jeff hanneman RIP

I wanted to do a quick comment on the death of metal legend Jeff Hanneman.  This blog has a fair connection to organ failure, myself having a kidney transplant.  Any sort of organ failure is bullshit in my book.  Jeff's liver failure is suspected to be related to an untreated spider bite.  My sympathies go out to Mr. Hanneman's family and friends.

I don't want to sound like a brown noser but Hanneman was the element of slayer I always linked most.  All my favorite Slayer songs were written by Jeff.  He just had a sound I like.  The riffs were the thing and regardless of being at blazing speed or not, the remained the focus.  Tension and release are what I think of with Slayer and I think Jeff was the king of that.   He just had a great since of tone and mode in his music.  The groove that came to dominate metal in later years is nowhere taking over the riff and mood with Jeff.  Even Shredding takes a back seat to great riffs.