This album is so RIDICULOUS. It is simply not believable that this album was penned by a human being. Slayer must have cut blood at the cross roads. There is no other explanation. I have played this album at least a thousand times and am still in awe every time. I can't believe the authors of Hell Awaits jumped to this level lyrically and musically without the hand of Satan involved or some other lunatic deity. However, since I'm an atheist, I can only conclude that Slayer is indeed collectively at the genius level of thrash. The IQ required for this album must be around 180, 185; or as high as 400, which of course would explain a lot.For anyone who has listened to this and did not conclude the same, you simply did not listen. The utilization of "atonal chromaticism" ([...]) is so amazing. The sound of this album transforms it into something four dimensional. It is a busy album, preventing a complete appreciation the first six hundred sixty five times it is listened to. I can see why Slayer fans are rabid fanatics (see [...]).The opening, Angel of Death, starts with an aggressive guitar attack and before your brain can finish processing what just happened, Slayer launch into Piece by Piece with Dave Lombardo's double bass drum from Angel of Death still bouncing around your cortex. Piece by Piece is near its end when you realize this is really the second song already and your brain, which has been put into a coma by so much crap music from the radio station, begins to get stimulated for the first time. What you've just felt is a jump in your IQ. The launch into Necrophobic blows your brain away, forcing it to contract and retreat like your eyes thrust into bright sunshine when it's been midnight for so long. Altar of Sacrifice starts and you've barely enough time to figure out it's a new song and you start sensing evil resident within the music, awakening your own demon. Altar of Sacrifice concludes and you read that Jesus Saves is next so you trick yourself into thinking the music is going to slow down and at first Hanneman gives the illusion that Slayer is mortal after all until King, Hanneman, and Araya start up the pummeling machine and you try your best to keep up with the guitar solos and Araya's commanding lecture about religion. Your granted another breather when Criminally Insane starts and Lombardo injects some interesting percussion into your frontal lobe as the time warp starts again and you've become the victim again of Araya's terrifying anecdotal evidence of the certain demise of mankind as the guitar duo's assault resonates across your synapses like a tectonic shuffle at lunatic speed.Reborn brings to reality your stunned mind's conviction that the horror and metal are relentless and black and only getting darker, and you really are beginning to feel ripped and torn. Epidemic then suddenly crashes in on your brain courtesy of Dave Lombardo and Araya's dark intonations are a preamble to the death of mankind. But this scene seems all to real and possible. The guitar solos are short be complementary to the rhythm.When Postmortem starts you feel the impending doom and know right away that an epic song has just started. The culmination of insanity has been captured in this song and queries you with raw honesty querying whether you want to die. The question might scare you given the context as you get delivered to you a blast of sheer lunacy in musicianship and lyrics. Raining blood follows the sinister segue where you are sure you heard recordings of souls in hell wailing their anguish. The devil begins speaking to you through King and Hanneman in Raining in Blood as he unveils to you a picture of hell and what awaits you. The conclusion of this song is a shock back to reality and you can't believe you just spent four hours in hell. Then you look at the clock and wonder how so much content could be compressed into less than thirty minutes. So you listen again, falling victim to Satan again.