Man, Slayer are doing a lot of talking on their current tour. They are getting out there like a young hungry band ready for press. We're learning so much, like Dave Lombardo is basically never coming back, there is unreleased Jeff Hanneman-penned material out there and that we won't be hearing Slayer songs written by Gary Holt anytime soon.
That last point comes from a new interview Kerry King did with Metro News Canada:
“I’ve told Gary that I’d like him to play some leads, just to keep it interesting,” says King. "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. 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. 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’.”
Ultimately, what he's saying, I guess, is that fans would be upset if Holt wrote a riff or two for the new record… which I can sort of understand, maybe? Ultimately, if Gary Holt has riffs, they should probably go to his main band, Exodus, unless Exodus is no longer his main band, even though he did start the group.
Either way, King says he has plenty of new material written:
Musically, I’m sitting on roughly 14 tunes that we can pick from and I’ve finished seven of those lyrically.
Could we be hearing new Slayer music in 2014?