Jeffrey John "Jeff" Hanneman (January 31, 1964 – May 2, 2013) was best known as a founding member of the American thrash metal band Slayer. Hanneman contributed both lyrical and musical material to every Slayer album . He wrote many of their classic songs like "Raining Blood", "War Ensemble", "South of Heaven," "Seasons in the Abyss," and "Angel of Death," all of which have been played at almost every live Slayer performance after their respective compositions.
Jeff wasn't just a key member in Slayer, he was one of the most talented guitarists the metal world has ever witnessed. He was also a superb riff maker and a splendid lyricist. This is a tribute to Jeff Hanneman, the blonde guitar hero whose riffs was immortalized on albums like Show No Mercy, Hell Awaits, Reign in Blood, South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss. This is our tribute to the late and great Jeff Hanneman.
Jeff Hanneman's life in Slayer
Slayer was formed by Kerry King and Dave Lombardo in 1981 and Jeff Hanneman and Tom Araya would soon join the band, in the beginning they played songs by Iron Maiden and Priest before adopting a more thrash oriented sound. A style they would pioneer and help create. Right from the start, Jeff Hanneman was the bands main songwriter and lyricist. Slayer signed up to Metal Blade Records and they released two albums on the label Show No Mercy (1983) and Hell Awaits (1985).
Show No Mercy was self-financed and the album was so extreme, evil and wellmade that it made Venom look like a bunch of amateurs. They also released Haunting the Chapel and Live Undead before releasing Hell Awaits in 1985. Which was a further step towards a more professional sound, with longer songs and more intricate song structures. Between 1983 and 1985 Slayer was the most extreme metal band in the world.
In 1986 Slayer signed up to Rick Rubin's Def Jam label. Slayer started writing shorter and faster songs. The production became more professional. In October of 1986 Slayer released their third studio album titled Reign in Blood and it was an instant classic and a game changer. Reign in Blood, was a landmark in thrash history and in retrospect one of the most important and beloved metal albums of all time. The band kept going and released South of Heaven (1988) and Seasons in the Abyss (1990) before the thrash wave slowly died off.
But Slayer didn't stop, they plowed through the 90's with 1994's Divine Intervention and the cover album Undisputed Attitude (1996), the cover album featured a lot of punk and hardcore songs that influenced Jeff Hanneman. In 1998 Slayer released Diabolus in Musica which got a lot of negative reviews for being too inspired by the ongoing trends of the 90's.
In 2001 Slayer released God Hates Us All, with the more modern approach the reviews have been all over the board ever since they put out Seasons in the Abyss in 1990.
Slayer released Christ Illusion (2006). In 2009, Slayer released their last studio album with Jeff Hanneman, titled World Painted Blood (2009). In 2013 Jeff Hanneman died after having a liver failure, only 49 years old. Gary Holt of Exodus was chosen to take over Jeffs guitar duties in Slayer. In 2015 Slayer released Repentless with the song Piano Wire, written by Jeff Hanneman.
20 Songs written by Jeff Hanneman:
"Die By The Sword" - Show No Mercy
"Tormentor" - Show No Mercy
"Fight Till Death" - Show No Mercy
"Hardening of the Arteries" - Hell Awaits
"At Dawn They Sleep" - Hell Awaits
"Postmortem" - Reign in Blood
"Angel of Death" - Reign in Blood
"Raining Blood" - Reign in Blood
"Behind the Crooked Cross" - South of Heaven
"South of Heaven" - South of Heaven
"Spill The Blood" - South of Heaven
"War Ensemble" - Seasons in the Abyss
"Dead Skin Mask" - Seasons in the Abyss
"Seasons in the Abyss" - Seasons in the Abyss
"213" - Divine Intervention
"Bitter Peace" - Diabolus in Musica
"Disciple" - God Hates Us Alll
"God Send Death" - God Hates Us All
"Jihad" - Christ Illusion
"World Painted Blood" - World Painted Blood
Jeff's personal life
Jeff was introduced to heavy metal music by his older sister Mary whom listened to Black Sabbath, In high school Jeff discovered hardcore punk. He was influenced by bands like Black Sabbath, Minor Threat, Iron Maiden, Black Flag, Judas Priest, T.S.O.L. and Aerosmith.
Jeff's father and grandfather were from Germany and a lot of his family members took part in many of the wars around the globe, which led him to become interested in World War II and collecting nazi memorabilia.
He hated doing interviews, happy music, non contact sports and traveling. His interests were his guitar, music, football (Oakland Raiders) and hockey (Los Angeles Kings). He was married to Kathryn whom he met in 1983 before releasing their first album. She would rarely go on tour with him and stayed mostly at home while Jeff was on tour with Slayer. They had no children and they lived in Los Angeles until Jeff passed away.
Jeff also had his own signature guitar, the ESP Jeff Hanneman Signature model.
Personally Jeff was reserved and somewhat shy. He rarely gave interviews. At one point of Slayer's career Jeff was abused pills and cocaine, but he managed to come clean when he realized that it was just a downward spiral.
ANGEL OF DEATH
Lyrics: Hanneman
Auschwitz, the meaning of pain
The way that I want you to die
Slow death, immense decay
Showers that cleanse you
of your life
Forced in
Like cattle
You run
Stripped of
Your life's worth
Human mice, for the angel of death
Four hundred thousand more to die
Illness and death
In early 2011, Hanneman contracted necrotizing fasciitis. Reports linked this illness with a spider bite he claimed to have received while bathing in a friend's hot tub. In light of his illness and Slayer's upcoming shows in 2011 Slayer decided to play without Jeff Hanneman, and later they let Gary Holt of Exodus fill in while Jeff was away. Pat O'Brien also filled in at times when Gary Holt was away with Exodus.
In 2012, things were looking better and bandmate Tom Araya announced a recovery from the disease. However, later in February 2013, Kerry King revealed continuing health problems that kept Hanneman from working.
Jeff Hanneman died of liver failure on May 2, 2013, in a Southern California hospital near his home. On May 9, 2013, the official cause of death was announced as alcohol-related cirrhosis. Hanneman and his family had apparently been unaware of the extent of the condition until shortly before his death.
Jeff's Influence on Thrash Metal
He had a tremendous influence on thrash metal, besides Scott Ian, Dave Mustaine and James Hetfield, Jeff Hannemann wrote just about every memorable thrash metal song during the eighties. He drew influences from hardcore punk and combined it with the metallic force that Slayer was. His fascination for war and especially World War II can be seen and heard throughout Slayer's catalogue.
At one point some people even thought that Slayer were a nazi band, because of the topics that Slayer covered, through Hanneman's lyrics. But that was never the case. All the demented, gruesome and evil lyrics Slayer wrote was also groundbreaking and heavily influential to all extreme metal genres, not only thrash.
Just ask yourself the question, What would bands like Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, Pantera, Dark Angel, Possessed, Rigor Mortis, Slaughter, Sepultura, Onslaught, Sacrifice, Sadus, Morbid Angel, etc etc sound like if there was no Jeff Hanneman?
There is no doubt in my mind he changed the world and the sound of metal. Would we even have death, thrash or black metal without Jeff? Things would definitely be a lot different if he and Slayer didn't start their journey back in Los Angeles in 1981.
Quotes about Jeff Hanneman
"The music that he wrote changed the world in a lot of ways" - David Ellefson, Megadeth
"He was the best." - Phil Anselmo, Pantera
"He inspired a lot of bands to come." - Charlie Benante, Anthrax
"He wrote some of the greatest riffs of all time." - Alex Skolnick, Testament
"Jeff was an amazing Riff Meister." - Robert Trujillo, Metallica
"Changing the world through music isn’t easy… Mission accomplished." - Dan Spitz, former Anthrax member
"Well, it’s always difficult when you lose a metal brother, especially one that grew up in your area, grew up in your time zone, was part of the same genre, had the same goals in life… same everything." - James Hetfield, Metallica
Rest in Peace Jeff Hanneman. 1964-2013
RAINING BLOOD
Lyrics: Hanneman
Trapped in purgatory
A lifeless object, alive
Awaiting reprisal
Death will be their acquisition
The sky is turning red
Return to power draws near
Fall into me,
The sky's crimson tears
Abolish the rules made of stone
Pierced from below,
Souls of my treacherous past
Betrayed by many,
Now ornaments dripping above
Awaiting the hour of reprisal
Your time slips away
Raining blood
From a lacerated sky
Bleeding its horror
Creating my structure
Now I shall reign in blood!
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