Slayer s controversial Reign in Blood remains the gold standard for extreme heavy metal: a seamless procession of 10 blindingly fast songs in just 28 minutes, delivered in furious bursts of a instrumental precision, with lyrics so striking that Tori Amos was moved to record a cover. Reign in Blood saw the emerging underground standouts from Huntington Beach team with Rick Rubin — 2007 s Grammy-Award winner for producer of the year, then known strictly for creating hip-hop albums with groups such as Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys — to permanently fuse classic rock s technical proficiency, hardcore punk s speed, and metal s brute power. Working in a much-maligned genre, guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King emerged as the Lennon and McCartney of speed metal, penning a collection of apocalyptic scenes comparable to the dark work of novelists like Cormac McCarthy and Herman Melville.The album came together though the efforts of a team that would go on to be some of the biggest names in the current music business. Issued on America s premier rap label at the pinnacle of the thrashmovement, Reign in Blood sparked a new genre called death metal, and continues to serve as a touchstone for metal musicians. The disc marked Slayer’s coronation as the kings of thrash, and their ongoing 25-year streak of vitality places them in the small fraternity of rock’s greatest groups. Throughinterviews with the entire band, Rubin, engineer AndyWallace, and a who’s who of headbangers from threedecades, D.X. Ferris explores the creation of the most universally respected metal album and its long road to the stores."