Slayer’s Song ‘Raining Blood’ Arranged For Orchestra

Last month, in the days before Christmas, we posted a video (see below) of YouTube user Lacycute20‘s front yard Christmas light show set to heavy metal band Slayer’s 1986 hit “Raining Blood.” Well it looks like our post inspired composer Walt Ribeiro from ForOrchestra. Walt spent the past couple weeks arranging “Raining Blood” for orchestra and it sounds awesome!

How did Walt approach composing an orchestral version of such a heavy song? “I started the introduction off with violin tremolos and waterphone in order to create a suspenseful precursor for 2 reasons: to create suspense, and to have a ‘breathing point’ before the main riff kicks in. I then used the brass section to create the powerful undertone with the trumpets, horns, and trombones. The flutes were used for the lyrics – which was a surprising choice given the ‘heaviness’ of the song… I then added harp, trills, and ritardandos (gradually slowing down a tempo) to add to the structure of the orchestration. There is no rest in this orchestration – everything comes out screaming.”

Nice work Walt. It blew us away. You can listen to Walt’s orchestra version of Raining Blood here on Amazon.com or in the iTunes Store.

J. Frank Wilson

Frank Wilson is a retired teacher with over 30 years of combined experience in the education, small business technology, and real estate business. He now blogs as a hobby and spends most days tinkering with old computers. Wilson is passionate about tech, enjoys fishing, and loves drinking beer.