Slayer is a Thrash Metal band that began in the Los Angeles suburb of Huntington Beach Area in 1981, and started playing in '82. It's founding member, guitarist Kerry King, had previously been in another band with bassist Tom Araya, so he asked him to join the band. They teamed up with guitarist Jeff Hanneman and drummer Dave Lombardo.

King was influenced by the band Venom, and Lombardo was into the punk scene that was dominant at the time. Hanneman's father had thought in WW2 against the Germans, and this was an influence to some of the songs he wrote. Hanneman has a large collection of war memorabilia and Nazi medals.

Araya's family moved from Chile to LA, for the prospect of a better life. One of his brother's is Slayer's bass technician, and his birthday is 6-6-61.

Slayer started like most bands do, playing at clubs. They covered bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, who were massive at the time.

The break came the following year, when the owner of Metal Blade records heard them play. He offered them a slot in his label's upcoming compilation, Metal Massacre III. They agreed, but only if they could release their own album too.

It was done. The song Aggressive Perfector went onto the compilation, and Slayer's first album Show No Mercy came out in December '83. It was hailed as a masterpeice, though critics laughed at the almost comic cover.

The next album, Hell Awaits, was released in 1985, and showed that Slayer had matured in the years since they'd formed. The music on Hell Awaits was darker, and it sold very well. So well that producer Ruck Rubin contacted Slayer, and asked them to join his label Def Jam.

In 1985 Slayer toured Europe for the first time. Their first British gig was at the fabled Marquee in London.

1986 brought one of their finest albums. It is hailed at the best Thrash/Speed album, and is credited with killing off Speed Metal as no other bands could catch up with it. It is called Reign In Blood.

The songs include Angel of Death, written by Hanneman, which is about Joseph Mengele. This song, and the album, had Hanneman and Slayer dubbed as Nazist, ehich is the typical response to something redical. It must be said the the band's logo is an iron eagle and their fan club is called Slaytanic Wehtmacht, but they are in no way Nazis.
Reign In Blood was the band's first gold-selling album, and help boost the band's reputation as being one of the most energetic on stage.

A problem started to be seen in the band, though. Lombardo felt he was being left out by the other three. He left and was replaced with Tony Scaglione. The new drummer unfortunatly could not cut the mustard, as Lombardo came back very soon after he'd left!

South of Heaven was released in 1988, but due to it's slower and heavier nature it was not immediatly accepted by fans. Lyrically, it was different. Instead of the mandatory killing and Satan, the songs on the album included Nazism, war, abortion and TV englavists. The album went gold, and was followed by another European tour.

Because of their controversial songs, Slayer had now become idols for white supremesists and Neo-Nazis over Europe. Luckily, they did not let this reputation get to them.

1990 gave Slayer their first platinum selling album: Seasons In The Abyss. In the same year, they went on the Clash Of The Titans tour, which also helped develop a big rift between them and their musical enemies Megadeth.

The following year saw the live album Decade of Agression. A concert video was made but not released, as Slayer were not happy with the quality.

The next year, drummer Dave Lombardo was fired. He had been spending too much time with his wife, which (and other things) had made his drumming suffer. He was replaced with Paul Bostaph.

In 1992 Slayer did the famous Monster Of Rock Festivals in Poland, Germany and England. They were among the supporting bands, with Skid Row and WASP. The headliners were Iron Maiden.

Slayer did the soundtrack to the film Judgement Night, and played at Monsters Of Rock concerts in Brazil, playing to 40,000 people at a time! In the following month came the album Divine Intervention. Included on the album was another Hanneman song, SS-3. this one was about Nazi Reinhard Heydrich, and provoked yet more attacks from people, including Sepultura vocalist Max Cavelera. For the rest of 1994 Slayer did a European tour, supported by Machine Head.

After much touring Slayer released an album of punk covers, called Undisputed Attitude, in May 1996. After this was finished Bostaph left to join The Truth About Seafood. He was replaced with Testament drummer Jon Dette.

Soon after they headlined Dynamo Open Air in Holland, and co-headlined Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium with Iron Maiden. In October, they did the Ozzfest¹.

Early in 1997 Dette was fired. He was replaced with Bostaph, who had left The Truth About Seafood.

In June 1998 Slayer's latest album, Diabolus In Musica, was released. It was true to Slayer's traditional sound, and thus sold well and was accepted by fans.

Slayer have earned a reputation as one of the most hardcore, heavy thrash groups around. What do you think about them?