It was a sad day for the world of metal yesterday as one of the most famous and well respected metal guitarists, Jeff Hanneman of Slayer, sadly passed away. Many bands, guitarists and metal fans both young and old credit Slayer with being one of their major influences and the 'godfathers' of thrash metal.
Hanneman was one of the riff writing machines behind Slayer, writing some of Slayer's most popular and memorable (and controversial) songs in a career with the band spanning over 30 years. Slayer pushed the boundaries of both playing and lyrical themes and the bands popularity only ever increased in the global circle of metal fans.
Following a spider bite in 2011 Hanneman contracted a flesh eating disease, necrotizing fasciitis, causing him to nearly lose his arm. Following a series of operations and rehab he was showing signs of recovery, started playing guitar again and was able to join Slayer on stage at a 'Big Four' show. Despite the signs of improvement, Hanneman passed away yesterday due to liver failure which is believed to have been caused by the disease contracted from the spider bite.
Jeff Hanneman will be immortalised by metal fans worldwide, simply by the fact he has written awesome music!
Here is Slayer \m/
