California thrash metal icons Slayer will commemorate the 40th anniversary of their landmark third album, Reign In Blood, with a special performance at the first-ever Sick New World Texas festival. The event is set for October 24, 2026, at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Joining the lineup are Evanescence, The Prodigy, Marilyn Manson, Knocked Loose, AFI, Ministry, Mastodon, Power Trip, and several other major acts.
Slayer’s most recent U.S. East Coast appearance took place on September 20, 2025, at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where they performed for a crowd of 30,000 fans. Just two days before that, the band delivered a set at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky. The Kentucky show was the group’s fourth full concert of 2025, following their return performances at the 35,000-capacity Blackweir Fields in Cardiff, the 45,000-capacity Finsbury Park in London, and the massive 100,000-capacity Festival D’été De Québec in Canada.
Earlier that summer, Slayer also joined Black Sabbath to help celebrate the legendary band’s farewell concert, Back To The Beginning, held on July 5 at Villa Park in Birmingham, England. The thrash veterans performed a six-song set as part of the sold-out event, which honored Black Sabbath’s monumental career.
The lineup for all of Slayer’s recent reunion shows in 2024 and 2025 has remained identical to the group’s final touring lineup in 2019, featuring guitarist Kerry King, drummer Paul Bostaph, bassist and vocalist Tom Araya, and guitarist Gary Holt.
Originally released on October 7, 1986, through Def Jam Recordings, Reign In Blood marked Slayer’s first collaboration with producer Rick Rubin, a partnership that helped refine and intensify the band’s sound. The album is widely regarded as one of the defining records in heavy metal history. Kerrang! magazine famously called it “the heaviest album of all time” and credited it with setting new standards in both thrash and speed metal.
Reign In Blood was also a commercial breakthrough for Slayer, becoming their first album to chart on the Billboard 200, debuting at No. 94. On November 20, 1992, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awarded the record gold certification for surpassing 500,000 copies sold — a testament to its lasting impact and influence on generations of metal fans.
