page_title: Slayer
section_title: Reign in Blood, Lombardo's brief hiatus and South of Heaven (1986–1989)
hierarchical_section_title: Slayer / History / Reign in Blood, Lombardo's brief hiatus and South of Heaven (1986–1989)
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Kerry King, Gitarrist von Slayer, bei Rock im Park 2014.English: Kerry King, guitarist of Slayer, Rock im Park Festival 2014. Festivalsommer This photo was created with the support of donations to Wikimedia Deutschland in the context of the CPB project "Festival Summer". беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎&#160;| Deutsch&#160;| English&#160;| español&#160;| français&#160;| italiano&#160;| македонски&#160;| português&#160;| sicilianu&#160;| Türkçe&#160;| українська&#160;| +/− This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work to remix – to adapt the work Under the following conditions: attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. share alike – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same or compatible license as the original. Personality rights warningAlthough this work is freely licensed or in the public domain, the person(s) shown may have rights that legally restrict certain re-uses unless those depicted consent to such uses. In these cases, a model release or other evidence of consent could protect you from infringement claims. Though not obliged to do so, the uploader may be able to help you to obtain such evidence. See our general disclaimer for more information. For taking this photo and licensing it under a free licence a (press) accreditation was required. The photographer had a valid accreditation and has sent it to the email response team, it has been archived in the OTRS system. Users with OTRS account can access it here. Please be aware that (press) accreditations are a permission to generally take photos only and do not make any statement about the copyright status of this photo! Link to the ticket: https://ticket.wikimedia.org/otrs/index.pl?Action=AgentTicketZoom&amp;TicketNumber=2013020410007547
context_page_description: Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California. The band was formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo, and bassist and vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them one of the "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Slayer's final lineup comprised King, Araya, drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt. Drummer Jon Dette was also a member of the band.
  In the original lineup, King, Hanneman and Araya contributed to the band's lyrics, and all of the band's music was written by King and Hanneman. The band's lyrics and album art, which cover topics such as murder, serial killers, torture, genocide, politics, human experimentation, Satanism, hate crimes, terrorism, religion, antireligion, Nazism, racism, war and prison, have generated album bans, delays, lawsuits and criticism from religious groups and factions of the general public.
context_section_description: Following the success of Hell Awaits, Slayer was offered a recording contract with Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin's newly founded Def Jam Records, a largely hip hop-based label. The band accepted, and with an experienced producer and major label recording budget, the band underwent a sonic makeover for their third album Reign in Blood, resulting in shorter, faster songs with clearer production. The complex arrangements and long songs featured on Hell Awaits were ditched in favor of stripped down, hardcore punk influenced song structures.
  Def Jam's distributor, Columbia Records, refused to release the album due to the song "Angel of Death" which detailed Holocaust concentration camps and the human experiments conducted by Nazi physician Josef Mengele. The album was distributed by Geffen Records on October 7, 1986. However, due to the controversy, Reign in Blood did not appear on Geffen Records' release schedule. Although the album received virtually no radio airplay, it became the band's first to enter the Billboard 200, debuting at number 94, and the band's first album certified gold in the United States.
  Slayer embarked on the Reign in Pain world tour, with Overkill in the US from October to December 1986, and Malice in Europe in April and May 1987. They also played with other bands such as Agnostic Front, Testament, Metal Church, D.R.I., Dark Angel and Flotsam and Jetsam. The band was added as the opening act on W.A.S.P.'s US tour, but just one month into it, drummer Lombardo left the band: "I wasn't making any money. I figured if we were gonna be doing this professionally, on a major label, I wanted my rent and utilities paid." To continue with the tour, Slayer enlisted Tony Scaglione of Whiplash. However, Lombardo was convinced by his wife to return in 1987. At the insistence of Rubin, Slayer recorded a cover version of Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" for the film Less Than Zero. Although the band was not happy with the final product, Hanneman deeming it "a poor representation of Slayer" and King labeling it "a hunk of shit", it was one of their first songs to garner radio airplay.
  In late 1987, Slayer returned to the studio to record their fourth studio album. To contrast the speed of Reign in Blood, the band consciously decided to slow down the tempos, and incorporate more melodic singing. According to Hanneman, "We knew we couldn't top Reign in Blood, so we had to slow down. We knew whatever we did was gonna be compared to that album, and I remember we actually discussed slowing down. It was weird—we've never done that on an album, before or since."
  Released in July 1988, South of Heaven received mixed responses from both fans and critics, although it was Slayer's most commercially successful release at the time, debuting at number 57 on the Billboard 200, and their second album to receive gold certification in the United States. Press response to the album was mixed, with AllMusic citing the album as "disturbing and powerful", and Kim Nelly of Rolling Stone calling it "genuinely offensive satanic drivel". King said "that album was my most lackluster performance", although Araya called it a "late bloomer" which eventually grew on people. Slayer toured from August 1988 to January 1989 to promote South of Heaven, supporting Judas Priest in the US on their Ram It Down tour, and touring Europe with Nuclear Assault and the US with Motörhead and Overkill.
caption: Guitarist Kerry King was one of the two constant members of Slayer.
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