sit at #1. Thanks, Jeff H. Rest in peace, bro!

Their best war song, in my opinion. Seasons of the Abyss does deserve to be higher than this, but I feel like War Ensemble is better than Angel of Death.

This song is epic not because it is evil like Raining Blood, but because it represents the struggle of good and evil. The main character of the song comes out in the beginning talking about how he has been betrayed and is now fighting to not become a pawn of Satan. But in the end, he is still struck down.

This definitely deserves a spot in the top ten. One of the best songs from their early career, and probably one of the best songs overall. Great vocals, instrumentation, and lyrics all combine to create an amazing song.

This song is insane. Relentless guitar work, a very sinister intro, and Tom does some fast vocals on it. Pure relentless aggressive thrash metal. Exactly what Slayer is known for.

The best Slayer song ever. It should be number 1, and then Raining Blood at number 2. Best song arrangement and very insane riff, plus crazy double pedal.

If you don't think it's one of their top 3 songs, you're not a Slayer fan. This may just be the best metal song ever.

A song so angry and blistering, this will scare the limbs off mainstream pop fans! This song may instigate and free minds of pop fans. Anyway, this song has loudness, heaviness, chaos, and pure ANGER! Somewhat reminiscent of death metal (cookie-monster music according to Slayer), to be honest. Tom sounds like he is angrily abusing his larynx by yelling lyrics into a megaphone, Jeff and Kerry totally ABUSE and TORTURE their guitars, while Paul beats up his drums. Awesome song!

On September 11th, 2001, I stood at the rooftop of my office building in Manhattan and watched as the Twin Towers fell. Then I bought God Hates Us All. And Disciple helped me make sense of the day. Beyond the emotional attachment of the day, the song is on point.

The crowning jewel in the Slayer lexicon, worthy of reverence in the American songbook. Fast, brutal, to the point, no nonsense.

"Dance with the dead in my dreams
Listen to their hallowed screams
The dead have taken my soul
Temptation has lost all control!"

This song is the creepiest Slayer song ever. Maybe one of the creepiest songs in metal ever. Seriously, the haunting bass, the guitars that sound like doom is near, and the strong lyrics tell a story about Ed Gein, a relentless body snatcher and killer who skinned his victims and wore their skin around his house and made other objects with their flesh. The screams of terror at the end are terrifying.

This song is so underrated! You need to listen to it! It sounds amazing!

113?! Are you kidding me?! This was the only good song on Diabolus in Musica!

Many of you might scream about Raining Blood being here, but no, not for me because it's the most overrated song in thrash history. World Painted Blood tops it all!

Absolutely mind-blowing Slayer song. Check this one out for sure, and the rest of the album. It's all amazing.

I love the guitar background during the solo. Absolutely amazingly heavy.

Should be in the top ten at least. This song is so good that it was chosen to be the lead into "Raining Blood"! Great riff, drums, vocals. GREAT SONG!

The intro is amazing, and the riff is just as good as Raining Blood's riff, not to mention the instruments in the background. It's definitely one of Slayer's best songs.

You can't listen to Raining Blood without listening to Postmortem first. You just can't.

Great song, incredible when it's played live. It's a classic, a great headbanger song, come on! It's a classic! Can't be out of the top ten.

What? Its music riffs are great. Even Decapitated has a cover of this song.

What the hell is Mandatory Suicide doing at 18?!

The shimmering of the hi-hat at the start is what got me hooked, and the rhythm of the vocals is just addictive. Definitely in my top 5 Slayer songs, I can't believe it's not higher. I think this song is way better than most of the songs in the top ten, in my opinion.

One of the cooler Slayer songs to date, for me. The intro is quite different for the band, but how impressive is the whole stuff!

Heard it and was like, "Dude, this kicks ass." Kept that opinion ever since.

There are so many words to describe this song: you could say amazing, ingenious, but the best way to put it is once you hear this song, it sticks with you. Forever haunting in a dreamlike way. The lyrics are real and actually make you think. This is the most real, personal song they have ever written.

Slayer should make more songs like this one, with a cool riff and rhythm, not like the crazy ones they usually make, like the number one on this list.

Kerry King's backing vocals are heard here. That is another interesting aspect of this song.

Jesus. Is production really that important to you guys? If you can stand mediocre sound, Hell Awaits is really second only to Reign in Blood in Slayer's catalogue, and at times it will make you question even that. This song is really the highlight. It embodies everything great about the album, from the evil riffs to the progressive movement of the song, and, as per usual, a great drum performance by Dave Lombardo, highlighted by the solo in this song.

It's amazing how Slayer/Dave can fit drum solos into evil, hellish songs and make it work. Kudos to Slayer, and be sure to check out the whole album. It belongs in the metal Pantheon in my book.

All the atmosphere of Seasons but with a more villainous riff and a more haunting melody.

One of my favorite songs of all time. I can't believe it's this low on the list.

Totally underrated song in this list.

Probably Slayer's most underrated song! Epic beginning and deserves to be up there with the classics.

Sounds a lot like some underground British '80s metal band, definitely awesome.

Awesome badass intro followed by delicate riffing and epic lyrics, just an all-around epic song from their first album. Also, the drums are killer in this one, which has many tempo changes and beat changes.

This song has the best solo from any Slayer song, in my opinion. It should be in the top 5. I could describe every part of what is awesome about this song, but then I'd just be describing everything!

Amazing song. I have no idea how it's not in the top 10 because it really deserves to be up there. It only takes one listen to tell that this song is a masterpiece.

Top five for sure. After many years of listening, some songs lose a bit of their lustre, not Spirit in Black. It keeps getting better. Vote this song up.

Here is the proof that Slayer (don't know which guitarist) can come up with a great solo. Maybe not mind-blowing, but great. Why couldn't they follow this style on later albums?

This song doesn't get anywhere near the recognition it deserves, an absolute classic!

One of their best songs, and amazingly no one thought of putting it on this list yet.

If you tried distilling pure, irrational anger and hatred, you'd end up with this song. It's the ultimate condensation of everything that's even vaguely unpleasant.

It's one of the biggest "F you" songs out there. It doesn't make any apologies for the steaming, hateful turd it is, and I kind of dig that.

Strangely, for a flaming, blood-stained middle finger, this song has a beautiful solo.

This song is very, very aggressive. And it's absolutely amazing.

Man, this song deserves to be much higher.

That tempo change halfway through gives me goosebumps every time.

Just seriously. Nobody thought of this? Probably the third-best song on Reign in Blood.

Just amazing, with the changing tempo midway in the song that is really awesome.

Why is this track over-hated? I think it's a great, groovy tune. The drumming is phenomenal! Also, this and Vices have similar drum patterns in the intro, with a thunderous thumping beat.

Great song! It's so heavy! The intro makes me crazy. The lyrics are great too!

This song is the definition of sick. That groovy, evil intro, all those heavy shifts in just a minute. And then comes hell itself: the main riff. 210 and 228 bpm hell unleashed with evil lyrics so fast it sounds like rapping, but it completely blows away every other speedy rap song. It's only less than 3 minutes but with such high density and pummeling ferocity your ears feel like they've been violently attacked for half an hour. Pure thrash metal badassery. You can't get more evil and masterful than this.

In my opinion, the best Slayer song ever. Three badass solos in less than three minutes. I like it more than the other stuff on Reign in Blood.