Early in the year, it seemed like a new Slayer album was on the horizon. Kerry King was interviewed saying the hold-up was actually that longtime collaborator Rick Rubin was busy finding a distributor for his record label and that was causing the album to be in limbo. Turns out that's not an issue anymore because Rubin is no longer interested in working with the band.
Speaking in January, King even revealed that they were not currently on a deal with Rick, but are looking to stay with him, after spending 30 years of their career under his American Recordings/Def Jam label:
I mean, realistically, we’re without a deal, but we plan on staying with Rick. But, he’s working out his distribution, when that gets settled, we’ll be recording. So I am very comfortable saying it will be out this year.
Here we are in December and no new album is on the horizon. Of course, the band did have setbacks with their founding guitarist dying and their founding drummer leaving the band once again.
In a new interview with Fuse, which you can see below, Slayer reveal that they were given the cold shoulder by Rubin and are currently exploring record label deals:
“I asked our manager to reach out to [Rick Rubin],” says frontman Tom Araya, “but [we got] no response or reply. Yeah, so that’s kinda sad.”
Rubin had a huge influence on shaping the sound of the band, responsible for producing their three biggest albums Reign in Blood, South of Heaven, and Seasons in the Abyss and then having a hand as executive producer in all the subsequent releases from the band.
This begs the question: where will Slayer end up? Some might assume the answer is Metal Blade Records, where the band got their start, but in a recent interview with King on the Steve Austin show, King revealed that Tom Araya holds a grudge against Metal Blade owner Brian Slagel for what Araya felt was an unfair deal when they were starting up. So I can't see Metal Blade being a part of the picture, unless they make a huge offer to the band.
I can see the band being picked up by a major metal label with the cash to give the band what they need, Roadrunner or perhaps eOne or perhaps that new label Ghost is on, Loma Vista. But the business move that makes the most sense to me is the band starting their own label-imprint similar to what Metallica and Megadeth did recently so they can get a bigger piece of the pie, while handing off accounting to a distributor. This route makes the most practical sense to me from a business standpoint.
Regardless of what label the band ends up on, one thing is for sure, we will hear new Slayer music next year.
Here's the video of the interview, the Rick Rubin part is at about 2:05.
[via MetalSucks]
