Photo by: Khadija Bhuiyan
Carl Porcaro (Killing Time / Kings Destroy / Breakdown / Alone in a Crowd – guitarist)
“By 1986, I no longer considered myself a metalhead. I was a hardcore kid, damn it. And then ‘Reign in Blood’ came out and blew a giant hole in my brain. It pretty much kicked the ass of every other album that I was listening to from that year (and there were some great ones). Those riffs altered me, man. Feels very strange that I just saw their supposedly last ever NY show. Slayer forever!”
John LaMacchia (Candiria – guitarist)
“When I was a kid, I owned a copy of ‘Reign In Blood’ on cassette. The album was short enough to fit on one side of the tape, so the label put the album on both sides. Once the album was over, I would just flip the tape and start over. When I first started going to shows, I remember seeing one of the most violent mosh pits ever at L’amour in Brooklyn. The song was “Angel Of Death” by Slayer. But Slayer wasn’t playing live. The DJ just played the song between bands, and the crowd went completely insane. It was that guitar break. When the drums kicked in, L’amour turned into Thunder Dome. ‘Reign In Blood’ was a very important album for me growing up. At the age, I was and living in the city that New York was at the time. It was a fitting soundtrack. The songs made me feel comfortable with how unstable and violent the city was then. Looking back, I’m not sure that was a good thing, but it helped get me through. What I really love about Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman’s guitar playing is that they were not afraid to color outside of the lines. Bending notes out of key, dissonant chords, and just off the wall solos. Some of it would remind me of the free jazz era, Coltrane, if he was possessed by Satan.”
Arthur Shepherd (Saint Vitus Bar – Owner, ErrorType:11 / Instruction / God Fires Man – vocalist, guitarist, Gay For Johnny Depp – vocalist, Primitive Weapons – guitarist, Mind Over Matter / Bad Trip – guitarist, vocalist, Aegist – bassist)
” The first time I saw Slayer was when I was15 at the infamous Felt Forum seat cushion show in 1988. Never before or since have I seen a band that can bring together all the miscreants of society in one room at the same time. It was scary, violent, and utterly satisfying. It will never happen again.”
Tom Sheehan (Indecision / Most Precious Blood – vocalist / Axe to Grind Podcast – host)
“I remember first hearing Slayer when I was about 14 years old. A friend had the “South of Heaven” LP. I had never heard anything so evil in my life, to the point I couldn’t bring myself listen to it in the dark. To this day, the open riff of the song “South of Heaven” gives me the same chills it did all those years ago.”
Kevin Egan (Beyond / 1.6 Band / The Nefarious Pow – vocalist, The Last Crime – vocalist, guitarist)
“It was weird seeing Slayer at the Garden. I never thought they would’ve had a mainstream appeal like that, especially since their most famous NYC show was at the Felt Forum, or what is now known as the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Still, they killed it. It was my first time seeing them without Jeff Hanneman, but Gary Holt was great, as was the drummer. I thought their choice of songs was fantastic. I always thought ‘Seasons in the Abyss’ was an underrated record, and I think they played more songs from that than any other, so I was psyched. I hadn’t seen them perform in 20 years, but now that I know I’ll never see them perform again, it makes me really sad. They are the greatest metal band of all time.”
Kathi Ko (Outskirts / Born Sinner – guitarist)
“Like every good metalhead who first picks up the guitar, “Raining Blood” was one of the first songs I learned as I spent those early years tackling covers by “the Big Four.” I remember hearing Slayer for the first time – their brutal, fast chainsaw-like playing and their embrace of the true terror of metal made my jaw drop. ‘Hell Awaits’ remains one of the scariest record intros I’ve ever heard. I’m grateful for having this foundation that taught me how to play guitar. Twenty-one years later, I’m foremost a thrash guitarist, and you can hear its influence in any song I write. Even if the bands I’m writing for are not technically metal, like my hardcore band, Outskirts, or my crossover band, Born Sinner.”
Ron Grimald (Deathcycle – vocalist)
“I got into Slayer the week their first record, ‘Show No Mercy’ came out and about a year before I got into hardcore. Slayer was one of the only metal bands that the hardcore scene seemed to give respect to in the ’80s. I saw Agnostic Front open for them at The Ritz in 1986, and all the skins were going off for them, and even in the later ’80s, whenever Slayer came through NYC,tons of hardcore kids showed up, and the shows were complete fucking chaos. On Long Island, where I grew up, all the metal guys who turned hardcore and shaved their heads and pretended they didn’t like metal anymore still went to see Slayer and still gave them respect. Slayer shows back then had such a violent and unhinged atmosphere with no pretense, so they always got respect even from the ones who thought their lyrics were satanic and stupid. They were just too brutal and too good to pretend you didn’t like them. Musically, they also had a big influence on the sound of early 90’s NYHC bands once the scene went more metal, like All Out War, Merauder, and tons more. One of the greatest bands ever and one of the most important bands in my life.”
Check out the full gallery of Slayer @ MSG. Photos by Khadija Bhuiyan:
Photo by: Khadija Bhuiyan
Check out more of Khadija’s photos from the show via Revolver.
