On This Day in Metal: May 2nd 2013 Slayer Guitarist Jeff Henneman Passed Away

Mr. Hanneman, who grew up in Southern California listening to Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, was still a teenager when he formed Slayer with another guitarist, Kerry King, in 1981.

Hanneman wrote the music for most of the band's fan 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 contracted necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease, in early 2011. Doctors believed it might have been caused by a spider bite. Hanneman almost lost his arm and was briefly placed in a medically-induced coma. He had been on hiatus from Slayer ever since, though he had been working on physical rehabilitation, including playing guitar. Slayer left open the option of his return upon his recovery.

Sadly, he passed away on May 2nd 2013. He was 49 years old.