Today, June 6, marks the 12th annual International
Day of Slayer. The holiday was made official on June 6, 2006 to celebrate Slayer
and the importance of metal to the music industry in general. It marks a day
where metal fans are encouraged to play the band’s music at full blast all day,
regardless of who may be around.
There are a number of things going on for the International
Day of Slayer. Ticket prices for the band’s upcoming tour with Lamb
of God and Behemoth are being slashed for today only, which means you can
pick up a ticket for their appearance at the Theater at Madison Square Garden
on July 27 for just 46.66. SiriusXM’s Liquid Metal station is also getting in
on the festivities, playing a Slayer song every hour, plus a chance to win
tickets to see them on tour this August. Nuclear Blast Records and Metal Blade
Records are also both having one-day-only sales on the band’s music and
merchandise.
In celebration of this year’s event, Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s
music outlet, is taking a look back at Slayer’s most successful albums. Here
are the band’s seven highest US chart toppers that prove metal is an important
genre.
1.
‘Repentless’: Slayer’s popularity has only
gotten stronger since the band formed in 1981. Their most recent album, 2015’s ‘Repentless,’
for example, has been one of their best-selling to date. The album debuted at number
four in the US, the best showing they ever had in their home country. It also
marked another couple of firsts for the band; it was their first album in
nearly two decades that wasn’t produced by Rick Rubin, their first on the
Nuclear Blast label and their first since the untimely passing of Jeff Hanneman,
which nearly broke up the band.
2.
‘Christ Illusion’: The band’s 2006 album did
almost as well as ‘Repentless,’ peaking at number five in the US. That’s not a
total shock; the band hadn’t released an album in five years at that point and
when the album was announced, its release date got set back twice, making it
highly anticipated. Its intended release was supposed to be on June 6, 2006 (making
it the inspiration for International Day of Slayer) and all of the album’s
press and hype came from that “satanic” date, so promotion was key for this
album’s success too.
3.
‘Divine Intervention’: Boasting some of the band’s
best first-week sales, ‘Divine Intervention’ peaked at Number 8, selling
approximately 93,000 copies. This is also the band’s first album to do better on
the main US chart than it did in the rest of the world.
4.
‘World Painted Blood’: If we are going by the
Billboard 200, 2009’s ‘World Painted Blood’ comes in at number four on this
list, as it peaked at number 12. However, this album charted extremely well
elsewhere on the US charts. It earned the number four spot on the Top Rock Albums
chart, number two on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart and number one on the Top
Tastemaker Albums chart.
5.
‘God Hates Us All’: Even though the album had
the rather unfortunate released date of September 11, 2001, ‘God Hates Us All’ still
peaked at 28 on the Billboard 200. There were connections drawn between that
release date and the record’s content, but in all, this was one of the band’s
most critically acclaimed albums.
6.
‘Diabolus In Musica’: For the amount ‘Diabolus
In Musica’ was panned by fans who felt it leaned too much towards the nu metal
trend of the late 1990s, the album still peaked at number 31. The band also
seems not to be too fond of the album; with the exception of one song, they don’t
play anything from it live anymore.
7.
‘Undisputed Attitude’: Surprisingly, one of the
band’s highest charting albums only features one original song. Slayer showed
their punk rock roots in 1996 with ‘Undisputed Attitude,’ an album that covered
classic 70s and 80s bands like The Stooges, Minor Threat, TSOL and more. The
album peaked at number 34, even though it seemed to get panned by just about
everyone.
Slayer has been one of the most influential and prolific
metal bands of the last 30 years. The band’s popularity has only grown stronger
with time, proving that metal still holds an important space in the musical
landscape. Such is why and event such as the International Day of Slayer is so
apt, set up to honor a form of music that is not always seen in the best light.
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Celebrate International Day of Slayer by picking up music
from Slayer and other metal bands at Vinyl Bay 777 and vinylbay777.com. At Long
Island’s top new independent record shop, we have thousands of titles in a wide
variety of genres, so whether you are looking for metal or classical, we have
you covered. Browse our growing selection of new and used vinyl records, CDs,
cassettes, music DVDs and memorabilia in store and online. With more titles
being added every week, there is always a reason to rock out with Vinyl Bay
777.
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