"Reign in Blood" is the third studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on October 20, 1986, by Def Jam Recordings. It marked the band's first collaboration with producer Rick Rubin, whose contributions influenced the evolution of their sound. The album's release was delayed due to controversy surrounding the opening track, "Angel of Death," which references Josef Mengele and describes human experimentation at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The band has stated that they do not support Nazism and were solely interested in the historical subject matter. The album was widely acclaimed by critics and fans and helped bring Slayer to the attention of a broader metal audience. "Reign in Blood" is frequently cited as one of the greatest heavy metal albums and, along with Anthrax's "Among the Living," Megadeth's "Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?," and Metallica's "Master of Puppets," played a key role in defining the US thrash metal scene of the mid-1980s. It was Slayer's first album to enter the US Billboard 200, peaking at number 94, and was certified Gold in 1992. In 2013, NME ranked it number 287 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and in 2017, Rolling Stone placed it at number six on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.