Fans of the iconic Huntington Park, California-based thrash metal band, Slayer, received a treat in the form of a star studded event that took place this past Thursday night, January 16. The event was the Metal Allegiance concert held at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California. According to Blabbermouth, fan-filmed video footage captured where, “Former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo joined Gary Holt (guitar; Slayer, Exodus), Phil Demmel (guitar; Machine Head, Vio-lence), Jack Gibson (bass; Exodus) and Mark Osegueda (vocals; Death Angel) on stage last night (Thursday, January 16) at the Metal Allegiance concert at the House Of Blues in Anaheim, Califorina to perform three Slayer ‘Reign In Blood’-album classics: ‘Postmortem’, ‘Raining Blood’ and ‘Angel Of Death'”.

With great fervor the five men took to the stage to present the crowd with an homage performance. Being that Lombardo and Holt once were a part of one of thrash metal’s forefront innovative trailblazers known as Slayer, the crowd responded uproariously. Lombardo performed with such sheer zeal Thursday night, it was evidently visible in the captured fan filmed footage. Yet Lombardo’s time with the Slayer would be cut short, being an original member of Slayer, as previously reported in the aforementioned Blabbermouth article,  “… Lombardo was effectively fired from the band after sitting out the group’s Australian tour in February/March 2013 due to a contract dispute with the other members of Slayer. He was replaced by Paul Bostaph, who was previously Slayer’s drummer from 1992 until 2001 and who had recorded four albums with the band. Lombardo currently splits his time between crossover pioneers Suicidal Tendencies, horror-punk icons Misfits and hardcore supergroup Dead Cross.”

The Blabbermouth article furthers that “Holt began filling in for Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman at live shows in 2011, and became the band’s full-time co-guitarist as of 2013, while remaining a member of Exodus. Holt played on Slayer’s final album, ‘Repentless’, which came out in 2015.” Slayer’s contributions to the thrash metal genre attributed to the accomplishments of not only Lombardo and Holt, but to Machine Head and Vio-lence guitarist Demmel. As previously noted in the aforementioned Blabbermouth article, “Demmel filled in for Holt for four Slayer European shows in December 2018 after Gary returned home to be with his dying father. Phil, who had only played his last show with Machine Head the day prior to being asked to join Slayer on the road, later credited Slayer with ‘saving’ his musical career.”

As for Slayer guitarist Hanneman he tragically passed away back in May 2013 at the age of 49. As previously reported in the aforementioned Blabbermouth article Hanneman “contracted necrotizing fasciitis, also known as flesh-eating disease, in January 2011 from a spider bite in his backyard. The infection ravaged the flesh and tissues of Hanneman’s arm, leading to numerous surgeries, skin grafts and intense periods of rehab that forced him into semi-retirement and left him near death at several points. Hanneman eventually died in May 2013 from alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver. He is credited for writing many of Slayer’s classic songs, including ‘Angel Of Death’ and ‘South Of Heaven.’ The aforementioned article concludes with Slayer’s eventual disbandment after their last performance this past November at a concert at The Forum in Inglewood, California.

To watch the fan-filmed footage of the House of Blues Metal Allegiance show featuring Lombardo, Holt, Demmel, Gibson and Osegueda performing three classic Slayer tracks, stream below via YouTube.

Photo Credit: Marv Watson