On June 6, 2006, a new holiday was born in commemoration of the 6/6/6 of the date. Inspired by the American political movement National Day of Prayer, this new holiday was dedicated to the most extreme of metal and was called the “National Day of Slayer.” Since others outside the USA wanted to participate, it soon became the Inter-National Day of Slayer, and has been celebrated enthusiastically every year since.
This year, sobering news hit: On May 2, 2013, founding guitarist and major songwriter Jeff Hanneman of Slayer died from arachnid-induced liver failure. While Slayer re-camps and tries to figure out this situation, the International Day of Slayer team decided to recognize the obvious: Slayer is an emblem of metal just like metal is a symbol for not letting your sense of reality get stolen away by social pressures. As a result, the team re-dedicated the International Day of Slayer as a generalized heavy metal holiday, focused on Slayer as a symbol.
In addition, the same group is launching a new project called the Hessian Association for Identity Legislation (H.A.I.L.) whose goal is to get heavy metal recognized as a legitimate cultural group much like most religions, ethnicities, lifestyle choices and national cultures. We are metalheads, and we are legion worldwide, and we are a culture separate from both the mainstream and the counter-stream. We are going our own way… the most intense way, the way of reality and the way of METAL!
“Hessian” is old-school California thrasher slang for headbangers, metalheads, metal fans, threshers, heshers, etc. It’s derived from the Hessian mercenaries who came over to fight for the British during the Revolutionary War and were both feared and known for their long hair and wild eyed combat tactics. Someone — probably a cynical history teacher — saw the similarity and the name has stuck ever since.
Check out the H.A.I.L. website at www.hailmetal.org and visit the International Day of Slayer while you’re at it. Keep the horns high and the celebration loud, and we could have our own Hessian nation spread out across the globe in no time at all.
Tags: Heavy Metal, heavy metal day, international day of slayer, slayer
I love Slayer. I can never decide which is my favorite album, Hell Awaits or Reign in Blood.
The song Crionics keeps giving me goosebumps and it’s still impossible not to headbang
to Die by the Sword!
.
I’d like to ask you guys, seriously, is it possible to be a true metalhead and not enjoy Slayer?
I guess that the sentimental answer to that question is a hollering No! But reasonably, I guess, you may enjoy other styles of metal and not like Slayer, go figure. Is it even possible though, to honestly love underground orthodox Metal, and still not find yourself sucked into musical bliss when orthodox Slayer is blasting through the speakers?? Is every non-Slayer
fan de facto a poser? Do hipster enjoy Slayer? Is it bad to learn how to enjoy Divine Intervention even if Prozak says it’s crap?