Slayer Albums And Their Road To Fame

This heavy metal band was started in 1981 in Huntington, California. After releasing 11 Slayer albums, they have been placed among the top trash metal rock bands in the whole world, not just in the United States.

The group is currently composed of Tom Araya at vocals, Jeff Hanneman at guitar, Kerry King also at guitar, and Dave Lombardo on drums. They would practice back then wearing their favorite band merch and while playing cover songs.

Their debut album was titled ‘Show No Mercy’ and it was released on December 1983. It was recorded and released under Metal Blade Records. Because of their very limited budget, the production quality of the album was very poor. However, it performed well and sold around 20,000 copies which was the highest number that Metal Blade Records had ever made at that time. The band decided to go on a tour but they did not earn much from it because of their lack of a capable manager.

‘Hell Awaits’ was released in 1985 through the same record label. Unlike the first one, this album was financed by Metal Blade Records. ‘Show No Mercy’ was financed by Tom Araya and from money borrowed from Kerry King’s father. The second album had a more darker and angrier tone, with references to hell and Satan.

‘Reign in Blood’ was the third of the Slayer albums and it was released on the 7th of October, 1986. It was the band’s first collaboration with Rick Rubin of Def Jam Recordings and was also their first time to reach the Billboard 200 chart. It was around this time that fans started to look for Slayer merch, mostly for t-shirts and other similar paraphernalia.

Their next album, ‘South of Heaven’, was quite different from their other albums. It featured a slightly slower tempo, slower than what their fans were used to at that point. This approach did not go well with the critics. But the album did reach Billboard 200 and also got gold certification.

It was followed in October 9, 1990 by the ‘Seasons in the Abyss’ album which they recorded with American Recordings. This time the album got better reviews from the critics as compared to their previous album.

On September 27, 1994 the band released their sixth studio album titled ‘Divine Intervention’. It was the first album that featured Paul Bostaph on drums after their long time drummer, Dave Lombardo, decided to leave.

‘Undisputed Attitude’ was their seventh studio album and was released on May 28, 1996. The album is just a collection of punk cover songs from artists they consider as having made an influence on their style such as Iggy Pop, D.R.I., and Minor Threat.

‘Diabolus in Musica’ which means ‘The Devil in Music’, it is considered to be the group’s most experimental work. It was released on June 9, 1998 and featured songs written mostly by Jeff Hanneman.

And coinciding with the terrorist attacks on the 11th of September, 2001 the band released their album titled ‘God Hates Us All’. IT entered the Billboard 200 and also the last album where Paul Bostaph played for them. Lombard once again became their drummer.

‘Christ Illusion’ entered the highest rank they ever did on Billboard 200 which was at 5. The album generally received positive reviews when it was released on August 8, 2006.

‘World Painted Blood’ was the tenth and the most recent of the Slayer albums and was released on November 3, 2009 under American Recordings/Sony Music. The album received positive reviews from the critics and again an entrant for the band to the Billboard 200.