As it comes available, we here at Exclaim! have been giving you the dish on Slayer's forthcoming ninth effort World Painted Blood. Frustratingly enough, though there haven't been that many details as of late.
However, the sleuths at Billboard recently interviewed guitarist Kerry King and wrestled a few more tidbits of info out of the man, who says the record is slated for a "late summer" release. Yes, that's still vague but it's better than nothing.
"I figured, and I'm sure the other guys figured, that if there was another five-year gap, this would probably be our last record," he told Billboard. "If we're going in five-year gaps, that means two records in 10 years. I think we all didn't want to wait that long. Not that we didn't have ideas - we toured, put out DVDs and box sets and had a lot of other stuff going on."
As most Slayer fans already know, the album was recorded with Metallica and Slipknot producer Greg Fidelman. You also expect that King and fellow guitarist Jeff Hanneman wrote all of the material -13 songs this time around. However, you don't know the ratio, which King puts at 55/45 in Hanneman's favour. Out of 11 official album tracks, six are by King.
"I like when Jeff writes as much as he did for this record," says King. "When you have one guy doing most of the writing you only get one perspective. A lot of Jeff's stuff has a very punky vibe this time; the stuff I write sounds thrashy but with a hint of punk, and when Jeff writes the stuff is more punk with a hint of thrash. It works together well."
Finally, in a unique twist to the album, Billboard notes that this is the first time Slayer entered the studio without every song nailed down. They wrote and/or finished a few up in the booth, which left King somewhat uneasy.
"I was kind of thinking, 'Man, this could be the first record in a long time that's got a little bit of filler, but I think every song came out great," he said. "I was concerned some would sound similar, and every one is completely different. It's cool how it worked out."
And now all we need is an official release date they can stick to.
However, the sleuths at Billboard recently interviewed guitarist Kerry King and wrestled a few more tidbits of info out of the man, who says the record is slated for a "late summer" release. Yes, that's still vague but it's better than nothing.
"I figured, and I'm sure the other guys figured, that if there was another five-year gap, this would probably be our last record," he told Billboard. "If we're going in five-year gaps, that means two records in 10 years. I think we all didn't want to wait that long. Not that we didn't have ideas - we toured, put out DVDs and box sets and had a lot of other stuff going on."
As most Slayer fans already know, the album was recorded with Metallica and Slipknot producer Greg Fidelman. You also expect that King and fellow guitarist Jeff Hanneman wrote all of the material -13 songs this time around. However, you don't know the ratio, which King puts at 55/45 in Hanneman's favour. Out of 11 official album tracks, six are by King.
"I like when Jeff writes as much as he did for this record," says King. "When you have one guy doing most of the writing you only get one perspective. A lot of Jeff's stuff has a very punky vibe this time; the stuff I write sounds thrashy but with a hint of punk, and when Jeff writes the stuff is more punk with a hint of thrash. It works together well."
Finally, in a unique twist to the album, Billboard notes that this is the first time Slayer entered the studio without every song nailed down. They wrote and/or finished a few up in the booth, which left King somewhat uneasy.
"I was kind of thinking, 'Man, this could be the first record in a long time that's got a little bit of filler, but I think every song came out great," he said. "I was concerned some would sound similar, and every one is completely different. It's cool how it worked out."
And now all we need is an official release date they can stick to.
