METAL ARCHIVIST & OLD SCHOOL METAL HEAD … OBSESSED WITH HEAVY * THRASH * DEATH * BLACK * DOOM * HARD ROCK *
Saturday, May 2, 2026
WATCHTOWER (ELDRITCH ASSEMBLAGE #2, 1990)
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A LETTER FROM JON NÖDTVEIDT (1993)
Courtesy of thulsadoom70 and dissectionfp
TRANSLATION
Hello Jimmy!
Jon from Dissection writing here. Thanks for the letter and the cassette! It was a fun surprise... The Altar demo (prom[o]?) sounds great as hell... sounds a bit “Gothenburg,” if you know what I mean, but in my opinion, that’s only positive!!! Our album “The Somberlain” is coming out any time now, so just keep your eyes open when you’re checking the record stores... Extremely cool that you liked what you heard at Adrian’s! Me and Ole (drums) are moving to Gothenburg soon, and then we will probably share a rehearsal space with At The Gates... that will be cool.
Yeah, I sure got confused in Falköping when you asked if I was Jon, ho ho... Your girlfriend is named Jill Yndal, right? Her sister Mona is cool. However, I don’t know Jill... oh well, who cares?!?
We are currently busy composing new material for the second album. It sounds 1000 times better!!! “The Somberlain” consists mostly of old material!!
Okay, sorry for this short-written letter, but I have a hell of a mountain of letters to go through. Keep in touch and if you are going to Gothenburg, let me know and we can have a couple of beers or ten!!! Alright, write soon!
BACKGROUND
From Instagram account 'dissectionfp'.
A follower here shared this letter with me, which he says he bought from a Swede on Facebook! Some time later, he met another Swede through Instagram, to whom he showed the letter. And the Swede said, “You know, I know the person to whom that letter was addressed.”
The follower contacted this person, and he remembered this letter; this person said that he was a member of the band ALTAR, Jimmy Lundmark (Guitar), a Swedish Death Metal band formed in Stockholm in the early 90s, but which was only active for a short time.
They became known for their compilation album “Dark Domains,” released by Konqueror Records in 2012. This material is a remastered compilation of demo tracks and rare recordings originally recorded and released from 1989 to 1995, the period during which the band was active.
Among the classic demos are “No Flesh Shall Be Spared” (1991) and “Ex-Purge of Impurity” (1993).
Photo and letter provided by: @thulsadoom79
DARK ANGEL (OLD SCHOOL METAL MANIAC #6, 2013)
An interview from the best old school metal magazine that's still releasing print issues. It's a real beauty in full color. Please support them! Check them out here: oldschool-metal-maniac.com/eng/index.php
RUNNING WILD "TOR 3, DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY" (MAY 19, 1988) [AUDIO]
Please report dead links!
SETLIST
0:00 Radio DJ Intro (cut) / The Hymn of Long John Silver
2:20 Under Jolly Roger
6:41 Genghis Khan
10:50 Raise Your Fist
17:05 Diabolic Force
22:40 Chains And Leather
29:10 Mordor
34:25 Raw Ride
39:28 Purgatory
45:15 Radio DJ Outro
LINE-UP
Rock'n'Rolf - Vocals/Guitar
Majk Moti - Guitar
Jens Becker - Bass
Stefan Schwarzmann - Drums
VARVAR (ВАРВАРЪ) (RUS)
Heavy Metal band from Velikiye Luki, Pskov Oblast, Russia. You can listen to the bands full-length album “The Beastly Abyss Will Kill You” (“Звериная бездна убьёт вас”) from 1994 down below.
Please report dead links!
SUPPORT US
If you have the possibility to buy one of our exclusive
Logo, Lyric or Band member T-Shirts, you're sure helping us a lot.
Click on the T-Shirt to check out what we have.
Logo, Lyric or Band member T-Shirts, you're sure helping us a lot.
Click on the T-Shirt to check out what we have.
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GONE NEVER FORGOTTEN: JEFF HANNEMAN (JANUARY 31, 1964 – MAY 2, 2013)
Slayer has always meant a lot to me. When growing up in the early 80's in Sweden, information about new bands and especially the heavier ones were rare. We had one music magazine, OKEJ, but apart from Venom they rarely focused on the harder side of metal.
One day in late 1985 or early 1986 I went with my mother to a shopping center (OBS Stormarknad) and as always directly headed for the record section, while she did the shopping. I browsed through the sales section and picked up this album with an amazing cover. It said Slayer and "Hell Awaits" and I couldn't stop looking at the painting. This must be good, was my thought! I had never heard or heard about the band but I shook down my mother for the 19,90 Swedish Kronor (about 2 US dollars) and immediately went for the record player in my room when we came home.
One day in late 1985 or early 1986 I went with my mother to a shopping center (OBS Stormarknad) and as always directly headed for the record section, while she did the shopping. I browsed through the sales section and picked up this album with an amazing cover. It said Slayer and "Hell Awaits" and I couldn't stop looking at the painting. This must be good, was my thought! I had never heard or heard about the band but I shook down my mother for the 19,90 Swedish Kronor (about 2 US dollars) and immediately went for the record player in my room when we came home.
I put it on and the sound that came out of the speaker with the "Join Us" backwards (which I thought they said "Sell Your Heart") was as a horror movie loving teen simply awesome. About 3:10 into it when Araya started to sing I couldn't believe my ears, it was so fast. I went for the record player and thought I had put it on 45rpm instead of 33rpm .... but no, it was supposed to be that fast. I had done so once before, the first time I heard King Diamond sing.
Since that day ... Araya, King, Lombardo and especially Hanneman have been like gods to me!
Jeffrey John Hanneman (January 31, 1964 – May 2, 2013) was a founding member and co-lead guitarist of Slayer. Hanneman wrote both music and lyrics for every Slayer album until his death in 2013.
Born in 1964 in Long Beach, California, Hanneman listened to heavy metal and hardcore punk in his childhood and adolescence. He was working as a telemarketer in 1981 when he met Kerry King, with whom he founded Slayer. He wrote the music for many of the band's most famous songs, such as "Angel of Death", "Raining Blood", and "Die by the Sword"; his own favorite album was Reign in Blood. His guitar riffs, inspired by metal and punk bands such as Led Zeppelin, Wasted Youth, and Iron Maiden, have been called some of the most famous in metal, while his dual guitar solos with King have attracted high praise.
A reserved character, Hanneman rarely gave interviews, and preferred to indulge his interest in German war medals and history. A bout of necrotizing fasciitis in early 2011 left him battling serious health issues; he was replaced on Slayer's tours by guitarists including Gary Holt. Hanneman died of liver failure on May 2, 2013.
Hanneman was born January 31, 1964, in Long Beach, California,[4] and grew up there in a family containing several war veterans: his father fought in Normandy during World War II and his brothers in Vietnam, making warfare a common conversation topic at the dinner table. War films were popular on TV at the time, and Hanneman often joined his brothers in constructing and coloring tank and plane models. His interest in warfare and military history has been attributed to his upbringing.
In a 2009 interview with Decibel magazine, he stated his father is German, but fought for the Allied side in World War II. In the same interview, he also goes into detail of what district of Germany his father and grandparents hail from. His grandfather was fluent in German.
Hanneman was introduced to heavy metal music as a child through his older sister Mary, when she was listening to Black Sabbath at her house. Once he reached high school, he discovered hardcore punk, which had a significant influence on his style and attitude.
In 1981, Hanneman, who was working as a telemarketer at the time, met Kerry King, when King was auditioning for a southern rock band called "Ledger". King remembered: "As I was leaving, I saw Jeff just kinda standing around playing guitar, and he was playing stuff that I was into, like Def Leppard's 'Wasted' and AC/DC and Priest". After the try-out session, the two guitarists started talking and playing Iron Maiden and Judas Priest songs. Slayer was born when King asked "Why don't we start our own band?", to which Hanneman replied "Fuck yeah!"
Hanneman stated that he was playing guitar for a year by the time he met King and put an effort into improving his skills after watching him play. Hanneman, who was heavily influenced by hardcore punk music, got the other members into the genre, leading Slayer into a faster and more aggressive approach. The band's drummer Dave Lombardo asserted that his hardcore influences pushed him to play faster, contributing to shape his drumming style.
Hanneman was a reserved person when he was offstage. Unlike the other members, he was very selective in socializing and rarely gave interviews. As vocalist/bassist Araya said: "If he didn't like you, he wouldn't hang with you."
In 1984, Hanneman, Lombardo and Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Rocky George had a brief hardcore punk side project called "Pap Smear" – the band had many tracks and was due to start recording when Hanneman was advised to avoid the side project by Slayer's producer, Rick Rubin, who is quoted as saying "Aaaah, don't do it, man – this is the kind of thing that breaks bands up!" and Hanneman took Rubin's advice. Only a demo was recorded, consisting of Hanneman on vocals and bass, Lombardo on drums and George on guitar. Two of the songs were later re-recorded on Slayer's 1996 album Undisputed Attitude.
Early in Slayer's career, Kerry King began to be heavily influenced by English black metal band Venom, and this influence had a big impact on Hanneman's songwriting as well. Hanneman said in 1987 that although he had begun reading the Satanic bible for lyrical inspiration, he was far from a Satanist. He said his lyrics were typically anti-theist in nature and that he hated the idea of Satanism as much as Christianity, calling them "the same thing". "What we're attacking, in a roundabout way, is the Christian TV conmen. It's unbelievable, the amount of money stolen in the name of Jesus", Hanneman said. While he conceded that much of the dark subject matter in his songs was "quite ridiculous", his extreme Satanic lyrics were ultimately "an easy way of offending people". Hanneman took a lot of his lyrical inspiration from books he would read. For example, he described the controversial song "Angel of Death" as "a history lesson" and that the song in no way implied he was a Nazi, saying "I'd read a lot about the Third Reich and was absolutely fascinated by the extremity of it all, the way Hitler had been able to hypnotize a nation and do whatever he wanted."
Hanneman wrote the music for most of the band's favorites, songs such as "Angel of Death", "Raining Blood", "Die by the Sword", "South of Heaven", "War Ensemble", "Postmortem", "Dead Skin Mask" and "Seasons in the Abyss", which have all become staples for live performance at Slayer shows. Hanneman's favorite album was Reign in Blood, and he enjoyed performing the songs "Raining Blood" and "Angel of Death". He contributed lyrics and music to every Slayer album, having formed a music and lyric writing partnership with Araya, which sometimes overshadowed King's creative input. Hanneman's lyrics often dealt with taboo subject matter, he stated that the only topic he would not write lyrics about was rape.
When writing new material, the band writes the music before the lyrics. Hanneman often composed riffs at his house, using a 24-track and a drum machine and then by gathering opinions from the other band members; King and Lombardo made suggestions of alterations. The band will play the riff to get the basic song structure, and then figure out where the lyrics and solos go. Hanneman stated that writing lyrics and music is a "free for all"; "It's all just whoever comes up with what. Sometimes I'll be more on a roll and I'll have more stuff, same with Kerry – it's whoever's hot, really. Anybody can write anything; if it's good we use it, if not we don't."
In early 2011, Hanneman contracted necrotizing fasciitis on one of his arms. Reports linked this illness with a spider bite he claimed to have received while in a friend's hot tub. Approximately one week later, an intoxicated Hanneman showed the arm to his wife, who recalled "...and I just freaked out when I saw (it). It was bright red and three times the normal size. I said, 'Jeff, we need to go now. We need to get you to the ER.' But all he wanted to do was go to bed and sleep...". The following morning she convinced him to seek medical attention in Loma Linda and it was learned that amputation was one possible outcome. At one point, Hanneman was placed in a medically-induced coma. Prior to surgery, hospital staff informed his wife that he may not survive. Though he did survive, his wife says the illness hindered his ability to play guitar, leading to depression "and he started to lose hope".
In light of his illness and Slayer's upcoming participation in the Australian Soundwave Festival tour that was set to begin on February 26, 2011, the band made the decision to play the dates without Hanneman, and on February 16, 2011, brought on Gary Holt (Exodus) to fill in for him. Pat O'Brien (Cannibal Corpse) joined as Slayer's temporary second guitarist when Holt left the tour to play with Exodus. In 2012, bandmate Tom Araya announced Hanneman's recovery from the infection, though a later update on the band's official website noted that it had "devastated his well-being". In February 2013, King revealed that Hanneman was still battling health issues that prevented him from performing.
Hanneman died of liver failure on May 2, 2013, in a Southern California hospital near his home. On May 9, 2013, the official cause of death was announced as alcohol-related cirrhosis. Hanneman and his family had apparently been unaware of the extent of the condition until shortly before his death. Slayer expressed shock, stating in a release that "it appeared that he had been improving – he was excited and looking forward to working on a new record." Holt eventually became Hanneman's permanent replacement in Slayer.
Friday, May 1, 2026
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