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Slayer is an American thrash metal band, founded in Huntington Park, California (not Huntington Beach as has often been reported) in 1981 by Tom Araya (bass guitar, vocals), Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman (guitars) and Dave Lombardo (drums). Lombardo has been in and out of the group several times, but the others have remained constant. Hanneman and King are the group's main songwriters.
Slayer (along with Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth and others) is often credited with creating American thrash metal by speeding up the sound of New Wave British Metal bands like Iron Maiden. Slayer also drew from hardcore punk, influences like of Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys and The Misfits; borrowing some of that music's emphasis on extremely quick tempos in many of their songs. Some of Slayer's music can be compared to progressive as they often change tempos and arrangements multiple times through the course of a single track.
Slayer has found moderate commercial success, and is known for its devoted cult following. Their lyrics (touching on subjects like serial killers, warfare, and Satan) and their graphic album art content have generated strong criticism.
Though Araya has never used the "death grunt" vocal style usually associated with death metal, Slayer's music (most notably on the albums Hell Awaits (1985) and Reign in Blood (1986)) are generally regarded as being a major influence on death metal. However, due to the higher pitched vocals in their songs (compared to the lower death metal range), their influence on black metal must also be noted. Reign in Blood was the first of many albums to be produced by well-known and respected Def Jam co-founder, Rick Rubin.
The band is currently working on their long-awaited, new full-length album that will be released on June 6, 2006 evoking the Number of the Beast. It is going to be the follow-up to 2001's God Hates Us All and their first album with original drummer Dave Lombardo since Seasons in the Abyss.
History
Slayer eagle logo, used during the
Seasons in the Abyss period
The band was originally known as Dragonslayer before shortening their name to Slayer. Contrary to what some believe, the name was not chosen as an acronym for Satan Laughs As You Eternally Rot; rather, this wording, found on the liner notes to Divine Intervention, was added after the name was shortened. Araya has jokingly stated that they chose to be only Slayer because "it was cool, easy to chant". [1]
Slayer's first album, Show No Mercy, was released in 1983 on Metal Blade Records. Today it is regarded as being second rate compared to the band's later albums, but is still considered a classic by some and contains some fan favorites such as "Die By The Sword", "The Antichrist" and "Black Magic". It was essential in gaining the band a cult following and respect in the metal community.
The band's second release, the Haunting the Chapel EP, was considerably darker and more thrash oriented than its predessecor, and is considered to have laid the ground work for what the band's classic sound would become. It contained the now classic "Chemical Warfare".
The band's second full length release, Hell Awaits, expanded on the darkness of Haunting the Chapel, as hell and Satan were common song subjects. Musically it was probably the bands most progressive offering, containing only 7 tracks, 3 of which clocked in at over 6 minutes. It is notable in that the opening track has a demonic sounding voice saying "Join Us" actually being played backwards, and may be partly responsible for the right wing Christian idea of backmasking.
The band were offered a major label deal by Rick Rubin's Def Jam Recordings later, they signed and quickly began working on their 3rd album with Rubin.
The result was the powerful Reign In Blood, released in 1986, which has been called an "undisputed masterpiece" and has been credited with having "almost single-handedly inspired the entire death metal genre (at least on the American side of the Atlantic)" while never "crossing the line into self-parodic overkill."[2]Kerrang! described Reign as "the heaviest album of all time". In 2003 Slayer started touring playing this entire album in order as well as other Slayer classics, something that they never did on the original album tour. A DVD of one of these performances, which ends in a literal rain of blood (or at least red fluid) was released under the title Still Reigning.
South of Heaven disappointed some fans by slowing down the tempos a bit and adding touches like undistorted guitars. Many later critics have praised the album, however, as demonstrating Slayer's desire to grow musically and avoid repeating themselves. Though many Slayer fans remain divided on the subject, two songs from the album ("Mandatory Suicide" and "South of Heaven") are played at almost all Slayer concerts. That same year, 1988, the band recorded a thrash metal version of Iron Butterfly's signature song, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", for the soundtrack to the movie Less Than Zero.
The follow-up album, Seasons in the Abyss, was more of a return to the sound of Reign in Blood and was greeted warmly by fans. A video clip for the title track was produced which had the band playing in the Middle East, shortly before the start of the Gulf War. It uses doubling of Tom Araya's vocals on "Temptation" and a child's voice pleading underneath the track "Dead Skin Mask" (about necrophile Ed Gein) showing Slayer continuing to expand on their ideas and music.
A double live album Decade of Aggression followed in 1991, with a three year hiatus (except for a brief mini-tour of California, Arizona and Baja California, Mexico as a warm up for their appearance at the 1992 Donnington Heavy Metal festival) until 1994's Divine Intervention. This new studio album showed Slayer had not lost their edge, with songs about Jeffrey Dahmer ("213", his apartment number) and Reinhard Heydrich ("SS-3", the license number of his car) amongst other themes of murder and the evils of church and government. Live Intrusion, a video of concert footage, was released about this time and features a joint cover of Venom's "Witching Hour" with Machine Head, who were Slayer's support at the time. Relations between Kerry King and Robb Flynn have since badly deteriorated.
Undisputed Attitude (1996) found Slayer reaffirming their love for hardcore punk, covering songs by Minor Threat, T.S.O.L., D.R.I. and others. It also contained one original piece, "Gemini", which is much slower than the standard Slayer style. Its tempo was not repeated on subsequent albums and is a one-off experiment rather than a indication of a new direction the band chose to take.
Diabolus In Musica (The Devil in Music) was released in 1998 and marked, along with an altered logo, a change in compositional style for the band. This style incorporated a new groove into some song structures and fan reaction was divided. Nevertheless, a successful world tour followed. Slayer's most recent studio album, God Hates Us All, was released on September 11, 2001. They have also released a live DVD (War at the Warfield) and box set (Soundtrack To The Apocalypse) featuring rarities, live CD and DVD performances and various Slayer paraphernalia.
In 1996, a lawsuit was brought against the band by the parents of Elyse Pahler, who accused the band of encouraging their daughter's murderers through their lyrics. The lawsuit was thrown out in 2001, although interestingly enough not on lack of merit but legal technicalities.
The band received their first Grammy nomination for "Best Metal Performance" on January 8, 2002.
Rotating drummers
Dave Lombardo left the band in 1986 briefly during the Reign in Blood tour and was replaced by Tony Scaglione of Whiplash. However, after the tour was over, Lombardo came back and asked to rejoin Slayer. Lombardo left the band again in 1992 (most believed for good) and formed a band called Grip Inc. Lombardo has also been the drummer in experimental group Fantomas, led by former Faith No More and Mr. Bungle frontman Mike Patton.
King recruited former Forbidden drummer Paul Bostaph who remained in the band until 1996. Bostaph left the band to join a project called "The Truth About Seafood"; he was replaced by Jon Dette. Jon Dette left Slayer in 1997, because things did not work out with the rest of the band.
Slayer asked Bostaph to return to the band. Bostaph agreed and stayed in Slayer until 2001. Bostaph claimed he had sustained an injury that would hinder his ability to play. Shortly thereafter, he announced he had joined the Bay Area band Systematic. Lombardo rejoined Slayer once again during the God Hates Us All tour and has remained there since.
Accusations of racism and Nazi sympathies
Critics accuse the band of holding Nazi sympathies, basing this claim on the lyrics of the song "Angel of Death" from the Reign in Blood album. The lyrics were inspired by the grisly acts of Josef Mengele, the doctor who committed atrocities against Jewish and Gypsy prisoners in the name of scientific research during World War II, and who concentration camp inmates dubbed the "Angel of Death".
In addition to the controversy caused by "Angel of Death", Slayer's cover of Minor Threat's "Guilty Of Being White" raised questions about a possible message of white supremacy in the band's music. Most of the controversy surrounding the cover involved the changing of the refrain "guilty of being white" to "guilty of being right" at the song's climax. This reportedly incensed Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye.
An arguement is made against these theories both by Slayer's supporters and what seems to be definitive proof that these critics are wrong in their accusations. In a 2004 interview with Tom Araya, when asked, "Did critics realize you were wallowing in parody?", Tom Araya replied, "No. People thought we were serious!...Back then you had that PMRC, who literally took everything to heart. When in actuality you're trying to create an image. You're trying to scare people on purpose". Those who disagree with these critics assert that Slayer has no Nazi sympathies or racist views, and point out that Tom Araya and Dave Lombardo have Hispanic ancestry. However, Hispanic is not a distinct race, and many hispanic people are white. The white supremacy movement and the American Hispanic community are for the most part antagonistic to one another, however.
Slayer is often controversial for controversy's sake, so even if they did express racist or pro-Nazi messages in their lyrics, that does not mean that they actually hold those views themselves. Also, Slayer has ties to the hardcore punk scene, which, except for the Nazi punk element, is overwhelmingly anti-racist.
Members
Current members
Former members
See also
External links
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slayer under GFDL
