Hell Awaits (40th Anniversary) - 2026 European Metal Blade label 25-track 3LP Box

SLAYER's iconic second studio album, 'Hell Awaits', is getting a 40th anniversary edition via Metal Blade Records!

Formed in 1981, SLAYER took the world by storm with a new hybrid of metal and punk – heavier, faster and darker than anything else – and set a new standard that defined not just a genre, but an entire attitude. Throughout SLAYER's history, the band never wavered in their extreme and uncompromising sonic assault, and despite temptations, they consistently chose to remain brutal and unyielding, never conforming to the mainstream.

"This is the record where SLAYER became SLAYER." That's how Kerry King describes the album 'Hell Awaits'. And he knows what he's talking about. As the band's guitarist, co-composer and co-lyricist, he stood in the trenches alongside vocalist/bassist Tom Araya, guitarist Jeff Hanneman (R.I.P.) and drummer Dave Lombardo as they created one of the greatest albums in heavy metal history.

A marked departure from SLAYER's 1983 debut, 'Show No Mercy' – and from all SLAYER albums that followed – 'Hell Awaits' is both an outsider and an artistic consolidation. 'Show No Mercy' was the manifesto, but 'Hell Awaits' is the more evolved and complex execution of SLAYER's tempo, technical prowess and aggression.

The 'Hell Awaits' 40th Anniversary Box Set includes 3 LPs of the original 7-track album + 18 never-before-released live bonus tracks (Live From Bochum 1985). The album has been mastered and restored from the original 1985 production tapes and pressed on "fire splatter" vinyl. The box set also includes a 60-page book in 12” format, replica ticket from the Bochum concert, replica 'Hell Awaits' tour laminate, 'Hell Awaits' tour poster (German dates), slipmat, band posters, replica merch flyer, replica Satanic Wehrmacht newsletter and two flyers.

Tracklisting:

Hell Awaits
Kill Again
At Dawn They Sleep
Praise Of Death
Necrophiliac
Crypts Of Eternity
Hardening Of The Arteries
Hell Awaits (Live From Bochum 1985)
Aggressive Perfector (Live From Bochum 1985)
Captor Of Sin (Live From Bochum 1985)
The Final Command (Live From Bochum 1985)
Kill Again (Live From Bochum 1985)
Crypts Of Eternity (Live From Bochum 1985)
Fight Till Death (Live From Bochum 1985)
Necrophiliac (Live From Bochum 1985)
Haunting The Chapel (Live From Bochum 1985)
Hardening Of The Arteries (Live From Bochum 1985)
Black Magic (Live From Bochum 1985)
Die By The Sword (Live From Bochum 1985)
The Antichrist (Live From Bochum 1985)
At Dawn They Sleep (Live From Bochum 1985)
Show No Mercy (Live From Bochum 1985)
Evil Has No Boundaries (Live From Bochum 1985)
Chemical Warfare (Live From Bochum 1985)
Praise Of Death (Live From Bochum 1985)