Slayer formed in Huntington Park, California in 1981 and made up one quarter of thrash metal's Big Four alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Reign in Blood (1986) — twenty-nine minutes, zero mercy — is still the genre's high-water mark. Browse Slayer vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Slayer formed in Huntington Park, California in 1981 around Tom Araya (born June 6, 1961, Viña del Mar, Chile), Kerry King (born June 3, 1964, Los Angeles), Jeff Hanneman (born January 31, 1964, Oakland; died May 2, 2013), and Dave Lombardo (born February 16, 1965, Havana, Cuba). They are widely cited as one of the 'Big Four' of thrash metal alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Their 1986 album Reign in Blood - at twenty-nine minutes the shortest of their major works, with the opening track Angel of Death and the closing track Raining Blood - is widely cited as one of the most important thrash metal albums in popular music history and established the extreme thrash metal template. Their lyrical content addressing war, death, satanic imagery, and broader extreme themes was controversial (Angel of Death about Josef Mengele the Nazi physician at Auschwitz). Dave Lombardo had multiple departures and returns to the band across its history. Jeff Hanneman contracted necrotizing fasciitis in 2011 (from a spider bite), incapacitating him; he died of liver failure (from alcoholism) on May 2, 2013 at age 49. Gary Holt (of Exodus) replaced Hanneman as touring guitarist. The band dissolved in 2019 after a final farewell tour, though Araya and King have reunited the band for selected festival appearances since 2024. Their foundational influence on thrash metal, extreme metal, and broader contemporary heavy music is widely cited.
Slayer's sound is foundational to thrash metal as a recognized genre - combining thrash metal, speed metal, extreme metal, death metal influences, and heavy metal with Araya's distinctive vocal delivery (use of screamed and growled phrasing), the foundational Hanneman/King dual guitar approach, Lombardo's virtuosic drum work, and lyrical content addressing war, death, religion, serial killers, and broader extreme themes. Their foundational influence on thrash metal is widely documented.
Original Metal Blade Records, Def Jam, American Recordings, and Nuclear Blast pressings of the Slayer catalog are foundational items in thrash metal collecting, with collector premiums on rare early pressings.
Listeners new to Slayer typically start with Reign in Blood (1986) or Seasons in the Abyss (1990).
