Slayer will play two special shows in the autumn to mark 40 years of their landmark album Reign In Blood.
The California thrash metal hellraisers will play at the Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, Minnesota, on September 4 – supported by Down, Suicidal Tendencies and Hatebreed – then at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on November 13, supported by Cannibal Corpse, the Cavalera brothers (playing their former band Sepultura’s 1993 album Chaos A.D.) and Crowbar.
A Citi pre-sale for the dates starts at 12pm local time today (April 21). An artist presale starts on Wednesday, April 22, at 10am local time, before tickets go on general sale on Friday, April 14, at 10am local time.
Slayer will play Reign In Blood in its entirety at both concerts. The announcement follows the news that they’ll also celebrate the album’s anniversary at the two Sick New World festivals this year, the first of which is taking place at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds this Saturday, April 25. The second edition will go ahead at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth on October 24.
Released on October 20, 1986, and produced by the vaunted Rick Rubin, who’d signed the band to his label Def Jam, Reign In Blood was Slayer’s third album and commercial breakthrough. It put them on the US Billboard 200 charts and UK Albums charts for the first time in their career, and it’s since been certified Gold in the US and Silver in the UK.
The album’s been met with sustained critical acclaim, with many hailing it as one of the fastest and heaviest metal records ever made, but it also made Slayer the subjects of widespread controversy. Because of the song Angel Of Death, about Nazi officer and surgeon Josef Mengele, Def Jam’s distributor Columbia refused to release the album. It eventually came out via Geffen, but the company’s logo wasn’t put on the sleeve.
Slayer formed in 1981 and retired in 2019, following an extensive worldwide farewell tour. However, they announced their return in 2024 and played a string of North American festival dates later that year. They played their UK headliners since their comeback, as well as a set at Ozzy Osbourne’s final show Back To The Beginning, the next year.
In February 2025, founding guitarist Kerry King said that, although Slayer have returned to the road, the chances of a new album are “99.9 percent” a no.
“I have a new outlet to present music to the fans,” he explained in an interview with the Talk Louder podcast, referring to the solo band he launched in 2024. “And I just put these guys together. I’m not gonna abandon them.”
King released his solo debut, From Hell I Rise, in 2024 and is currently working on its follow-up. He told Las Vegas’ KOMP 92.3 last year (via Metal Injection), “Me and [drummer] Paul Bostaph have got 10, 12 songs demoed already. I’ve just gotta get off my butt and write lyrics for them.”
