The chaotic landscape of early-’80s Los Angeles birthed Mötley Crüe, W.A.S.P. and lashings of hair metal excess – plus, the most brutal thrash band ever known to man. Released on December 3, 1983, Slayer’s full-length debut, Show No Mercy, detonated with the force of a concussion grenade, clearing the way for its genre’s fiery evolution. At a time when the parameters of fast-paced metal were still being defined, Slayer screamed a seismic war cry that echoed across the globe.
In the summer of 1983, Metallica released Kill ’Em All from up the road in San Francisco, setting a new standard for just how much speed and aggression a band could pack into their music. Slayer, however, were charting their own course. Speaking with Jon Wiederhorn in 1998, vocalist and bassist Tom Araya reflected: “We were doing the same thing at the same time as Metallica, so it wasn’t really groundbreaking when we first heard No Life ’Til Leather [the 1982 Metallica demo]. It was more like, ‘Dude, check out this tape. Who the hell is this? They sound kinda like us.’ We were tripped out.”
