SLAYER 1983-1984 - The Metal Blade Albums on CD

I just bought the 'Metal Blade Originals' reissues of Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits as they randomly popped up on Discogs from a US seller. Most are in the UK or Canada. Anybody have these? Seems like the consensus is that they are well done? Not going to cough up the cash for originals for these 2 most likely. Don't own Hell Awaits and my only copy of Show No Mercy is the Back on Black reissue which sounds pretty good overall.

 

My apologies, @sathvyre , it's been me that's wrong. I think the confusion has came from you hearing the rough version of 'Chemical Warfare' (King left) on Live Undead, vs me hearing only the versions from HTC where King is on the right.

You're right, King is in the left channel for 'Show No Mercy', he only moves to the right channel for HTC (which is where i jumped in and held an assumption he was always on the right as he is here).
He's back in the left channel for 'Live Undead' and also for 'Hell Awaits'.

From RIB onwards he's in the right channel up to and including 'Decade Of Aggression'. Not sure about later stuff. Always thought he was on the right side on studio stuff from the get go and this has been my mistake, sorry.

On the plus side, it's been a good day...lots of Slayer getting played plus I found old letters/pics circa '93 from a cute hippie chick stuffed inside Show No Mercy.

 

Great post, thank you.
Weird that King is on the left channel on "Live Undead". If you check the photograph on the backcover, he stands on the right side.
If you listen to "Live Undead", the toms of Lombardo's drums are correctly panned, if I remember correctly (first tom on the right, floor tom on the left)...but I have to check again.

 

No problem, it was my bad. Punishment was -5 Slayer points + 1hr of Nickelback on 96kbps mp3.

Yeah, if you were watching the band live, the guitars are the opposite of what you hear if you're listening to 'Show No Mercy', 'Live Undead' or 'Hell Awaits'. Could possibly be part of the reason why they eventually swapped channels?
I also never noticed that, besides the 'Haunting The Chapel' tracks, both versions of 'Aggressive Perfector' start with Kerry in the right channel.

The rolls at the end of 'Evil Has No Boundaries' or 'Show No Mercy' have the kit is panned left to right, high to low but, tbh, it varies within songs. The toms on 'Black Magic' sound barely panned at all, almost mono. The drum solo version of 'Show No Mercy' from the pic disc of LU sounds a bit better spread.
On 'Haunting The Chapel' the balance is more right to left but, like LU, it's not a huge stereo field so they get buried in the mix at times. Same engineer/approach, I suppose.

Great thread with great info so thanks...it's been good digging in.
Also just ordered a Restless/MB copy of Hell Awaits so looking forwards to hearing that!

 

Always great to share some knowledge with some maniacs

Let me know what you think about the Restless "Hell Awaits" when you received it !!!

In the meantime, I will check the panning of the drums on the "Live Undead" original mixes with headphones again...

 

By the way: What do you think about the sound /mastering of "Haunting The Chapel" in general ?
I think the original vinyl sound lacks treble and aggression. I have the 1984 Roadrunner, the 1984 Metal Blade and the 1985 BANZAI and all of them sound slightly dull and tame. The 1993 Schreyer remaster on CD is the only version with treble and bite I think.

 

I will do, got it after reading your breakdown! \m/

 

It's definitely a great-sounding version. Original COMBAT CD (Made in Japan) sounds bad, same for the 1993 remaster.

 

Honestly, I think it's pretty dismal from a production point of view. As for quality, I only have the RR and Banzai versions on vinyl, listening back my first impressions were that the RR sounds more upfront with more bite on the guitars, more prescence. The Banzai edition sounds a lot less bright, flatter EQ. I can't comment on the MB release.

 

You swung me with the Restless version for 'Hell Awaits', i'm still undecided which 'Show No Mercy' to go for. To be honest, the only Slayer CD's I have is the tree destroying longbox version of RIB and Undisputed Attitude.

 

"Show No Mercy": only ROADRUNNER is real But you can also buy the METAL BLADE CLASSICS CD (with the ZORRO catalogue number). Both sound very identical, made from the same tapes (the durch ones).

 

Today I received a message from a friend who told me that a remix of the song "Die By The Sword" (studio version) is available on a 1984 Metal Blade compilation LP called "Total Destruction". Unbelievable after all these years that still "new" things will be discovered...

 

LIVE UNDEAD:

All versions (on CD and vinyl) have swapped channels...both the 1985 and the 1987 releases.

 

It's on youtube. I've only done a quick comparison on laptop speakers but not hearing anything standout as different. What do you think?

 

I will wait for my vinyl (I bought a sealed copy of that compilation today) and do some further comparison. Not sure if it is really a remix...

 

I listened to the 2015 METAL BLADE pressings on Saturday. Here are a few words about them.

SHOW NO MERCY:
Sounds good so far. Nice cutting, great pressing. Sure, the audio is slightly compressed (as on CD), but it works well for that album.

HAUNTING THE CHAPEL:
Sounds good so far. More treble / brillance than the old pressings. Unfortunately, the audio is still too compressed and I can hear some pumping artefacts here and there. It runs at 45 rpm.

LIVE UNDEAD:
Sounds good so far. It has pasted-in drumsolo before "Show No Mercy". Not perfect, but good job.

HELL AWAITS:
Horrible !!! Same as the 1993 CD Remaster: shrill, tinny, lifeless, simply wrong. This is by far the worst "Hell Awaits" on vinyl.

 

Are you referring to the German releases, "Metal Blade Records Originals", 2016 vinyl pressings or CD reissues?
Hell Awaits: Slayer - Hell Awaits
Show No Mercy: Slayer - Show No Mercy

I have the vinyl pressings of SNM and HA coming to me in the next couple of days and I can report back my thoughts. I don't have originals to compare to.

 

Yes, the german ones from 2016 on vinyl.
HELL AWAITS sounds bad on all releases since 1993...no matter which format. This Schreyer remaster is awful.

 

It's the same with the first press on CD for HELL AWAITS. That COMBAT CD with the orange back cover is still bad. Nothing beats the 1988 Restless / Metal Blade CD and the 1984 / 1987 Roadrunner CD.

 

You're right, the Combat CD is pretty bad. I was thinking of the Restless CD when I referenced Combat earlier in the thread. That one nudged out the Roadrunner for me.

 

1988 Restless CD seems to be from the original master, Roadrunner CD sounds very close, but is one tape generation more. Both are great.

 

Got it delivered today, looks good! Will give you my opinion on it tomorrow!!

 

Hell Awaits (MB/Restless) CD 1988.

First thoughts on the CD.... nice to hear the fade-in/out and the quiet passage in 'Praise Of Death' with no clicks/pops whatsoever, the mastering sounds decent, didn't seem to have any crazy EQ's, not much compression at all...if any. No tape issues that I noticed.
Overall maybe a bit brighter, tiny bit less bottom end in the drums/bass than on the vinyl. Drums/vocals do sound clearer although the guitars still sound horrible, which I like, lol.

If anything with this album, more clarity only serves to highlight the flaws in the production that the vinyl kinda does a better job of warming over...but it's marginal. This is a good transfer, clean, no fuss, no gimmicks. I like it.

Make no mistake, it's always going to sound like it was recorded in the bowels of hell, but that's fine by me. Gives it that dismal vibe. 'Crpyts Of Eternity' is disgustingly good, they've never touched that for atmosphere since.

Gonna go for a metal blade 'Show No Mercy' CD next.

 

Thank you for your review.
Which vinyl version are you talking about ???
The original METAL BLADE pressing is brighter than the CD master. It has sibilance.
The ROADRUNNER LP sounds very close, compared to the RESTLESS CD.

For SHOW NO MERCY I recommend the ROADRUNNER CD. It has "Aggressive Perfector" included and sounds better balanced than the RESTLESS CD.

 

...by the way: I compared the so-called remix of "Die By The Sword" on the TOTAL DESTRUCTION compilation LP with the regular studio version. There is ZERO difference between both versions. Either they used the wrong mastertape for the compilation of the remix was never made, but announced.