War Ensemble: Slayer Returns With New Album

To be perfectly honest, I’ve never considered myself the biggest fan of Slayer. I’ve always known of their music because I discovered them at the same time I discovered all the other so-called “Big Four” bands (Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax) – and as much as I’ve always loved certain songs from the band and appreciated their live performances, they’ve always been my least favorite out of the Big Four. Especially upon hearing “Diabolus in Musica” years ago, I remember thinking their style was really not my cup of tea and I lost interest in Slayer for a few years after that. What got me interested in them again was “Christ Illusion” from 2006. I still think it’s a solid album and I have been actively following their new releases ever since. I was particularly interested in writing about Slayer at this time because we now have their newest album – Repentless – and I think it’s their best work in a long time. It’s all the more amazing to me since it came at a point where the band was forced to go through major changes and question whether they would continue or not.

Slayer, for the most part, had a pretty consistent line-up over the years, except for drummers. You had Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman on guitars, Tom Araya on bass and vocals, and the drummer was either Dave Lombardo (who’s the better known drummer in the band) or Paul Bostaph. This, of course, is taking only studio albums into account as the band had other drummers like Jon Dette who helped them on some live shows. It’s an impressive stat considering the fact that metal bands go through a lot more line-up changes than that! This consistency was immensely helpful as the band was able to develop a certain sound that they became known for over the years while establishing themselves as a killer live band. After “World Painted Blood” was released in 2009, things seemed as good as they always had been for the Slayer camp. They were never going to be a huge commercial success like Metallica – few metal bands can – but they had a considerable following and were drawing big crowds anytime and anywhere they played.

In 2011 news broke out that Jeff Hanneman, a co-founder and a major contributor to songwriting in the band, was going to miss out on the upcoming tours because he had contracted necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating bacteria, as a result of a spider bite. He was in a bathtub at a friend’s house when it happened. He went to the hospital a few days later and it was as serious as it looked. When Kerry King was on Chris Jericho’s podcast, he mentioned that it was so bad that “it didn’t look like an arm” to him when Jeff sent some pictures. Hanneman’s doctor said “first I’m gonna try to save your life, then I’m gonna try to save your arm, then I’m gonna try to save your career”. That’s how bad the situation was.

When this happened, Slayer was about to go to Australia to play a few shows. They were also committed to almost an entire year’s worth of touring all around the world after that. They didn’t know when, if at all, Jeff would be able to come back. So if they didn’t want to cancel any performances, they were going to need a replacement for all 2011 dates. It’s important to remember that the ambiguity surrounding Jeff’s situation wasn’t the only reason they felt like they had to find a way to fulfill their contractual obligations. Tom Araya, in 2009 and 2010, had severe back problems to the point that he had to go through operations; and a lot of shows had to be cancelled because of that. To have to cancel a whole bunch of shows all over again, one tour after another, would have put the band in a very difficult position with promoters and fans – not to mention, it would have cost them a lot of potential income as metal bands make most of their money from touring.

For Slayer, only one name came to mind: Gary Holt. Gary has known the guys in Slayer for a very long time as he is from the same generation of musicians who started the early thrash metal movement in the ’80s. Since then, he has been the guitarist and main songwriter of Exodus, a legendary metal band in its own right. He is indeed super talented and has the respect of pretty much every metal guitarist you can name out there. Kerry King said he believed that Gary was not getting the recognition he deserved because he wasn’t in a “popular enough band” but that he was an “innovator” just like Glenn Tipton (one of King’s heroes). It turns out King had called Holt before, in 2010, just to ask “if I ever do anything, would you be into it?” when there wasn’t even any music or live shows to talk about. Holt said yes. In 2011, right before the tour in Australia, King called him again, this time to ask him if he would want to join Slayer for the 2011 tour – and Holt said yes to that too. That’s how it all started. 4 years later, Holt is still touring with Slayer and remains an active member of Exodus as well.

Another major development in the Slayer camp happened in February 2013 when Dave Lombardo, long-time drummer of the band who had come back to Slayer in 2001 after quitting in 1992, revealed that he was not joining the band on their Australian tour. He posted a message on his Facebook page that basically pointed to a huge financial disagreement over the distribution of tour income. He said he was hopeful that the issue could be resolved; but that never happened because the rest of the band saw the issue differently. Tom Araya said in a later interview that Lombardo had been given a contract that would have worked for everybody but he refused to sign it. When Slayer decided to fire Dave Lombardo over the financial disagreement, they were about to go to Australia for another tour and according to Kerry they only had 8 days to find a replacement. What was more challenging is that they needed somebody who also already had an Australian visa as there was not enough time to start a new application. Luckily they found Jon Dette; he was filling in for Charlie Benante in Anthrax on the same festival and he had already briefly played with Slayer in the ‘90s so it all worked out. After the festival, Paul Bostaph, who had played in the band for most of the ‘90s up until he quit in 2001, came back into the band as a permanent replacement and he still remains as an active member.

Slayer had already had to deal with a lot of changes and hardship by early 2013 but everyone always expected Jeff to come back. There were positive signs here and there too. In April 2011 Hanneman joined Slayer on stage for two songs during the “Big Four” show in Indio, California. And in 2012, even though he still sat out the tours in that year, the band announced that Jeff had been in rehab doing exercises to regain strength in his arm and that he had been playing guitar. So as far as the fans were concerned, we were getting positive news – at least positive enough to suggest that it was only a matter of time before Jeff came back into the band he had co-founded. Unfortunately that never happened. News came on May 2nd 2013 that Hanneman had passed away due to liver failure, at 49 years of age.

I remember being super shocked – especially after having read all the positive indications in the press. I was also confused about the “liver failure” cited in the news articles. I knew Jeff was recovering from all the skin grafts he had to go through and he was trying to regain muscle memory; but what did all of this have to do with his liver? Fans found out later that his death, while in a way triggered by the flesh eating bacteria, did not have all that much to do with it. The official cause of death was revealed a few days later as “alcohol-related cirrhosis”. That, to me, was another surprise; but it turned out that the band and those close to him were kind of aware of what was happening. They knew that things were not really okay with Jeff.

Later interviews with bandmates showed the darker side of the picture. Drinking was always a part of Jeff’s life and it got worse as time went on. Kerry King noted in a Guitar World interview that while they both drank (referring to the two of them as “Drunk Brothers”), he didn’t need a beer as the first thing in the morning; but Jeff “didn’t know how not to drink.” His wife Kathryn, who married Jeff in 1989 and was always there with him until the day he died, said that she would voice her concerns and Jeff would scale back on the drinking for a while; but then would go right back to it. At some point, she said she noticed “that Jeff was relying on alcohol to start off his day” and even though she tried to help him she said she couldn’t because “he just relied on it too much to get him through the day.” Things got particularly worse when Jeff’s father, with whom he was very close, passed away in 2008. In the same Guitar World interview, Kathryn says “that was the hardest thing he ever had to face in his entire life.”  And after 2011 when he had to sit out multiple Slayer tours with no real prospect of getting back to playing, he was struggling both physically and emotionally. No one could convince him to go to more rehab or therapy. He wanted to do this on his own terms; but not being able to play with the band, not being able to play guitar as well as he used to, and having to deal with the pain of recovering from that awful disease all took a toll on him. Combining all of these with dependence on alcohol brought the final decline. Tom Araya and Kerry King have both also suggested that they tried to help, but they weren’t able to. They knew what was happening, and they knew the kind of bad news they would someday receive. They just didn’t know when.

In the end, all of these discussions ended in agreement. They worked it out and Slayer released “Repentless”, their twelfth studio album, on September 11th 2015.

The album contained many firsts – first without Jeff Hanneman, and first, in almost 15 years, without Dave Lombardo. But it also was the first without the backing of Rick Rubin’s American Recordings (formerly known as Def American) since “Reign In Blood” was released in 1986. The band was not happy with the lack of responses from Rubin leading up to the recording of the album, so they went with a popular label from Europe that is home to many metal artists: Nuclear Blast. The band also intended to work with producer Greg Fidelman, who worked on “World Painted Blood”, but according to Araya, Rubin took him to work on other projects, possibly on what will become Metallica’s next record. The band was not pleased at all. But I think it led to a collaboration much more suited for Slayer’s sound as Terry Date, whom I knew from the Pantera albums he had produced, ended up getting the job. I think Terry made a big difference! The overall production of this album is pretty awesome – that was the very first thing I noticed when I listened to it. The guitars sound much more aggressive and they are a little louder in the mix, while the drums retain a natural sound so it gives it almost a “live” vibe. Seriously, the moment the album kicks in, you can tell that you’ll be hearing something very different compared to the last few albums.

Of course it’s not just the sound that makes me think this album is definitely worth a listen. I think the songwriting is really good too. The reality of the situation is that if you’ve never liked Slayer, not even their most popular albums from the ‘80s, I can’t see you enjoying this one either. But if you liked Slayer at some point, and then stopped paying attention because you didn’t like the direction the band took in the ‘90s or later, then I would highly recommend checking this one out. It is unmistakably Slayer and I think the songwriting offers a lot more variety than before – variety in Slayer terms of course, don’t expect a blues song in the middle! There’s unapologetically fast songs like the title track, slower songs that showcase the groovier side of the band, there’s some with a punk vibe in certain songs and lots of guitar solos. On the topic of solos – I think one of the reasons why Slayer has never become a big favorite of mine over the years is that I’ve never really liked the soloing in the band. On this album, Gary Holt, who didn’t contribute to songwriting but did play leads, brought a fresh approach to soloing for the band which I really loved hearing.

There is one song on the album written by Jeff Hanneman called “Piano Wire”. It was intended for the “World Painted Blood” sessions in 2009 but didn’t make it to the album. The band liked the song a lot so they re-recorded it. Unfortunately Jeff doesn’t play on the song – Kerry King has been playing all rhythm guitar tracks in the studio since the ‘90s and because the album was recorded after Jeff’s passing he wasn’t able to play any solos either. But it’s still great to know that you get to see Hanneman credited for a song on the new Slayer album! King confirmed there is one more song that Jeff had started but they didn’t have time to add it to this one so hopefully we’ll hear at least one more from Jeff.

Reading all these online reviews on other sites, I can easily tell that opinions are hugely divided on this album. Some love it, some say it’s boring. It is to be expected with any metal release, so I’m not surprised. It’s all a matter of taste, right? But no matter what you may think of the album, I think you’ve got to appreciate what the band was able to do given the circumstances of the last few years. They almost broke up; but instead came back with arguably one of their best work and they are still touring around the world, playing new material as well as the classics. Of course, some people just think that Slayer should have broken up because Jeff and Dave are not there. I totally understand where they come from; but I think it’s a little unfair. Kerry King and Tom Araya are also founding members and they wanted to keep going. King was determined to continue all along. It took Tom some time to come around; but eventually he and Kerry saw eye to eye and made the decision. That doesn’t mean Jeff’s memory is gone. Also think about the prospect of their careers. If Kerry and Tom had broken the band up and tried solo albums or other collaborations, that never would have sold a lot of copies and never would have been enough to go on successful tours – whether you like it or not, Slayer is a brand name in the world of heavy metal and these people have to make a living, just like you and I. That does not make them greedy. It’s easy to say “break up the band” because we as fans tend to get a little carried away when it’s about our favorite bands – but in Slayer’s case, I understand why they wanted to continue and I wish them nothing but good luck.

Kerry usually gets the “blame” on most decisions these days. I know sometimes he comes across as extremely arrogant because he has a super chilled attitude in general (watch any interview) and he is a very blunt man. These make him look like he doesn’t care about anything or anyone; but if you look at what he is saying, you know that’s not the case. You definitely don’t have to agree with the moves he’s making, or like his music for that matter, but it is unfair when people call him names or accuse him of not caring about his band-mate of almost 30 years just because he didn’t react to certain situations the way they expected or spoke candidly on his relationship with other people. I have read tons of interviews where people from the metal community said Kerry King was actually one of the nicest people they’d ever met. Gary Holt, who has his own band and was already an established musician before joining Slayer, has no problem working with Kerry. That goes to show you that social media comments on metal musicians do not reflect who they really are – it is always better to read the interviews yourself. Kerry’s focus has solely been on new Slayer music and he absolutely didn’t want anything to get in the way of that. Plus, when you maintain a band for more than 30 years, you are bound to make some tough calls and have some difficult conversations. You will not be popular for them; but someone has to make those calls. That’s how you move forward. When the band needed him to write an entire album on his own, he pulled it off. The band needed that to carry on. I certainly respect him for that.

So there it is. A new chapter for Slayer. Time will tell if they will do another new album but as for right now, they remain an active band. They are currently on tour and everyone in the band seems to be having a good time. I hope they continue to release new material and I hope they allow Gary Holt to contribute to songwriting next time too. Slayer is a big name in metal – has remained that way for more than 30 years – and that is impressive and most certainly, rare.

“No looking back, no regrets, no apologies.
What you get is what you see.
Live fast, on high,
Repentless, let it ride!”

Sources and Additional Reading:
http://www.guitarworld.com/tribute-complete-untold-story-slayers-jeff-hanneman
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/slayer-guitarist-recovering-from-flesh-eating-disease-20120502
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-big-4-put-aside-their-differences-for-spectacular-metal-show-20110425
http://podcastone.com/pg/jsp/program/episode.jsp?programID=593&pid=539333
http://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/interviews/slayer-interviewed
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=447262618678275&id=124433877627819