3 out of 5

Label: Metal Blade

Produced by: Brian Slagel

Early Slayer is early Slayer.  I agree that Haunting the Chapel gives hints about the band moving beyond their rather metal-y debut – Tom Araya starts to bring in his thrash growl alongside the metal affectations; the guitar interplay starts to become a bit more varied and intense – but I still tend to hear it as bonus tracks from that original session.  Lyrics are very much trawling the same Satan and Hell boilerplate evils as before, and excepting the above-mentioned nudges of expression, the 3 (plus one bonus) tracks are more straight ahead than what was to come.

This doesn’t prevent the songs from being head-bangingly awesome: Chemical Warfare is a deserved classic, and there is no denying everyone’s skill in fitting their showmanship together for cohesively rocking tracks.  But: Slagel’s somewhat dull thud of production (it’s pleasingly raw, just rather 80s flat) and the lack of truly defining Slayer moments – we’re still getting by on speed, precision, and devil imagery, mainly – keep the EP from my more common Slayer playlists.