SLAYER Marks 35th Anniversary Of 'Seasons In The Abyss' Album With New Track-By-Track Video Feature

Slaytanic Verses, SLAYER's free online museum, presents a special track-by-track video feature that sees Tom Araya and Kerry King digging deep into the backstories behind all ten of the tracks on SLAYER's "Seasons In The Abyss" album.

Produced by Rick Rubin, Andy Wallace and SLAYER, "Seasons In The Abyss"'s recording sessions began in March 1990 at Hit City West and Hollywood Sound, wrapping up in June 1990 at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. The album was released on October 9, 1990 via Rubin's Def American Recordings label.

"Seasons In The Abyss", SLAYER's first music video, was directed by Di Puglia Gerard and award-winning Markus Blunder. Filmed in December, 1990 at the feet of the Great Sphinx of Giza on the Giza Plateau, Egypt, just as the U.S. was getting ready to invade Iraq and bring on the beginning of Operation Desert Storm. Rolling Stone called the video "eerie," with Sputnik music citing the album as "a 42-minute trip through a thrash metal paradise complete with buzz saw guitars screaming through your ears, brutal (the good kind) drumming, and tortured vocals." Araya told Rolling Stone, "When we floated down the Nile, I remember thinking, 'Wow, Moses went down this water.' To me, the history of what went on 3,000, 4,000 years ago was so cool."

Also announced today is that SLAYER's official online archives, Slaytanic Verses, is releasing a limited series of exclusive, signed band collectibles and memorabilia, including art pieces inspired by archival photos from the "Seasons In The Abyss" video shoot, early sketches of the album's artwork, a "Seasons"-era iron eagle logo, and a "Seasons In The Abyss" RIAA gold plaque — all hand-signed by Tom Araya and Kerry King.

You can check out SLAYER's Slaytanic Verses online museum here, and also visit the band's web site.

Formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and King, drummer Dave Lombardo and Araya in Huntington Park, California, SLAYER is considered one of the "Big Four" bands of 1980s thrash metal, alongside METALLICA, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX.

SLAYER's third album, "Reign In Blood" (1986),is widely believed to be one of the greatest and most influential thrash metal albums.

The band has received five Grammy Award nominations, winning one in 2007 for the song "Eyes Of The Insane" and one in 2008 for the song "Final Six", both of which were from the album "Christ Illusion" (2006).

SLAYER disbanded in 2019 following the conclusion of a year-and-a-half long farewell tour, but has reformed to perform sporadic reunion shows since 2024.

SLAYER's current lineup comprises Araya, King, drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt, who initially joined as a touring musician in 2011 before joining the band permanently after Hanneman's death in 2013.