A Chancer's Guide To Slayer & Anthrax | Live At The Marquee 2016

Slayer & Anthrax are tonight's helping at Live At The Marquee!

If you're heading to the gig tonight here are some handy facts that may come in handy when trying to impress fellow Slayer & Anthrax fans.

Beginning with Slayer; the thrash metal band formed in 1981 in California but became popular in 1986 after releasing their album Reign In Blood. They are considered one of the most influential heavy metal bands in history.

The band consists of members Kerry King on guitar, Gary Holt on guitar, Paul Bostaph on drums and Tom Araya on vocals and bass.

The band have released twelve studio albums since 1983 with Show No Mercy being the first and Repentless being the most recent, released in 2015. By 2013 the band had sold 4.9 million albums in the United States.

Slayer have been nominated for five Grammy Awards for Best Metal Performance in 2002, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011. They won the title two years in a row in 2007 and 2008. They have also received two Kerrang! Awards in 2006 and 2013 for Kerrang! Hall Of Fame and Kerrang! Legend respectively.

One of their founding members Jeff Hanneman died in 2013 of liver failure in a hospital in Southern California. It was later established that the cause of death was related to cirrhosis as a result of alcohol abuse.

Moving over to Anthrax; the band was formed in 1981 by Scott Ian and Dan Lilker in New York City. Anthrax was the one one of the "Big Four" thrash metal bands who hailed from the East coast with Metallica, Megadeath and Slayer making up the other three.

Anthrax have released eleven studio albums with their debut being Fistful of Metal in 1984 and their most recent, For All Kings, being released this year. By 2013 the band had sold 2.5 million records in the United States alone with worldwide sales at an impressive 10 million.

The band has changed it's line up on numerous occasions but the current members are Scott Ian on guitar and vocals, Jonathan Donais on lead guitar, Frank Bello on bass and vocals, Charlie Benante on drums and Joey Belladonna on lead vocals. They are considered as one of the best live metal bands of all time and are a noteworthy influence for many metal and punk bands including the likes of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Bad Brains and Sex Pistols.