Just over two years after contracting a rare skin tissue disease, Slayer guitarist and songwriter Jeff Hanneman died on Thursday from liver failure at a hospital near his home in Southern California's Inland Empire area.
Hanneman has been off the road since early 2011, when he contracted necrotizing fasciitis -- most likely from a spider bite -- a quick-progressing disease that literally eats away at the flesh from deep layers of skin and tissue. Exodus' Gary Holt stood in for Hanneman starting in February of 2011, while Pat O'Brien joined the band when Holt returned to Exodus during 2011.

It's not known what role the disease played in Hanneman's liver failure.