Editing Slayer (section)

===Early years (1981–1983)===
[[File:Slayer 1983 press photo.png|left|thumb|Slayer in 1983. From left: Kerry King, Dave Lombardo, Jeff Hanneman, and Tom Araya.]]
Slayer was formed in 1981 by [[Jeff Hanneman]], [[Dave Lombardo]], [[Tom Araya]] and [[Kerry King]] in Huntington Park, California. The group started out playing covers of songs by bands such as [[Iron Maiden]], [[Black Sabbath]], [[Judas Priest]] and [[Venom (band)|Venom]] at parties and clubs in [[Southern California]]. The band's early image relied heavily on [[Satanism|Satanic]] themes that featured [[pentagram]]s, make-up, spikes, and inverted crosses.<ref name="AllMusic Biography of Slayer">{{cite web|url=https://www.AllMusic.com/artist/slayer-mn0000022124/biography|title=Slayer {{!}} Biography|author=Huey|first=Steve|website=[[AllMusic]]|publisher=[[All Media Network]]|access-date=January 11, 2018}}</ref> Rumors that the band was originally known as Dragonslayer, after the [[Dragonslayer (1981 film)|1981 film of the same name]], were denied by King, as he later stated: "We never were; it's a myth to this day."<ref name="Kerry King about the Dragonslayer myth, Christ Illusion, previous albums and experimenting">{{cite web|title=Kerry King about the Dragonslayer myth, Christ Illusion, previous albums and experimenting |publisher=www.faceculture.nl |date=October 20, 2006 |url=http://www.faceculture.nl/slayer/index.htm# |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070104230520/http://www.faceculture.nl/slayer/index.htm%23 |archive-date=January 4, 2007 |access-date=April 5, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to Lombardo, the original band name was to be Wings of Fire before they settled in with Slayer.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Enis |first=Eli |title=Slayer's Original Band Name Was Wildly Different |url=https://www.revolvermag.com/music/slayers-original-band-name-was-wildly-different/ |access-date=2025-02-07 |website=Revolver |language=en-US}}</ref> According to him, he also designed the band logo. For inspiration, Lombardo thought in a perspective of a murderer of how they would carve out the logo with a knife and since he is lefthanded, the logo is unintentionally slanted to the right.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/LKppPspVNDs Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20170822211004/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKppPspVNDs&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web |last1=Gruhamed |title=Dave Lombardo - Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKppPspVNDs |website=YouTube |date=September 9, 2015 |access-date=9 May 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

In 1983, Slayer was invited to open for the band [[Bitch (band)|Bitch]] at the Woodstock Club in [[Anaheim, California]] to perform eight songs, six of which were covers. The band was spotted by [[Brian Slagel]], a former music journalist who had recently founded [[Metal Blade Records]]. Impressed with Slayer, he met with the band backstage and asked them to record an original song for his upcoming ''[[Metal Massacre#Metal Massacre III – 1983|Metal Massacre III]]'' compilation album. The band agreed and their song "Aggressive Perfector" created an underground buzz upon its release in mid 1983, which led to Slagel offering the band a [[recording contract]] with Metal Blade.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Waksman |first=Steve |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LqDJjAeYxssC |title=This Ain't the Summer of Love: Conflict and Crossover in Heavy Metal and Punk |date=2009 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-94388-9 |editor-last=Waksman |editor-first=Steve |location=Berkeley, CA |pages=235 |doi=10.1525/9780520943889 |oclc=1399981480 |ol=29602596M}}</ref>