Hey everybody, welcome to the next stop on the non-stop obituary express that this blog has recently become. Our sincerest apologies for the delay in getting you here – had the wrong kind of leaves on the line recently, y’know what I’m sayin’ – but the fact is, nearly a week after news of Jeff Hanneman’s passing, I can’t find anything more profound to say than:


Chances are, if you needed this blog to inform you of the bad news, or to encourage you to dial up ‘Angel of Death and ‘Raining Blood’ on Tubify, something has gone slightly wrong with your life, and you should probably reflect on that. As such, I’m unsure exactly what the purpose of a post like this really is (especially a week late), but let’s try another tack:

Imagine an average student dorm room about a decade ago, occupied by a feeble, nerdy indie kid. Imagine he just bought ‘Reign in Blood’ as part of some 3-LPs-for-£15 deal at a record fair in the local leisure centre, cos he thought all that metal stuff sounds like a bit of a laugh, and maybe he should check some out.

Imagine me five minutes later, prostrate before the turntable in the posture of a martyred saint, catatonic with utter disbelief, unable to properly comprehend the sheer off-the-scale power-hurricane I was hearing.

Ten years and innumerable thrash/death/black/doom purchases & random issues of ‘Terrorizer’ later, it still has the same effect. It’s difficult to speak, let alone stand, by the time ‘Necrophobic’ kicks in.

I’m extremely glad that I got to see Slayer’s classic line-up in full effect a few years back, but very sad that there will be no more Slayer, just when we need berserk teenage rebellion music more than ever.

Well, I mean, there undoubtedly will be tours and merchandise and recordings which carry the name of Slayer – that’s how the metal world works – but as far as I’m concerned, there is no more Slayer. Just as there is no more Stooges, and no more Sabbath, regardless of what the marketing men might like us to think. And what a colossal bummer that is. Makes me wanna…. drop the needle, assume head-banging posture, hope for the best. I’ll leave you guys to peel me off the floor when it’s time to turn over for side #2.

Labels: deathblog, METAL, Slayer