rest in hell Jeff Hanneman

Slayer Guitarist Jeff Hanneman died today. have fond memories of getting really high at Slayer shows.
Deep down below... satan is stoked.
RIP!

roast in perpetuity?

Just over two years after contracting a rare skin tissue disease, Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman died on Thursday from liver failure at a hospital near his home in Southern California's Inland Empire area.

Slayer made the news public on Thursday afternoon, announcing that the band "is devastated" and calling Hanneman, who was 49, their bandmate and brother. Twitter quickly filled with messages from fans and fellow musicians, many of whom were in Los Angeles for the 5th Annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards show at Club Nokia. Disturbed/Device frontman David Draiman was among the very first, posting "RIP TO A TITAN OF METAL," while drummer Mike Portnoy wrote, "WOW...I'm in shock...RIP Jeff Hanneman."

Hanneman has been off the road since early 2011, when he contracted necrotizing fasciitis -- most likely from a spider bite -- a quick-progressing disease that literally eats away at the flesh from deep layers of skin and tissue. Exodus' Gary Holt stood in for Hanneman starting in February of 2011, while Pat O'Brien joined the band when Holt returned to Exodus during 2011.

It's not known what role the disease played in Hanneman's liver failure.

Throughout the ordeal, Hanneman's bandmates expressed optimism that he would one day return to the group full-time. Bassist-singer Tom Araya told Billboard during last year's Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival tour that Hanneman was "free of the disease" and was "working on his playing ability...He's working on strengthening his arm and his ability to play." He predicted that Slayer would "probably get together and start writing together and start making a new album," the group's first since 2009's "World Painted Blood," with Hanneman contributing material.

But in February guitarist Kerry King told Australian press that "we don't know when Jeff's gonna be able to play guitar. Jeff's kind of like a wait-and-see thing."

Born in Oakland, Calif., and a devoted Raiders fan, Hanneman was raised primarily in Long Beach and became fascinated with wars and military campaigns -- themes he'd bring to Slayer's music -- via his father, a World War II veteran, and brothers who served in Vietnam. He met King in 1981 and decided to form their own band, mixing heavy metal and punk influences and signing with Metal Blade Records for Slayer's first two albums, "Show No Mercy" in 1983 and "Hell Awaits" in 1985. The group made an eyebrow-raising move to the hip-hop label Def Jam in 1986 for the covers album "Undisputed Attitude and the classic "Reign in Blood."

Slayer has released seven more studio albums and two live albums, as well as a pair of EPs. They've sold 4.9 million albums in the SoundScan era (1991-present), with the classics "Reign in Blood" (1986), "South of Heaven" (1988) and "Seasons of the Abyss" (1990) accounting for over 2 million of that tally. Ten of their albums have charted on the Billboard 200, with 2006's "Christ Illusion" being the highest debut at No. 5.

Hanneman, an ardent collector of World War II memorabilia, was at the center of the controversy over Slayer's supposed Nazi sympathies, stemming from the resemblance of the group's eagle logo to a Third Reich image and the shape of the S in the group's typography, and from songs such as "Reign in Blood's" "Angel of Death," about German doctor Josef Mengele and his horrific "experiments" at the Auschwitz death camp. But Hanneman frequently explained that the song was in no way intended to glorify Mengele. "I know why people misrepresent it," he told one radio interviewer. "It's because they get a knee-jerk reaction to it. There's nothing I put in the lyrics that says necessarily he was a bad man because to me -- well, isn't it obvious? I shouldn't have to tell you that."

Hanneman's songs have been recorded by groups such as Hatebreed, Children of Bodom, Hellsongs, Cradle of Filth and others, and sampled by rapper Styles-P. He's survived by Kathy, his wife of 16 years, sister Kathy and two brothers, Michael and Larry. Funeral arrangements are pending.

R.I.P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6_zsJ8KPP0

THIS SUCKS.

RIP

a really sad day for the entire global metal community

metal bands come and go, often reinventing themselves along the way ... not Slayer.

Slayer was Slayer. Slayer still is Slayer, all these decades later.

They'd found what every metal band aspires to, and kept working it, without ever compromising or settling for second best, and I guess it's due to those reasons that they are my alltime favorite metal band.

Slayer's dual-guitar lead attack from Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King is quite unique and won't be easy to replicate - Slayer's specific setup has never been replicated before, apart from Gary Holt (Exodus) who has been filling in for Hanneman since 2011 after Hanneman's apparent spider bite, so surely he'd be high up on the agenda to take up the role, .......... assuming Slayer decide to keep playing...

Sad indeed. Seen them live twice, both great shows.

RIP.

And yet Bieber still walks the earth... This proves there is no God.
Another sad loss for the metal scene.

Having covered many Slayer songs over the years Jeff's Solos were always my favorite to play.

RIP

RIP Jeff Hanneman

RIP Jeff Hanneman

RIP Jeff,
[YOUTUBEIF]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUDWLp1yIWw[/YOUTUBEIF]
Sad day
Reign in Hell bro

Seriously. Just saw this a few minutes ago and promptly opened a big beer and played some
old thrash favorites. The final riff of a Metal God.

Harry Gypsna said:

And yet Bieber still walks the earth... This proves there is no God.
Another sad loss for the metal scene.

Click to expand...

Burn that fucker in effigy!

Rip jeff.... And then tear satan a new asshole with some screachingly dark fire at blistering decibels.

dam its a sad day

nuts.

im blasting Reign in Blood for a good 4 hours straight now. such a sad day ... Rest In Peace Jeff!

I was never a huge trash fan, but my mate always made me listen to Slayer after his mom left for work and we had the house to toke hash from his double hitter bong.. Effin' years ago.

Rest in peace.

This is very sad I grew up listening to this band and have been to many Slayer concerts. They were supposedly working on a new CD due to come out soon... R.I.P. Jeff

One thing I do know, if there did turn out to be an afterlife, Jeff and Dimebag are melting some faces in heaven right now. Can you do pinch harmonics on a harp???