The end of SLAYER is near! If you are a SLAYER fan you might still be pissed off at Kerry King for letting go of drumming legend Dave Lombardo because he basically didn't want to re-negotiate Lombardo's contract with the band. Not only did Lombardo not make the trip to Australia for the bands recent appearance at SOUNDWAVE Festival (Jon Dette was his temporary replacement), but Jeff Hanneman hasn't performed with the band since the BIG FOUR concert in Indio, California in April of 2011 (EXODUS' Gary Holt is his temporary replacement).
Now King is stating that Gary Holt from EXODUS, who has been the TEMPORARY replacement for Jeff Hanneman ever since the SLAYER guitarist contrived an acute infection known as necrotizing fasciitis (usually caused by a spider bite) over two years ago, might remain in the band for good! During a recent interview with Metal Obsession, King had this to say about the future of Hanneman in the band:
"I think Gary is in for the long haul. I haven’t really discussed it with him. But he keeps his schedule free when he knows we’re on tour… If Jeff all of a sudden came back in June, we would probably pay Gary for freeing up his time… But if Gary played with us for ever? I’m okay with that."
We personally saw Hanneman's last performance with the band at the Big Four concert in Palo Alto, California, and Hanneman didn't seem to be struggling when he performed the bands encore right before METALLICA took center stage. In our humble opinion, that was SLAYER saying good bye to their legendary guitarist who has written MANY of the bands classic songs. Otherwise why didn't he continue to perform with the band? It is too bizarre of a situation and we wish SLAYER's camp would be more clear with what is happening. The fans deserve to know the truth! Here is a partial list:
1) Angel of Death
2) South of Heaven
3) Raining Blood
4) War Ensemble
5) Die by the Sword
6) Altar of Sacrifice
7) Seasons in the Abyss
8) Disciple
9) Dead Skin Mask
Here is the entire interview:
Image by Damien Maurer
Related links:
Slayer's official site
Yes, I would say your speculation sounds the most believable, although I wasn't at The Big 4 show. Speaking as someone who still cares about Slayer (more than anyone else I know, in fact) they appear to be dragging out their dissolution as long as possible. Jeff has seemed not into it for quite a while, and Dave likes to quit, anyway. So that makes it look like the future of their recorded material is in doubt. At least anytime in the foreseeable future. Unless they pull something drastic with their lineup. But again, they certainly look like they're willing to prolong this "we don't know" deal indefinitely.
ReplyDelete