Today is the 20th Anniversary of The International Day of Slayer

Today is 6-6-26 or International Day of Slayer! It’s also the 20th anniversary of the event! Launched by Jeff Tandy on a standalone website as The National Day of Slayer, which recognizes the achievements of the greatest band in metal, Slayer. The site became so popular, it was renamed the International Day of Slayer. In the last few years the band reunited for several headline shows and festivals (Ghost Cult reviewed one show and gave away VIP tickets), played the Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne farewell show, reissued a deluxe version of Hell Awaits, launched a virtual museum, Kerry King released his excellent debut album From Hell I Rise (Reigning Phoenixc Music) and kicked off his debut headline tour and festival dates with his killer band, and had a deep cut song pop up in the Daredevil Born Again series! So far this year, the band will headline several shows and festival dates. Ghost Cult was even name-checked in the first sentence of the press release for the Slayer Reunion!! Not only is the 6th Day the 6th month Slayer Day, but examine some of the facts that make today even more perfect: two members of Slayer were born in June – Kerry King and Tom Araya (Happy Birthday today, Tom, born on Slayer Day. We always carry with us the memory of Jeff Haneman, gone too soon! We had covered the band dozens of times, documented their final moments as a band, and our Chief Editor Keefy personally saw Slayer 32 times! We wrote not one, but two retrospective pieces about the band calling it quits, which you can read here and here. We have also been digging the Talking Slayer Podcast by DX Ferris a lot this year, and he recently released a new version of his Slayer book! Courtesy of our pal Ferris, we have a statement from IDOS on 20 years of doing the damn thing! Throw the Devil horns and screen Slayer today!

20 years of the International Day of Slayer. It is amazing to think that something we started as a satirical celebration of one of metal’s greatest bands would become a part of their canon. The power of Slayer has always been a consensus, where fans all over the world choose them as their favorite band, time and time again.

Of all the influential acts of their era, Slayer consistently inspired us the most and disappointed us the least. They came out of the gates with an uncompromising mission statement of, “Satan holds my future, watch it unfold”, and they have upheld it ever since. Never has there been a band that galvanized so many in a joyfully violent response, without exception, no matter where they show up.

The name “Slayer” is an invocation, a call to action, and a word that gives meaning to the chaos around us. We answered that call in the creation of this movement, and we are grateful to those of you who came with us on this journey. The immediate need to translate this site into 19 different languages was evidence of your support. Those of you who took action, celebrated, and screamed, “Slayer!!!” into the night as loud as you could, are all worthy co-conspirators. It would not have happened if you hadn’t agreed to it.

Despite the fittingly controversial debut of this event on June 6, 2006, it is incredible to consider that it connected us with Slayer directly.

To think that they loved the idea, in Kerry King’s words, “I wish I had thought of that”, was all the validation we ever needed, and we were proud to give them another weapon for their deadly arsenal.

Then, to our surprise, the momentum continued. Thanks to the generous efforts of Slayer’s PR agent, Heidi Ellen Robinson-Fitzgerald, we were able to meet the band and officially cement the legitimacy of this effort. That was, and still remains, a singular honor that we will carry with us for the rest of our lives. Thank you, Heidi, and thank you, Slayer, for trusting us to stand with you.

It remains inspiring to watch Slayer’s machinery promote this holiday every year like some kind of industry standard, despite its dedicated grassroots foundation. This was by fans, for fans, in the name of a shared passion, to glorify a band that deserved to be glorified. By extension, it also served to celebrate the greatness of metal music in every form, and to capture its universal presence across languages and cultures all over the world. For a band with such a violent presentation, Slayer has proven to be an impressive unifier.

And so, 20 years on, we are still here, blasting Slayer in our cars, blasting Slayer in our homes, blasting Slayer in public for all the world to hear, as we have done every year, and will do every year hereafter. We trust you will do the same. Slayer will never exist in the past tense. They gave us a battle cry that will echo eternally as long as we are bold enough to scream it.

Hail Slayer. Hail Hanneman. Hail Metal.

We thank you.

JT 6/6/26

Ferris unboxed the Hell Awaits box: