Slayer is an American

Slayer is known for its musical traits, involving fast tremolo picking, guitar solos, double bass drumming, and shouting vocals. The band's lyrics and album art, which cover topics such as death, deviants, genocide, necrophilia, insanity, religion, Satanism, serial killers, and warfare have generated album bans, delays, lawsuits and strong criticism from religious groups and the general public. The name Slayer is an acronym for "Satan Laughs As You Eternally Rot". This is referenced in the song "Live Undead" from the 1988 album South of Heaven.

Since its debut record in 1983, the band has released two live albums, one cover album, one box set, three DVDs, one VHS, two EPs, and nine studio albums, four of which have received gold certification in the United States. The band has received three Grammy nominations, winning one in 2007 for the song "Eyes of the Insane", and one in 2008 for the song "Final Six". They have headlined music festivals worldwide, including Unholy Alliance and Ozzfest.

Early days (1981–1982)

Slayer formed in 1981, when guitarist Kerry King met Jeff Hanneman while auditioning for a band. The two recruited bassist and vocalist Tom Araya, who had played with King before in the band Quits (previously called Tradewinds). Drummer Dave Lombardo was recruited when he met King delivering a pizza. The band played cover versions of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest songs at clubs and parties in Southern California. Early shows relied on a Satanic image, which featured pentagrams, make-up, spikes, and inverted crosses. Rumor has it the band was originally known as Dragonslayer, after the 1981 movie of the same name. However, when King was asked "How did you come up with the name Dragonslayer?" King responded "We never did; it's a myth to this day."

The band was offered to open for Bitch at the Woodstock Club in Los Angeles, performing eight songs — six being covers. While performing Iron Maiden's "Phantom of the Opera" the band was spotted by Brian Slagel, a former music journalist who had recently founded Metal Blade Records. Impressed with Slayer's performance, Slagel met with the band backstage and asked them to record an original song, "Aggressive Perfector" (sample) for his upcoming Metal Massacre III compilation. The band agreed and the song created underground buzz, which led to Slagel offering the band a recording contract with Metal Blade.

Show No Mercy (1983–1984)

Without a recording budget, the band was forced to self-finance its debut album. Combining the savings of Araya, who was employed as a respiratory therapist, and money borrowed from King's father, the band entered the studio in November 1983. The album was rushed into release, hitting shelves three weeks after tracks were completed. Show No Mercy, released in December 1983 by Metal Blade Records, generated underground popularity for the band, and they began their first national club tour in 1984 to promote the album traveling in Araya's Camaro towing a U-Haul trailer. The tour gave the band additional popularity; sales of Show No Mercy reached more than 20,000 in the US and another 20,000 worldwide.