Slayer have been hailed as the one of the leaders of the thrash metal genre, together with Megadeth, Metallica and Anthrax. The band formed in 1981, when Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman, Tom Araya and Dave Lombardo began to perform in the clubs of California. They recorded their self-financed debut, Show No Mercy, in 1983 whereupon it met with much underground success, cemented by a national tour.

After the EP Haunting the Chapel, King temporarily left the band to join Megadeth, but returned shortly after - the resultant bad feelings between the two bands lasted for some time. Hell Awaits, the second studio album, was released in 1985 and they were signed to Def Jam Records on the strength of its success. The dark themes and graphic cover art meant that their third album Reign in Blood received virtually no promotion but the controversy ensured that it was the first of the band’s albums to hit the Billboard 200, where it eventually achieved gold-selling status.

They became increasingly successful with two further albums (South of Heaven (1988) and Seasons in the Abyss (1990)) and by 1994, the album Divine Intervention peaked in the US charts at No.8, their best so far. By this time Lombardo had quit and had been replaced by Forbidden drummer, Paul Bostaph.

Shortly after an album of punk covers, Undisputed Attitude (1996), the band was engaged in a lawsuit. It was implied that the demonic themes and imagery of the band’s music incited the satanic murder of Elyse Pahler. The suit was dismissed.

Two further albums were released in 1998 and 2001, then after a gap of five years the band released Christ Illusion which debuted at No.5 on the Billboard charts - their best performance yet.