Canadian news site Metro recently caught up with Slayer guitarist Kerry King for an update on the band’s forthcoming album. A couple of excerpts from the chat can be found below.
The new album will be the band’s follow-up to 2009’s ‘World Painted Blood’ and first without guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who died earlier this year from alcohol-related cirrhosis.
King said that Slayer would continue to write the album, which was in the works before Hanneman’s death, in the same manner they always had: “To me, it will be business as usual as it can be. Usually by the time any idea was presented, I’d have finished it or Jeff would have it finished, so they were essentially finished songs. We’ll just move forward like that.”
Musically, King said that 14 songs were ready to go: “…I’ve finished seven of those lyrically. I’m way ahead of the game compared to where I was for World Painted Blood.”
He added that the songs were in the same vein as Slayer’s past material: “Fans don’t want you to change,” he explained. “How many fans do you think Metallica pissed off when they did Load and Reload? People like Slayer because it’s Slayer. You grow as a musician within your genre, not try and flip genres and become something else.”
King was also asked if Exodus guitarist Gary Holt, who has been acting as Slayer’s touring guitarist for close to three years, would be contributing to the album: “I’ve told Gary that I’d like him to play some leads, just to keep it interesting. We’ve always been a two guitar attack, so if you’re looking to have a segment like the Angel of Death lead trade-off, you can’t do that with one guitar.”
However, he said that Holt’s writing contributions to the album wouldn’t extend beyond that: “As far as Gary being a contributing writer, number one, fans aren’t ready for it, and number two, that’s like throwing somebody to the wolves.”
He explained that if a Holt penned Slayer song did happen, it wouldn’t be until the band’s next album: “I think if there’s another record after this one and Gary is still with us at that point, I think that will be a time where I say, ‘Hey dude, feel free to throw any riffs my way if you’re interested.’”