Re: Unholy Alliance tour

3
Blabbermouth says that song is "'Psychopathy Red,' a Jeff Hanneman-penned track that gives a chilling look into the twisted mind of Andrei Chikatilo, a notorious Russian serial killer."
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

Re: Unholy Alliance tour

6
_Marcus_ wrote:Araya hasn't sounded this good in years and years.
I know! The last five or so seconds are fucking sick.
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

Re: Unholy Alliance tour

7
holy shit. for the first time in a long time, i can safely say "i can't fucking wait for the new slayer album". crazy riffing, solid dave drums, tom sounding as close to old tom as possible.... a semblance of bass.... could be very good.

Re: new Slayer [2009]

8
two more albums left, maybe?
The Quietus wrote:Slayer: We Could Thrash Out Two More Albums If We're Fast Enough . . .

Recent reports that Slayer are preparing to hang up the spiked arm band, may have been a little premature, says Kerry King to John Doran backstage at the Hammersmith Apollo.

While interviewing Kerry King for a Pulling Focus feature in The Stool Pigeon music paper, we were party to some very interesting news indeed. That Slayer have another two albums left in them. At least.

Earlier this year singer/bassist with the thrash metal titans, Tom Araya, told Superman's Dad Jor El McIver, a music journalist writing for Thrash Hits that he found the idea of 50-year-old men headbanging "cringe" worthy: "Seeing a 50-year-old man headbanging on stage would make me cringe. If I was watching that, I’d think, ‘Dude, you’re a little too old for that, aren’t you? You’re gonna fall off!’" This was taken to mean that the band, all in their mid to late 40s, only had one album left to release.

However, King maintains that if they get their MASSIVE BOOTS on, this could mean another two albums at least. Confused? Then you're probably as old as Slayer but not as AWESOME! Get some go-faster stripes tattooed down the side of your head and GET WITH THE PROGRAMME!

The master shredder, King explained: "We've only played together for the first month in thirteen months of not playing together recently so I had the first vacation of not playing in my life you know. We're talking of going in the studio next February and getting the next record out so if we do things in a timely manner I don't see there's any reason why we can't have more than one album out. So if we do get a record out next year - and everything's pointing to yes - before the summer time when we tour that I'd want to start working on another one because we're all having a good time. I think the time's gonna come when somebody just says: 'I'm done. I don't wanna do this any more.' Because we've been doing it more than half of our lives. [starts laughing] But I'm having a blast! You saw the show yesterday - I had a blast yesterday. I'm going to have more of a blast today because I'm more familiar with the set we're doing."

Saying that if the band did split up he could pretty much play with "anybody who is anybody" but he wouldn't consider becoming a producer or working with another band at the same level as Slayer: "I don't have the patience to be a producer. I don't know how those people do that because I'll get it really close to good, and it sounds great, but I know it's not good enough really. I mean I get tired of playing the songs so I would also get tired of telling someone to play it again. I would say 'Fuck it. Get the fuck out of here. We're done.' [laughs] You know, I'd be the asshole producer! But I've got so many friends in this business - more than any one else [in Slayer] because I hang out more so I've got a lot of options and I could just about play with anybody who is anybody. I wouldn't have to start over but I'm certainly not going to start another career as long as this one."

When asked if it was harder not just physically but psychologically to get in the zone and get, well, Slayerized before a gig, he replied: "The only hard thing about it is the beginning of the tour - we're only on the fourth show - and stuff hurts. You've got to get your neck happening, you've got to get your back happening, you're gonna get leg cramps from having to stand in that way. Even in practice you're not standing like you would in a full on show. Last night was the first night that didn't hurt and it felt good. Now I can stop worrying about saving stuff up for tonight because it's not going to hurt tonight."

He shrugged off suggestions that particular songs, such as 'Angel Of Death' and 'Necrophobic' were harder to achieve: "Our whole set is based on speed except for a heavy song here or there. It's just about having enough time to prepare yourself for the assault that is the stage, y'know?"

He also said that he and Jeff had not been jamming together so much despite the fact that they were working on new material: "We don't really do that any more. We haven't done that so much recently because we all live so far apart. It's not like when we used to be in Tom's garage all afternoon with one of us playing drums and the other one playing guitar. A lot of the time when we see each other we've finished the songs. You know, if I'm stuck on something I'll say 'Hey, I can't finish this.' and he does the same thing. And sometimes I'll be playing a riff in rehearsals and he'll say 'What's that?' and I'll be like 'Something I have no idea what the fuck to do with.' and he'll do something with it. That's how he got the intro to 'Bloodline'. It was just a riff I was playing and he put it together with another song and it was done."

King conceded that audiences for his band weren't as rough as they used to be in the 80s adding: "Maybe there is more looking going on. They want to see the spectacle of Slayer going on. And I think they pick and choose their songs - it really depends. Yesterday, there was a lot of people watching then I think we did 'Raining Blood' and there was a gigantic tornado of people going on. So I think maybe they just waited for the song that they wanted to go off for. But there's no rules out there and the cool thing is that Tom will never tell people what to do. He just says 'Have a good time' and that's it. He doesn't say 'Form a circle pit right now' or 'I need to see all the people over there go like this' or cheerleading as I call it. I think people are there to see us do what we do not to have us tell them what to do."

He concluded that the cameraderie of the fans was as strong as ever however and that the infamous "Slayyarrrghhh!" roar could be heard in some strange places: "You hear it at random show where we're not playing. A buddy of mine took his daughter to see Britney Spears and he heard someone shouting 'Slayer!' in the middle of it! They're a strange bunch!"

Re: new Slayer [2009]

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RollingStone wrote:Slayer in the Studio: Loud, Fast and Ready to Thrash
Shredding on Dimebag's guitar and bashing religion as the metal vets prep their 10th album

Some things can be counted on at a Slayer recording session. "Can I interest you in something fast and aggressive?" asks producer Greg Fidelman. He's sitting beside guitarist Kerry King at the Pass Studios in Los Angeles, where Slayer are working on a still-untitled album planned for a summer release, and cues up a new metal track with the working title "Build Up." King is ready to thrash.

He's already tapped the Jägermeister machine upstairs, and is now bent over a custom camouflage guitar, his black combat boots on the hardwood floor in the studio control room. King is plugged simultaneously into four amps, each one given a name: The Beast, Hot Ticket Deux, BLS and GF11. Fidelman rolls "Build Up," and King begins overdubbing bits and pieces of intricate metal melody and a harsh, aggressive riff, his eyes closed, nodding to the intense recorded beats of drummer Dave Lombardo. King's strumming hand is a blur, like a wasp in flight.

"Man, I don't even remember it being that fast," King says with a laugh after one take. "We're fucking flying!"

A pair of candles burn nearby, and a large chart lists the songs in progress, most with descriptive working titles, including "7 String," "Drop B" and "Industrial," along with "Psychopathy Red," recorded last October and already leaked online. Slayer are still in the early stages of recording, just five weeks in, working out ideas for what will be an 11-song album, released in July, in time for the summer's second Mayhem Festival tour with Marilyn Manson. Lyrics still wait to be written. Rick Rubin, who produced the band's landmark 1986 album Reign in Blood, is executive producing.

"Why do I write this shit at my age? It's fucking brutal," says King, 44, his head shaved and tattooed. "It's exciting to be part of it and I'm excited to be writing this heavy fucking shit. It's still in the blood."

During this night's session, some friends arrive for a visit. One of them is Rita Haney, wife of the late "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, and she's brought one of the Pantera veteran's old guitars. It's a blue V-shaped electric from the early-'80s, and she's hoping King will give it a try. "That was his holy grail," she says, handing it to King's guitar tech. She notices a snapshot taped to the Beast of King boozing it up with Darrell and Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde. "Ah, the triple threat."

Slayer have survived nearly 30 years since forming in Orange County in 1981, creating the metal-punk collision known as thrash in league with Metallica and other malcontents, inspired by the likes of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. The band's 2009 album will be Slayer's second with the original lineup since Lombardo returned in 2002, a full decade after his acrimonious break from the band.

"Dave needed to be away from us, and we needed to be away from him," says King now. "He's played with some musicians, not just dumb-ass thrash guitar players. That only makes us better when we apply thrash, and he applies his drums to what we're doing. He's had 12 years of different schooling that he may never have gotten. When he came back, we were all grown up now, and nobody had problems or issues. It was cool."

The process of making Slayer records hadn't changed much in Lombardo's absence. "We're trying to capture our live sound, and I play fucking loud," says King, whose favorite subjects remain bleak themes of insanity, death and "religion-bashing, making people think for themselves." A prime example was 2001's God Hates Us All, a title King now has tattooed in huge Gothic letters along his left arm.

Rush-hour traffic is enough to fuel the rage. "All I need is a day in public and I'm tired of people," King says of his typical lyric-writing inspirations. "People need a lot guidance, and there's not a lot of guidance out there, so there's a lot of situations that are very maddening to me."

At home between tours and recording sessions, King spends his free hours watching football, raising Carpet Python snakes and checking out new metal bands. He's a fan of Marilyn Manson and expects to share a few glasses on absinthe on the road with the shock-rocker this summer, as both acts induct another generation of fresh new metal fans.

"In the last 10 years, we've had girls in the pit, throwin' with dudes and holding their own every step in the way," says King. "It used to be girls were girls, and they might show up with their boyfriends. Now girls are fuckin' into it. And they let you know."

Heavy metal parents also bring the kids. "You'd be surprised how many fucking diapers I've signed," says King.

Singer Tom Araya credits Slayer's longevity to a core mission based not just on speed but on a persona that's darker and heavier than the rest, despite such signs of mainstream acceptance as Grammy nominations and awards. "I credit that to kids discovering Slayer in junior high school," says Araya, at the studio in a black corduroy hoodie, strands of gray in his goatee. "Or the friend hanging out with his buddy who's listening to something he thinks is heavy. And he goes, 'Ha! Heavy?' It's like the Twilight Zone movie: You want to hear something really heavy? Listen to this."

Outside the door of the Slayer sessions is a sign, lifted from some local club: "Absolutely no ins or outs — two drink minimum." Earlier, Araya was wailing and raging some vocal melody ideas for one of guitarist Jeff Hanneman's tunes, but right now the focus is building up King's 2:51 minutes of thrash and burn.

The speed of the tune is almost too much in places, and King rips through a few takes before he's satisfied. But he gets there quickly enough, finishing initial overdubs for three songs in just one session. He then hands the camouflage guitar to his tech, whose eyes grow wider as he says, probably not for the first time, "The strings are hot!"

Re: new Slayer [2009]

10
And we have an album title:
BLABBERMOUTH.NET can exclusively reveal that California thrashers SLAYER have set "World Painted Blood" as the title of their new album, tentatively due late summer via American Recordings/Columbia Records. The forthcoming CD is being produced by Greg Fidelman and will include the album's title track and "Psychopathy Red" (both of which are Jeff Hanneman-penned tunes), the latter of which was made available as a limited-edition seven-inch vinyl disc on April 18, 2009 as part of the third annual Record Store Day.
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

Re: new Slayer [2009]

11
Dave's been talking up the album in interviews the past couple of months. Been meaning to post these.

The News Tribune:
The News Tribune: What kind of sound are you channeling on the new record? And how far into it are you?

Lombardo: If it isn't done it's almost there. I would have to say it's unlike any record SLAYER's done since "Seasons of the Abyss".

The News Tribune: So you're channeling some "Abyss" sound on there.

Lombardo: Yes. We're basically taking off from "Seasons of the Abyss". It has a nice variety. It has a great groove, the whole thing. This producer, Greg Fidelman, that did the METALLICA record, he's done an amazing job on my drums and the production. Like I said, it's taking off from where Rick Rubin left off.

The News Tribune: You said some of the songs have a nice "groove." You guys are known for your blistering tempos. Are you slowing the songs down?

Lombardo: Yeah, there's fast and faster for SLAYER. What we've always had but maybe never really paid attention to is this kind of mid-tempo drive that SLAYER could achieve or I could achieve as a drummer. And we focused on that and elaborated a little on that. There's the fast stuff and mid-tempo; a little slower stuff that ends up fast. I think it's a well put together record as far as variety goes. ... It has peaks and valleys.
KNAC.COM:
KNAC.COM: Since "Psychopathy Red" is the only thing anyone has heard from the [upcoming SLAYER] album ["World Painted Blood"] so far, the $64,000 question is obviously what's the rest of the album like?

Lombardo: Very punk, very edgy. It's real. It doesn't sound over-processed. It's a very well-constructed and put-together album. I'm so excited about it. It's been a long time since I felt like that. I can only compare it to our earlier records, "Reign In Blood", "South of Heaven", "Seasons", it has a real feel to me like we were talking about earlier. It's a record that was collectively put together. Whenever we had an opinion about something on a song, maybe something should be extended or shortened or maybe we should add this other part in, whatever it was it was, that opinion was heard and we performed it that way to see what it felt like. So it was a collective effort, on everyone's part, from the beginning with the foundation with the drums to now with the vocals. I couldn't be any happier.

KNAC.COM: Since you had just gotten back on board with the band, did the "Christ Illusion" process feel much different?

Lombardo: Yeah, it was a whole other feeling. Things were still new to me, things were still new to the band. I had been out of SLAYER for 10 years. They had done three records with Paul [Bostaph]. I think "Christ Illusion" was good, but I this record just has something that that one did not. It's structured well. The melodies are great. You're probably thinking, "SLAYER? Melodies?" But go back to "South of Heaven" and listen to the melodies that were on those songs. Even "Reign In Blood" had an amount melody, which made it listenable. And that's what we have here. There's a lot of energy, a lot of speed, but there's melody to tie it all together. As far as I'm concerned, to me, it's a very, very good record.
Sun Media:
On the new SLAYER album, which — according to the band's publicist, is titled "World Painted Blood" (something that Lombardo appears to be unaware of):

Lombardo: "It's not done. There's no title. We haven't done artwork. They're only about 3/4 done mixing. But I have to say that it compares to the classics — 'Reign in Blood', 'South of Heaven' and 'Seasons in the Abyss'. And I wouldn't say that if I didn't mean it. [Singer-bassist Tom Araya's] vocal melody and singing approach is very listener-friendly — not in a way where people are going to say, 'Dude, they went commercial.' No way. It's just more melodic. People are scared of the word melody because maybe it sounds like a happy word. But you can have very dark, extreme music with melody. It's not something to be afraid of. There's only good music and bad music — and good music has hooks and something to carry you through and entertain you."
Blabbermouth:
Q: What can we expect from the new album? Anything drum-wise that'll surprise people?

Dave Lombardo: A lot, actually. A lot of the stuff I did this time had more thought [put into it], in terms of variations of drum parts. We'd take one section of a song, and put a variety of beats behind it, and then choose, or use the same beat but varying them slightly, [as simple as] leaving a bass drum out — very little things, which we had time to do, thanks to the producer. He took the time at rehearsals to go through and make suggestions. He would question me, we'd run stuff past Kerry... Kerry was really open to suggestions and ideas, and so was Jeff. I think the result, on this record, is really SLAYER at its finest. I may be jumping the gun here, it's my own personal view of it — I could be wrong. But the album starts from its foundation, which is the drums, and that directs how things flow. And that part was amazing. And then I started hearing the leads, and it was even cooler — the leads really speak to you. It's not just the same old leads, they're on a different level. And the vocals — the melodies are amazing! There's actually the kind of vocal melodies that "South of Heaven" had. I mean, even "Reign in Blood" had some melodies, in its own way — and that's what this record has. I'm impressed with it, I'm happy, and I can't wait 'till the fans get a hold of it.

Q: A whole generation of metal drummers grew up listening to you, and are now taking the craft to new levels. Are you ever influenced by the younger guys who you inspired?

Dave Lombardo: Absolutely. A perfect example would be blast beats. Somebody else developed that, I didn't — I think it's safe to say that it's okay for me to take those ideas that they developed and interpret them in my own way... like they did with me. They listened to what I did and took it to the next level, but then I listen to what they do and I take it somewhere else. It's a sharing thing. I'm not ever gonna be able to make private, or copyright, my drum ideas, but what I can do is — if they copy me, I can [learn from] them too, why not? I do take drummers' ideas and interpret them my way. On "Supremist" [from 2006's "Christ Illusion"] I did a blast beat, but it was brief. On this record, I added a little more. And it's great, and it fits really well, and the way I play it is different — I make it talk, instead of being like a typewriter [imitates 'tap tap tap' sound]. I make it flow a little better, I'll give it more feeling.

...

Q: Do you think the other projects you've been in, and the variety of music you've played over the years, keeps you from falling into a rut when you play metal?

Dave Lombardo: Playing with FANTOMAS, playing with [Mike] Patton, playing with John Zorn, Bill Laswell — all those jazz, avant-garde, insane musicians — has helped me not only take my drumming to the next level of playing and performance, but — let's say, my approach. When I approach a rhythm, or a piece of music, and I need to improvise and find something, instead of two "drawers" in my brain where I can pick out drum pieces, now I have ten. It's helped me immensely, and I'm very grateful and thankful to be part of all that. Hopefully one day, I'll perform with them again — I miss them. It's a different musical world.

Q: Did you find that being a "metal drummer" stigmatized you in the more mainstream music community, or that your accomplishments weren't taken as seriously?

Dave Lombardo: [pauses] No, I really wasn't. That didn't drive me. It was a personal thing. When I was at rehearsal, or in my own studio, I just felt that I could do so much more. It was a personal achievement rather than a competitive thing. I don't think I work that way — I'm just trying to push my own threshold and get as far as I can musically, without being competitive or bitter.
Dave's take on blast beats is very interesting...
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.

Re: new Slayer [2009]

13
holy shit, an o-dot sighting!!!! O_O

saw them last week. while they sounded like shit, they were amazingly tight, played a great set, and were just plain awesome. dave was stunning.

i decided after psychopathy red i wasn't listening to any more new stuff until the album comes out. here's hoping the quality keeps up.

Re: new Slayer [2009]

15
And track listing:
01. World Painted Blood
02. Unit 731
03. Snuff
04. Beauty Through Order
05. Hate Worldwide
06. Public Display Of Dismemberment
07. Human Strain
08. Americon
09. Psychopathy Red
10. Playing With Dolls
11. Not Of This God
This is a snakeskin jacket. And for me it's a symbol of my individuality and my belief in personal freedom.