Formed in California in 1981, Slayer took underground metal to a new extreme of speed, complexity, and brutality. Fueled by an immediately imitated two-guitar assault, Slayer's early releases like 1986's Reign in Blood and 1990's South of Heaven helped to invent thrash, and inspired death metal, black metal, and much more. Slayer continued to heavily tour and regularly record in the decades that followed, experimenting with a slower and heavier sound. Their hardcore punk intensity, virtuoso musicianship, and dark subject matter gets heads banging around the world.