Slayer

Slayer formed in 1981 in Huntington Park, California, when guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman joined forces with singer-bassist Tom Araya and drummer Dave Lombardo. From the debut Show No Mercy (1983) onwards, the band played thrash metal at a higher tempo and with darker lyrics than most of its contemporaries. Reign in Blood from 1986, recorded with producer Rick Rubin and over in less than half an hour, placed Slayer alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax as one of the four big names of the genre. South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss then showed that the band could work slower and heavier too. After Jeff Hanneman died in 2013, Gary Holt and Paul Bostaph joined the line-up; Repentless (2015) remained the final studio album, and in 2019 the band closed a farewell tour. From 2024 onwards Slayer returned to the stage for individual shows.

This collection brings together Slayer on vinyl, LP and CD: the early Metal Blade albums and EPs, reissues of the classics, later studio albums, and live releases.