Slayer

Slayer are the fastest, darkest and most uncompromising of thrash metal’s “Big Four.” Formed in Huntington Park, California in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and frontman Tom Araya, they made speed and menace their signature.

1986’s Reign in Blood — twenty-eight minutes of pure velocity anchored by “Angel of Death” and “Raining Blood” — is routinely called the heaviest album ever made, and South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss proved they could slow down without losing their edge. Across four decades and a catalog running from Show No Mercy to 2015’s Repentless, Slayer stayed brutally consistent. Watch official videos for “War Ensemble,” “Mandatory Suicide” and “Dead Skin Mask” below, and catch them at Rocklahoma 2026.