Slayer

How much do you love metal? Whatever your answer, we guarantee you don’t love it as much as this New Zealand mom, who named her three children after her favourite bands.

James Hetfield performed with Metallica in 2017 / Photo credit: Oliver Berg/DPA/PA Images

While most of us can’t imagine shouting “Metallica,” “Slayer” or “Pantera” across a school playground, an unnamed mother doesn’t have an issue with it at all. According to Dark Tourist filmmaker David Farrier, the woman told him “it’s not easy raising three of the heaviest bands.”

Continue reading: Weird Music Story Of The Week: Mom Names Kids After Metal Bands

It's been more than three decades but the end is nigh for Slayer as they prepare to embark on their last ever world tour. Dates for the first North American leg of their tour are yet to be announced, but they have teased support from some major metal heavyweights.

Slayer performing live

The Californian thrash metal band are planning to present their farewell tour in the coming months, though it's not clear whether that means the end of them as a group or the end of them as a touring band. Frontman Tom Araya spoke about the possibility of retirement back in 2016.

Continue reading: Slayer To Embark On Their Final World Tour

Bonnaroo is in full swing and while we've seen some pretty impressive acts so far, the musical forecast shows things are not going to get quieter anytime soon. One of America's biggest and most diverse summer events, fans flock in their thousands to Tennessee this weekend to welcome some of the world's top entertainers.

Friday's line-up is a particularly mixed bag; where you've got music veterans the likes of 80s new wave legends Tears For Fears and 70s R&B band Earth Wind & Fire, you also got newer names such as LA duo Mini Mansions, who recently won acclaim for their second album 'The Great Pretenders', and Brit award winning UK chart toppers Royal Blood. Making some noise on the main What Stage throughout though are house producer Deadmau5, 'To Pimp a Butterfly' rapper Kendrick Lamar and roots rock collective Alabama Shakes. 

Continue reading: Bonnaroo 2015 Is Here! Here's What The Rest Of The Weekend Has In Store

More additions have been announced for Bonnaroo 2015 as the June event draws ever closer. D'angelo & The Vanguard, Kacey Musgraves and Songhoy Blues join an already stellar line-up for this 10-stage bonanza, while the full late night sets are also announced.

Adding to a line-up headlined by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Billy Joel and London Grammy winners Mumford And Sons are soul collective D'angelo & The Vanguard, young country star Kacey Musgraves and Mali four-piece Songhoy Blues. As usual, the epic festival - which is set to play host to a massive 85,000 music lovers - presents one of the world's most diverse line-ups as it prepares to hit Manchester, Tennessee this summer from June 11th to 14th.

Continue reading: Bonnaroo 2015: More Thrills Added To The Summer Line-up

We've been seriously pushing US and UK music festivals this year but, it has to be said, there's nowhere quite like Europe.

The continent is home to some of the most unique music events in the world and, looking at what's on offer this year, it seems that the festival season is the best time to experience cultural diversity to the nth degree. Whether its sun or snow you're after, rock or dance music, indoor or outdoor, Europe has it all and with the summer quickly approaching, it's time to get on a plane and take the best vacation of your lives as we guide you to the most exciting countries you can hope to visit this year.

Belgium
- Pukkelpop (August 14th - 16th): This Belgian weekend remains seriously cool having first began in 1985 and always playing host to some of the world's best alternative music with early performers including Ramones, The Jesus And Mary Chain and Iggy Pop. Nearly 30 years on, Pukkelpop maintains its excellence with 2014 seeing the likes of Clean Bandit, Gogol Bordello and Die Antwoord on the bill.
- Tomorrowland (July 18th - 20th and July 25th - 27th): If you want to feel like you've entered a fantasy world for a weekend (or two), Tomorrowland is definitely for you. Taking place in the town of Boom, you'll be rocking out against a backdrop of incredible art installations of gargantuan proportions - it really isn't a sight to be missed.

Continue reading: Head To Europe This Year For The Best Summer Festival Experiences!

Over a week after Jeff Hannemann’s death on May 2, his bandmates from Slayer remember the late guitarist in statements, published on the band’s website. On Thursday, the band’s other members, Tom Arraya and Kerry King recalled some of the good times they’d had with Hannemann, who died at 49 of alcohol-related cirrhosis.

"When we first formed Slayer, we used to rehearse all the time, religiously, 24/7," Araya explained in his statement. “Jeff and I spent a lot of time hanging out together, he lived in my father's garage which was also our rehearsal space."

He added, "When he got his own apartment, he had an 8-track and I would go there to record songs I'd written, not Slayer songs, other stuff I'd written. At a certain point, you still have the band but you start your own lives outside of the band, so that 24/7 falls to the side, you don't spend as much time together as you once did. I miss those early days."

Continue reading: Bandmates And Fellow Musicians Mourn The Late Jeff Hannemann

Metal legend, neigh God, Jeff Hannenman inexplicably died earlier this week after succumbing to complications with his liver, but what was was really behind his untimely demise? The answer is actually as metal as you'd expect as coroners are tracing his death back to a spider bite he received nearly two years ago and the flesh-eating bacteria that developed over time and nearly cost him his arm before it began to affect his liver and eventually took his life.

Currently, neither doctors nor any of Hanneman's family have been able to discuss the exact cause of death, however Slayer spokesperson Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald said Hanneman was on the mend from necrotizing fasciitis, a rare flesh-eating infection that affects the deeper layers of skin and the immediate tissues below it. For those unwilling to check out Wikipedia, the infection can develop from a minor cut or scratch and spread at an alarming rate; Robinson-Fitzgerald blamed the spider bite, for which he failed to seek immediate treatment for when he receiving it whilst in a friends hot tub two years ago.

Jeff Hanneman will not be forgotten soon.

Continue reading: What Was Behind The Death Of Slayer Guitarist Jeff Hannenman?

Slayer guitarist and songwriter Jeff Hanneman is dead at 49 after suffering liver failure. The revered musician died on Thursday (May 2, 2013) at the Hemet Valley Medical Center near his home in South California's Inland Empire area, according to Billboard.com. Slayer made the news public, announcing their devastation at the loss of their band-mate and brother. Tributes began pouring in immediately, with MEGADETH frontman Dave Mustaine tweeting, "Tonight one less star will be shining and sadly, the stage got just a little bit darker. Jeff Hanneman 1964-2013."

"RIP TO A TITAN OF METAL," said Disturbed/Device frontman David Draiman, while drummer Mike Portnoy said, "WOW...I'm in shock...RIP Jeff Hanneman." The news hit the metal world harder given that most of the luminaries of the genre were attending the Annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards show at Club Nokia when news began filtering through. A spokesperson for "Blood" producer Rick Rubin told Billboard he was "very sad" and "shocked" by the death.

It had been a rough couple of years for Hanneman who ceased touring in early 2011 when he contracted necrotizing fasciitis, reportedly from a spider bite. The disease literally eats away at the flesh from deep layers of skin and tissues. Exodus musician Gary Holt stood in for Hanneman from 2011 while Pat O'Brien joined later in the year. Throughout the ordeal, Hanneman's Slayer band-mates expressed optimism that he would one day return to the group full-time.

Continue reading: Slayer's Jeff Hanneman Dead At 49: Guitarist Dies Of Liver Failure