In the final week of the NFL regular season, the Las Vegas Raiders played a home game at Allegiant Stadium against the Kansas City Chiefs where the team's house band played a brief orchestral cover of Slayer's classic song "South of Heaven."
The song title, taken off Slayer's 1988 album of the same name, largely sums up the season on the whole for the Raiders, who failed to meet lofty expectations under first-year head coach and former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. The team suffered a 31-13 defeat at the hands of their AFC West rivals, who claimed the No. 1 AFC seed in the playoffs with their 14th win of the season.
Amid the ups and downs of a 4-3 record at home for the Raiders this season, there's at least consistency with the team's house band — a 19-piece ensemble led by composer, conductor and trumpeter David Perrico, featuring four singers, five horns, an all-woman six-piece string section, and a four-piece rhythm section.
As one may expect, the band backing the NFL's most metal-looking team (have you seen that fan in the photo up top?!) is well-versed in rock and metal, having covered Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" and Sammy Hagar's "There's Only One Way to Rock" during the 2021 season.
But it's their twist on "South of Heaven" that's particularly exciting, mainly because it's a pretty extreme song to play in front of more than 62,000 fans present at the regular season finale. Slayer aren't exactly mainstream, but King is also a huge Raiders fan, so that probably explains it. He was even featured on the big screen at Allegiant Stadium in December when the team played the Patriots and won at the very end of the game in one of the most bizarre finishes in NFL history.
Watch the house band's live performances further down the page.
Just don't expect to see Slayer play the song live again. Their 2019 retirement looks even more firm by the year with King recently expressing he felt "anger" over what he called a "premature" decision in calling it a career.
Now, it's the Raiders who will have to make major decisions about their own future, potentially parting ways with longtime quarterback Derek Carr prematurely. In the offseason in 2022, he renewed his contract with the team through the 2025 season, but it appears the Raiders will seek a trade partner despite Carr's no-trade clause after benching him and making him inactive for the final two games of the season.
The New York Jets, who have been starved of competent quarterback play for several years and have, so far, failed to develop 2021 No. 2 overall draft pick Zach Wilson, figure to be a contender to land Carr's services under center. The Washington Commanders, Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers and other teams also have major uncertainties at the quarterback position after missing the playoffs this season as well.
And as for King, he'll be playing for a new team, so to speak, still working behind the scenes on a new band that will feature Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph.
Las Vegas Raiders House Band Covers Slayer's "South of Heaven" (Jan. 7, 2023)
Las Vegas Raiders House Band Covers Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" (Sept. 13, 2021)
Las Vegas Raiders House Band Covers Sammy Hagar's "There's Only One Way to Rock" (Nov. 11, 2021)
Getting to Know the Las Vegas Raiders House Band
