Slayer – Hell Awaits

Originally released March 1985.

This time the album was financed by Brian Slagel (Show No Mercy was paid by band members) and recruited several experienced producers to help in the studio like: producer Ron Fair, who worked for Chrysalis Records, Bernie Grundman provided audio mastering, Eddy Schreyer worked on remastering, and Bill Metoyer, as sound engineer.

The lyrical theme again include hell and Satan, the repeating demonic-sounding voice in the intro of the title track played backwards reveals the repeated phrase "join us", ending with "Welcome back"

"Hardening of the Arteries" on the album ends with a very similar section that makes up the beginning of the song "Hell Awaits" and is also one of the only Slayer songs to fade out on a continuous riff.

Artwork contains elements from "Approaching Centauri" by Jean Giraud (aka Moebius) and "Crossroads of the Universe" by Enki Bilal, both featured in the July 1977 number 4 issue of the fantasy illustration magazine entitled "Heavy Metal".

To promote Hell Awaits, Slayer embarked on the Combat Tour with Venom (8) and Exodus (6).

Rivadavia awarded the album four out of five stars, saying that it was "incredibly ahead of its time" and referred to it as "a mandatory item in the band's remarkable discography".
It has sold over 1,000,000 records worldwide according to Brian Slagel.

1985
US white labels I misprint I test
US green labels
US chain labels I variant
US picture disc I numbered
Canada
EU I misprint
EU & UK
Japan I promo

1987 Brazil

1988
UK (2LP)
US

1989 EU

1992 South Korea

2004 500 white

2005 500 red translucent

2008 gold / blood spltatter

2009
red
orange
clear
black

2013 red / orange bi-color

2015
green transparent
orange transparent
orange

2016
500 ocher / black marble
500 green olive / black marble
500 white
black
clear

2021
750 transparent orange / black splatter
1000 orange / red splatter
orange translucent