Underground Music: SLAYER "Angel of Death"

Slayer is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Park, California. Formed in 1981, the group was founded by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King.Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax.

Slayer's musical traits involve fast tremolo picking, atonal guitar solos, double bass drumming, and shouting vocals. The band's lyrics and album art, which cover topics such as serial killers, Satanism, religion and warfare, have generated album bans, delays, lawsuits and strong criticism from religious groups and the public.

Since their debut album in 1983, the band has released two live albums, one box set, six videos, two extended plays, and eleven studio albums, four of which have received gold certification in the United States. The band has received five Grammy nominations, winning two of them; one in 2007 for the song "Eyes of the Insane", and one in 2008 for the song "Final Six". They have played music festivals worldwide, including Unholy Alliance, Download and Ozzfest.
Slayer was founded in 1981, when guitarist Kerry King met Jeff Hanneman while auditioning for a band.[4] They recruited bassist and vocalist Tom Araya, who had played with King before in the band Quits (previously known as Tradewinds). Drummer Dave Lombardo was recruited when he met King while delivering a pizza. The band played cover versions of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest songs at clubs and parties in Southern California. Early shows relied on a Satanic image, which featured pentagrams, make-up, spikes, and inverted crosses. Rumors that the band was originally known as Dragonslayer, after the 1981 movie of the same name, were denied by King, as he stated "We never were; it's a myth to this day."

The band was invited to open for Bitch at the Woodstock Club in Los Angeles, performing eight songs — six being covers. While playing Iron Maiden's "Phantom of the Opera" the band was spotted by Brian Slagel, a former music journalist who had, at the time, recently founded the label Metal Blade Records. Impressed with Slayer's performance, Slagel met with the band backstage and asked them to record an original song, "Aggressive Perfector" (About this sound sample (help·info)) for his upcoming Metal Massacre III compilation. The band agreed and the song created underground buzz, which led to Slagel offering the band a recording contract with Metal Blade.

Band members

Current
    Tom Araya – lead vocals, bass (1981–present)
    Jeff Hanneman – guitar (1981–present)
    Kerry King – guitar (1981–present)
    Dave Lombardo – drums (1981–1986, 1987–1992, 2001–present)

Former
    Tony Scaglione – drums (1986–1987)
    Paul Bostaph – drums (1992–1996, 1997–2001)
    Jon Dette – drums (1996–1997)

Discography