SLAYER
PRIME EVIL
Praise Satan – Slayer are back to play festival shows later in 2024. But this is how the legend started, more than 40 years ago with Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits
WORDS: DAVE EVERLEY
KEVIN HODAPP/FRANK WHITE PHOTO AGENCY
The first time Metal Blade Records founder Brian Slagel saw Slayer is burned on his brain like a pentagram.
“They were opening for Bitch, which is one of the original bands we ended up signing, in Anaheim,” he says now. “There were a bunch of bands opening for them, none of whom I knew. One of those bands happened to be Slayer, and they were amazing. I could see there was something special about them.”
It was July 1983. Slayer had been in existence for little over 18 months, and they were yet to fully unfurl their black wings. But that gig set off a chain of events that started with a blown-away Brian releasing one of their songs on one of his legendary Metal Massacre compilations, and ended, 36 years later, with Slayer taking their bows at their last ever gig in November 2019, having long ago secured their place among metal’s all-time great bands.
Except that final show wasn’t so final after all. Just five years after they hung up their inverted crosses, Slayer blindsided everybody by announcing they were reuniting for a series of festival appearances in late 2024.
“Have I missed playing live? Absolutely,” said guitarist Kerry King. “Slayer means a lot to our fans; they mean a lot to us.”
That news, unexpected but not unwelcome, adds another chapter to a story that stretches back to the suburbs of Los Angeles and Orange County 43 years ago. From their first gigs in tiny venues to helping lay the foundations for thrash metal, this is how that story started.
The 16-year-old Kerry King met his future bandmate Tom Araya when they were both members of a covers band called Quits in 1981. When that band fell apart, the guitarist began plotting his next move.
Kerry King (guitarist): “I was still in high school. I wasn’t the youngest one –Dave was the youngest one.”
Tom Araya (vocalist/bassist): “My life consisted of school, helping my dad, and wanting to play music.”
Kerry: “I found Jeff auditioning for another band in some warehouse. I came out from a try-out for this other band, knowing I didn’t want to do it. I come out and Jeff’s playing songs Iknow on a guitar, sitting at the desk. I’m like, ‘Hey, are you in a band?’ And he wasn’t.”
Jeff Hanneman (guitarist): “Kerry and I started jamming some Priest songs. That’s when he goes, ‘Hey, you wanna start a band?’ and I was like, ‘Fuck yeah!’”