Show No Mercy (Slayer album)
Occupation
- Tom Araya (vocals, bass)
- Kerry King ( guitar )
- Jeff Hanneman (guitar)
- Dave Lombardo (drums)
Show No Mercy (English, Show no mercy ') is the debut album by the Californian thrash metal band Slayer, released in December 1983 by Metal Blade Records. Brian Slagel offered the band a contract, after witnessing her version of Iron Maiden play Phantom of the Opera live. Slayer had to finance the album themselves, so the money came partly from the savings of the already professional make Tom Araya and partly by the father of Kerry King. In the promotional tours, the band of friends and family who also roadie activities and the like was supported. takeovers.
Although the quality of the recordings was poor, the album became the biggest success at this time of the fledgling label.
Genesis
Slayer joined in 1983 as the opening act of the American heavy metal band Bitch, presenting eight songs, including six covers. They were discovered by Brian Slagel, a former music journalist who had recently founded Metal Blade Records. He liked their version of Phantom of the Opera by Iron Maiden, which is why he asked the band if they wanted to contribute a song to the forthcoming compilation Metal Massacre III.
This contribution of the band - Aggressive Perfector - was a success, why Slagel signed the band for an album under contract. The album, which was funded by Tom Araya and Kerry King's father was born in Los Angeles. In an interview, Araya told that they were still been very young during the making of the album and to stand out from the other bands something had therefore written about Satan. Venom was doing a great influence.
Gene Hoglan, a friend of the band, the background vocals took over at Evil Has No Boundaries and accompanied Slayer also on their tour. Here he learned the band Dark Angel know whose drummer he is today. During the recording asked Slagel Producer Dave Lombardo to dispense with his drums on the use of the pool, as he was not sure if he could handle the noise properly with the available equipment. Lombardo but this could not be talked out and according to Hanneman then also did not interfere with the final result.
They used the satanic concept of their texts even with the cover design and their shows to attract some attention. The back of the album cover showed the text side 666, inverted crosses and Jeff Hanneman with his guitar, which led to problems with the PMRC, who tried to prevent the release of the album.
Reception
The band had during the tour no copies of her album, which they then could have sold, but the album was the biggest selling album of Metal Blade Records. The usual sales figures of the labels were rarely higher than 5,000 pieces, Show No Mercy sold only in the United States 15,000 to 20,000 times and 15,000 times more abroad. Due to the success Slagel extended the contract for another album and an EP.