Hell Awaits is the second studio album from SLAYER, and it is coming up on the 40th anniversary of its release. The group is releasing a reissue of this album to celebrate the anniversary on May 15. The project is available for pre order here.
Kerry King, guitarist and co-founder of the band, shared his thoughts on Hell Awaits, and he knows what he is saying: “It’s the record where SLAYER became SLAYER.”
Released in April of 1985, Hell Awaits was a high point of success in a year that also experienced so many debut albums, including ones from Megadeth, Exodus, Kreator, Possessed, Destruction, Hirax, and Overkill.
Hell Awaits was the official mark of a new era for SLAYER. “Jeff [Hanneman] and I were still trying to figure out who we were as musicians, and we were both infatuated with Mercyful Fate’s Melissa album during the writing process for Hell Awaits,” King says.
“That’s why there’s so few songs and most of ‘em are pretty long. That’s the only time anything like that ever happened with us.”
Hell Awaits (40th Anniversary) tracklist:
1. Hell Awaits
2. Kill Again
3. At Dawn They Sleep
4. Praise Of Death
5. Necrophiliac
6. Crypts Of Eternity
7. Hardening Of The Arteries
8. Hell Awaits (Live From Bochum 1985)
9. Aggressive Perfector (Live From Bochum 1985)
10. Captor Of Sin (Live From Bochum 1985)
11. The Final Command (Live From Bochum 1985)
12. Kill Again (Live From Bochum 1985)
13. Crypts Of Eternity (Live From Bochum 1985)
14. Fight Till Death (Live From Bochum 1985)
15. Necrophiliac (Live From Bochum 1985)
16. Haunting The Chapel (Live From Bochum 1985)
17. Hardening Of The Arteries (Live From Bochum 1985)
18. Black Magic (Live From Bochum 1985)
19. Die By The Sword (Live From Bochum 1985)
20. The Antichrist (Live From Bochum 1985)
21. At Dawn They Sleep (Live From Bochum 1985)
22. Show No Mercy (Live From Bochum 1985)
23. Evil Has No Boundaries (Live From Bochum 1985)
24. Chemical Warfare (Live From Bochum 1985)
25. Praise Of Death (Live From Bochum 1985)
