{"id":655965,"date":"2013-05-03T09:33:27","date_gmt":"2013-05-03T13:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.webpronews.com\/?p=228133"},"modified":"2013-05-03T09:33:27","modified_gmt":"2013-05-03T13:33:27","slug":"slayer-guitarist-jeff-hanneman-dies-of-liver-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/655965","title":{"rendered":"Slayer Guitarist Jeff Hanneman Dies Of Liver Failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeff Hanneman, one of two guitarists for the legendary heavy metal band Slayer, has died<\/a> of liver failure. He was 49. The above image currently appears on the band’s official site<\/a>, where they shared the following statement: <\/p>\n

Slayer is devastated to inform that their bandmate and brother, Jeff Hanneman, passed away at about 11AM this morning near his Southern California home. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry, and will be sorely missed.<\/em><\/p>\n

A couple years back, Hanneman began suffering from a skin disease called necrotizing fasciitis (which ironically sounds like it could have been the name of a Slayer song). This was believed to have stemmed from a spider bite. Guitar World shares a statement<\/a> that band made in 2011: <\/p>\n

“As you know, Jeff was bitten by a spider more than a year ago, but what you may not have known was that for a couple of days after he went to the ER, things were touch-and-go. There was talk that he might have to have his arm amputated, and we didn’t know if he was going to pull through at all. He was in a medically-induced coma for a few days and had several operations to remove the dead and dying tissue from his arm. So, understand, he was in really, really bad shape. It’s been about a year since he got out of the hospital, and since then, he had to learn to walk again, he’s had several painful skin grafts, he’s been in rehab doing exercises to regain the strength in his arm; but best of all, he’s been playing guitar.”<\/em><\/p>\n

In February, bandmate Kerry King had reportedly indicated that Hanneman’s health was still an issue, though it’s not entirely clear at this point whether the liver failure is directly related to the illness described. <\/p>\n

Hanneman was a founding member of Slayer. In fact, the band was formed in 1981 when Hanneman and King met while trying out for another band, and ultimately just decided to start their own. Slayer would go on to become one of the most influential bands in the history of the heavy metal genre. I think it’s safe to say that no other band, apart from possibly Metallica has had as much influence on modern day metal. <\/p>\n

Slayer may not have achieved the mainstream success that Metallica has, but in the metal world, they’re just as big. Slayer did not produce songs that catered to radio play as Metallica did. This is about as close as they came to radio-friendly (keep in mind, they came up in the era before the Internet and satellite radio): <\/p>\n