Slayer

Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo, and bassist and vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer released twelve studio albums, two live albums, a box set, six music videos, two extended plays and a cover album. Four of the band’s studio albums have received gold certification in the United States. Between 1991 and 2013, the band sold five million albums in the U.S. and another 20,000 worldwide.

About Slayer in brief

Summary Slayer Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo, and bassist and vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer released twelve studio albums, two live albums, a box set, six music videos, two extended plays and a cover album. Four of the band’s studio albums have received gold certification in the United States. Between 1991 and 2013, the band sold five million albums in the U.S. and another 20,000 worldwide. Slayer announced in January 2018 that it would embark on a farewell tour, which took place from May 2018 to November 2019, after which the band disbanded. In February 1984, King briefly joined Dave Mustaine’s new band Megadeth. The split caused a rift between King and Mustaine, which evolved into a long running feud between the two bands. In June 1984, Slayer released a three-track EP called Haunting the Chapel. The EP featured a darker, more thrash-oriented style than Show No Mercy, and laid the groundwork for the future direction of the group. In the original lineup, King, Hanneman and Araya contributed to the band’s lyrics, and all of theBand’s music was written by King and Hanneman. Slayer’s third album, Reign in Blood, has been described as one of the heaviest and most influential thrashMetal albums. The band has received five Grammy Award nominations, winning one in 2007 for the song ‘Eyes of the Insane’ and one in 2008 for thesong ‘Final Six’ The band’s early image relied heavily on Satanic themes that featured pentagrams, make-up, spikes, and inverted crosses.

Rumors that the band was originally known as Dragonslayer, after the 1981 film of the same name, were denied by King, as he later stated: ‘We never were; it’s a myth to this day.’ In 1983, Slayer was invited to open for the band Bitch at the Woodstock Club in Anaheim, California to perform eight songs, six of which were covers. Impressed with the band, Brian Slagel, a former music journalist who had recently founded Metal Blade Records, asked them to record an original song for his upcoming Metal Massacre III compilation album. Their song “Aggressive Perfector’ created an underground buzz upon its release in mid 1983, which led to the group being offered a recording contract with Metal Blade. The group began a club tour of California to promote the album. The tour gave the band additional popularity and sales of the album eventually reached more than20,000 in the US and 20,00 worldwide. In November 1983, the album was rushed into release, stocking shelves three weeks after tracks were completed. The track ‘Chemical Warfare’ has become a live staple, played at nearly every show since June 1984.