How to celebrate International Day of Slayer:

• Listen to Slayer at full blast in your car.
• Listen to Slayer at full blast in your home.
• Listen to Slayer at full blast at your place of employment.
• Listen to Slayer at full blast in any public place you prefer.
• DO NOT use headphones! The objective of this day is for everyone within earshot to understand that it is the International Day of Slayer. National holidays in America aren’t just about celebrating; they’re about forcing it upon non-participants.

The music of California-based band Slayer has come to epitomize Satanic speed metal music in the latter half of the 20th century. Their 1986 album Reign in Blood ranks as one of the single most influential metal albums of all time, typified by the modern classic “Angel of Death.”

In 1981 when Slayer formed in Huntington Park, California, bassist and vocalist Tom Araya was 20 years old and working as a respiratory therapist. Guitarist Jeff Hanneman, a rehearsal studio employee at the time, was 17. Drummer Dave Lombardo was a 16-year old pizza delivery guy. Kerry King was the only full-time musician at the time, being a 17-year old guitarist.

There were no blueprints at the time, no set paths, no boundaries or steps to follow. Slayer’s hybrid of metal and punk, faster and darker than the rest, assaulted the world and set a new standard, defining not only a genre, but an attitude.

Slayer’s membership in “The Big Four,” which also includes Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax – the four bands that defined the thrash metal genre – secured the band’s place in music history. The five-time nominated, two-time Grammy-winners have accumulated an abundance of certified Gold albums, along with “Best Of” awards from media outlets around the world, including Kerrang Magazine, SPIN Magazine, Metal Hammer Magazine, Revolver Magazine and Esquire Magazine. The band even has its own exhibit in the Smithsonian Institute.

Discography

• Show No Mercy (1983)
• Haunting the Chapel (1984)
• Hell Awaits (1985)
• Reign in Blood (1986)
• South of Heaven (1988)
• Seasons in the Abyss (1991)
• Divine Intervention (1994)
• Undisputed Attitude (1996)
• Diabolus in Musica (1998)
• God Hates Us All (2001)
• Christ Illusion (2006)
• World Painted Blood (2009)
• Repentless (2015)