Slayer

The partnership with producer Rick Rubin — then known primarily for his hip-hop work with Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys — produced four consecutive albums that defined the parameters of what thrash and extreme metal could be. Hell Awaits (1985) on Metal Blade established the band's underground credibility. Reign in Blood (1986) on Def Jam is the album that changed everything: 29 minutes, ten songs, no space, no mercy, with Angel of Death opening and Raining Blood closing it, and the musical architecture in between described by critics as a permanent fusion of classic rock's technical precision, hardcore punk's speed, and metal's brute force. It remains the most universally respected extreme metal album ever recorded and directly spawned death metal as a genre. South of Heaven (1988) deliberately slowed the tempo, confounding some fans, but debuted at number 57 on the Billboard 200. Seasons in the Abyss (1990), which blended the ferocity of Reign in Blood with the dynamics of South of Heaven, peaked at number 40 and was certified gold — its title track video, filmed at the Egyptian pyramids in Giza before the Gulf War, becoming the band's first music video.

Lombardo departed in 1992 amid contract and financial disputes and was replaced by Paul Bostaph for the next decade, with Lombardo returning for Christ Illusion (2006) and God Hates Us All (2001). Slayer won Grammy Awards for Best Metal Performance in 2006 for Eyes of the Insane and in 2007 for Final Six — joining Metallica as the only band to win the category in consecutive years — and received five Grammy nominations total. Jeff Hanneman took a leave of absence in 2011 after contracting necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease, from a spider bite. He died on May 2, 2013, at age 49 from alcohol-related liver failure. Gary Holt of Exodus, who had been covering for him on tour since 2011, joined permanently following Hanneman's death. Slayer announced a farewell tour in 2018 and played their final show at The Forum in Los Angeles on November 30, 2019. They have sold over 20 million records worldwide and received four RIAA gold certifications.

Wayne Dennon photographed Slayer as part of an archive that documents heavy music across its full spectrum of intensity. Slayer was the outer limit of what the Sunset Strip era and the underground circuit produced — not a band for everyone, but a band whose precision, commitment, and musical seriousness earned them the respect of musicians across every genre and whose influence on extreme metal is impossible to overstate.