Kerry King says work on Slayer's 11th album is “business as usual” – despite the turmoil of lineup changes forced on the band since last year.
Drummer Dave Lombardo was dismissed in February 2013 following a pay dispute, and was replaced by Paul Bostaph. Guitarist Jeff Hanneman died three months later of alcohol-related liver failure. He had been absent from the band since the previous year after contracting a flesh-eating disease from a spider bite, with Exodus’s Gary Holt filling in.
It means the follow-up to 2009’s World Painted Blood will be Slayer’s first album without the two original guitarists collaborating in the studio – and King has already admitted he knows some fans expect him to fail.
But he tells ScionAV: “There’s more talk about pressure than anything. I mean, I’ve been making up this music for 30 years. So I think it’s business as usual.
“We’ve got fast material, we’ve got heavy material, we’ve got spooky material. So anything you dug about Slayer, historically, you should dig about this record.”
And he insists the thrash giants will keep writing as long as they’re together, saying: “You can only beat the old material so much; at some point you get tired of playing certain songs. There are some that you’re just going to play till you stop, and there’s some you’re like, ‘I’m ready to take four years off on this one.’”
The album, produced by Terry Dale, is expected early next year via Nuclear Blast. Meanwhile, Phil Anselmo has discussed how close King came to joining Pantera in the 1980s.
