My money is on Jeff since he seems to be the only one with a shred of talent left

I was underwhelmed with Exodus and Slayer at Hellfest. I even left Slayer to go see Dillinger Escape Plan (who were five times more intense and I really enjoyed them). Up to Seasons in the Abyss I liked most their stuff. South of Heaven does seem to get regularly ignored and there are plenty of classics there including Ghosts of War, the title track and the evil-dripping Spill the Blood. But these days, they just past me buy. Which is a shame.

And I know it's overrated but Reign in Blood was a very important album in relation to turning me onto thrash, so...

I'm with Mort. I didn't see them in a club in '87 but I did see them on the Reign In Blood tour at Manchester Apollo in '87 and the next 3 or 4 tours (including Clash Of The Titans at the NEC with Megadeth/Testament/Suicidal). And they were great every time. Don't forget this is 20+ years ago, and they've all undoubtedly lost a step or two these days. I haven't seen them for a few years, but I'll be seeing them in August with Megadeth and Testament here in Chicago.
For me, anything up to and including Seasons is class. As is the new one. DI through to CI I don't like.
I think Slayer are one of those bands that you have to be an old bastard and been around at the time to really appreciate. When Hell Awaits and especially Reign In Blood came out, they just blew everyone away. Nowadays there's so much more extreme music out there that they don't have the same effect on someone listening to them for the first time.

Speaking as a non-old bastard, Hell Awaits and Reign In Blood stil blew the crap out of most things I've listened to. There's a lot more extreme stuff around now, but not much of it comes close to those two.

Seasons In the Abyss just rang

I think that they went downhill rapidly in the 1990's, although I've never seen them live, so what would I know?

Although they are (rightly) revered as one of the godfathers of extreme metal, And produced some astoundingly good heavy metal, they never grabbed me in the same way that bands like Celtic Frost or Discharge did, probably because they were "just a band that told stories".

I do however hold "South of Heaven" and "Seasons..." in much higher regard than a lot of others here, and I still bang like an idiot when they come on.

I mean, it is Slayer...

See, people go on about Reign in Blood being so extreme for 1986 and tend to forget that Darkness Descends came out the same year. An album that I find myself enjoying far more than RiB

Not to mention Seven Churches in '85.

Exactly.

I'm going to be controversial and say that in all honesty, most of Reign in Blood is crap. Angel of Death, Postmortem and Raining Blood, yeah alright fair play. But most of the other songs are just.... well, not very good.

Sorry but I must disagree, RIB is the best pure thrash album ever, its so fucking good, to call it 'bloody crap' is just... It boggles my mind, that album is one of the most influential and ground breaking albums ever.

Not very good?

Have you heard Altar of Sacrifice? Piece by Piece? In fact, ALL the songs on that album are flawless!

Between Angel of Death and Postmortem, the only song that has ever hld my interest was Jesus Saves. And nowadays even that sounds boring.

Best pure thrash album ever? I'd disagree completely. How about The New Order? Bonded By Blood? Peace Sells? Release from Agony? Coma of Souls? Eternal Nightmare? I could go on and on and on.

My favourite thrash album is by the Spice Girls.

Jesus Saves is hilarious and wonderful.

Also I must applaud Slayer for their continual rhyming of words that end in 'e'. How many words can there be? I don't know, but Slayer never run out of them. Well done Tom Araya for your hilarious and wonderful voice.

Boring?! How can someone who prefixes their name with "thrasher" be bored by half an hour of riffs that epitomize the genre? Calling that album "crap" is absurd.

If you ask me, the only song that approaches boredom is Raining Blood, but that's purely because it's so hyped and overplayed - it's still a killer track.

I prefixed my name with that when I joined, it's not like I joined yesterday JAMES

Yeah, that told you didn't it?

Seriously though, fuck Reign in Blood. Slayer - and most other bands - have done infinitely better albums. Also, Kerry Queen is shit.