slayer

Slayer was formed in Huntington Park, a suburb of Los Angeles. The line-up with Tom Araya, Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman and Dave Lombardo started performing in 1982. In the beginning, they mainly played covers of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden and later also their own work. The group started to break through in 1983. After a performance at a local venue called Woodstock, the band was approached by Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records with the offer to provide a song for the compilation album Metal Massacre III. The band agreed on the condition that Brian Slagel would also help them record a debut album. Slayer provided the song "Aggressive Perfector" for the compilation album and in December 1983 the group released their debut album Show No Mercy. In 1985, Slayer released Hell Awaits, after having first released a live mini-album Live Undead. After this, Slayer signed a contract with Rick Rubin's label Def Jam. Under this label, Reign in Blood was released, which is considered by many to be a thrash metal classic. This made Slayer one of the so-called 'big four' (thrash) metal bands of the eighties. The others were contemporaries Metallica, Anthrax and Megadeth. With the release of South of Heaven, Slayer partially let go of the fast rhythms that characterized their music. With songs like "Behind the Crooked Cross" and "Mandatory Suicide", Slayer now let the melody dominate. On the next album, Seasons in the Abyss from, a mix was displayed between the music of Reign in Blood and the melody of South of Heaven. bandmates are : kerry king(guitarist) tom araya(bassist) jeff hanneman(guitarist) dave lombardo(drummer)