Credit W.B. Fontenot

More than 1,000 fans are expected at this year's Thrasho de Mayo festival, drawn by rising upstart local metal acts and some of the genre's heaviest hitters.

But no one expected it to get so big. Particularly not Esther Gutierrez, a housewife who put the first one together at the Whisky A Go Go in 2006. At the time, she had no idea she was helping to birth a resurgence in Los Angeles thrash metal.

"I was just a mom helping her son's band," Gutierrez explains, adding that back then she knew next to nothing about the genre. Her son, Carlos, had just turned 18 and was drumming in Fueled by Fire, a local metal group primarily playing backyard shows. "Initially, they were having trouble booking club shows because they were all teenagers," she says. "I felt for the kids and wanted to help them out."

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flickr/edvill

Jeff Hanneman

Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman passed last week.

He died of liver failure, at the Hemet Valley Memorial Hospital. He was 49.

Although the rhythmic heart and soul of one of the heaviest bands in modern music, Hanneman was known as a soft-spoken, easygoing dude.

See also: Our Jeff Hanneman obituary

To pay tribute, we've reached out to players and peers he performed and spent time with for nearly three decades.

Below, members of Anthrax, Megadeth, Testament and others -- including Slash -- reflect on Hanneman and his contributions, and how he will be remembered.

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Cauldron

Tuesday, May 7

Cauldron
Five Stars Bar
Toronto bassist/vocalist Jason Decay was near the forefront of last decade's revival of classic metal sounds, with his previous band Goat Horn. With his current outfit Cauldron, the brand of thrash falls more on the melodic side, taking strong influence from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal of yesteryear. The guitar shreds and vocal harmonies on the group's newest album Tomorrow's Lost has a warm, vintage feel that would sound perfect on a turntable after some classic Judas Priest.

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Los Angeles black metal demons Lightning Swords of Death have some evil sounds on their new album, Baphometic Chaosium. It almost sounds like the work of an early '90s Scandinavian band. For insight into how L.A. inspires him, then, we reached out to the group's front man Autarch. Ahead of their show Saturday at The Black Castle, he sent us this amazing essay below on what, exactly, makes Los Angeles metal.

What's metal about Los Angeles? I believe that question holds an entirely different meaning to Lightning Swords of Death than one might assume. What is not metal is the Sunset Strip, tits, cocaine, or the fact that you can track down Lemmy at the Rainbow for metal wisdom, or some such bullshit. It's the fact that this city is a living, breathing '80s occult thrash metal album cover. Ah, mother Babylon, I love you so. Forever my inspiration, she is.

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Ensiferum

Tuesday, Apr 2
Ensiferum, Tyr
House of Blues Sunset Strip
The annual Paganfest tour has become one of our favorite regular metal tours. Finland's Ensiferum is grounded heavily in orchestral folk metal, but maintains a galloping pace that keeps headbangers moving in the pit. Denmark's Tyr has more in common with Viking metal bands like Amon Amarth and has no orchestration or folk instruments to be found, but tales of journeys and battles from many years ago are common inspirations for both bands. There are no references to modern life to be found here, and we're okay with that.

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Anthrax's Scott Ian (second from left)

Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian is playing songs from the band's 1987 thrash metal masterpiece Among The Living and their new covers record Anthems on tour right now. He's also taken on a second gig hosting Fangoria's Blood and Guts, a YouTube series on The Nerdist Channel in which he meets with masters of horror movies. Ahead of Anthrax's show at House of Blues tonight, we talked with him about films that get his skin crawling.

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Black Sabbath

Ok, we get it. You like Sabbath. Everyone does. But there's a whole big world out there of '70s metal bands that goes beyond Sabbath -- even beyond Sir Lord Baltimore, if you can believe that. The '70s offered so much in the way of doom-and-gloom heaviness that it's criminal so many stop with Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and that other guy. If you're out of high school and still think Vol. 4 is the pinnacle of human heavy metal achievement, it's time to get with the program.

See also: The 20 Greatest Metal Albums in History

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Do you want a list of every outrageous thing Dave Mustaine has ever said? It exists.

The bar has closed. You are standing outside with friends. You have failed at attempts to hook up for the evening. But just as you have given up hope for the night, you encounter a hot metal chick or dude that has just left the metal show at the venue next door. Drunken conversation has started, but, alas, you know nothing about the band they have just seen. Fail! Use the following websites to brush up on your metal knowledge so that next time you'll have something to say other than just, "How drunk are you?"

Metal Sucks
This site is the TMZ of the heavy metal world, combining both breaking news and gossip-mongering. If someone in the metal community does or says something stupid, this site will be on top of it...and won't let it go. The site's never-ending chronicle of every outrageous thing Dave Mustaine says is a great example.

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Saturday, Mar 2
Meshuggah
The Wiltern
"I Am Colossus" is both the title track of Meshuggah's 2012 album Koloss, and the mission statement of the Swedish metal group -- after all, their off-kilter polyrhythmic riffs and drums have influenced dozens of bands. Their sound is anchored by the fantastically harsh screams of vocalist Jens Kidman, who pulverizes all into dust with his throat-shredding approach. With Weekly favorites Animals As Leaders and Intronaut.

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When music from Los Angeles metal group The Faceless' newest album, Autotheism, began to leak out into the blogosphere last summer, fans were divided, and so were critics. "A botched experiment of sorts," opined SputnikMusic.com; "razor sharp," countered ThePRP.com.

The 20 Greatest Metal Albums in History

The group's previous work, 2008's Planetary Duality, had gained near-universal accolades for its impressive display of death-metal brutality, anchored by the dizzying guitar work of Eagle Rock native and band co-founder Michael Keene. Their fan base grew through their venerated live show, as well as high-profile tours with acts like Lamb of God and Meshuggah.

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