SLAYER’S BLOODY REIGN OF GUITARS AND VIOLENCE

Fifteen years ago, when Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham were at the top of the heavy metal antheon, people might have described Led Zeppelin as "ass-kickin'." Now the reigning gods are Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman, Tom Araya and Dave Lombardo, and "ass-kickin'" just doesn't cut it. When contemplating the power that is Slayer, try "face-stabbin'."

Iling. Or life-ending. Yeah, band, an awesome shredwith the precise synchroniza3vil war war machine. Live, the band iwered train, and entering the is synonymous with strapping the track. Call it guitarorama. probably tell, I’m a Slayer to consider myself a bloodof the night, an apparihe pits of hell. Since I live way sticks in a confused, backward as Fresno, my cohorts and drive upwards of 500 miles ) to witness the fire of a Slayer n the day of this interview, I once again found myself making the long trek to see Slayer. Only this time, they weren’t playing. They were talking.

Cruising through East L.A., as I approached Kerry King’s house, I started feeling warmer and warmer, as if hell itself loomed ahead. There I was, in the enviable position of visiting Slayer at home, with the guitarist’s favorite pets, his wicked killer snake and his pack of infant-eating rats. Ah, the music business.

Upon arrival, I sat down with King and bassist/singer Tom Araya and commenced the interview. The first thing I wanted to know was when to expect the next record. A new Slayer album is forthcoming, but don’t hold your breath. “We want it out by the beginning of November, and if it's not out by the beginning of November it won't be out till the new year. Because we’re not gonna put it out in the Christmas rush, I don’t think," Kerry says.

“We don’t want to rush it. If you rush it, you hear what people do. . . people put out albums every six months and you like one or two songs off the whole album," Tom explains. "The purpose of an album is to make it different and to make each song count. It’ll be awhile. It might take longer than what we expect, but it might not, too. It depends on how the ideas flow. If the ideas flow and they’re really good. . . sometimes we get spontaneous: we’ll say ‘Oh yeah, this is great, we have all this stuff.' And then sometimes it just takes a little longer than most times, so it really depends.”

One thing’s for sure, the last LP is a hard act to follow. If you don’t have it, you’re depriving yourself of a bona fide metal masterpiece.

“We’re not sure what direction we want to go right now so the songs just aren't happening right. We’re not gonna try and outdo Reign In Blood; that would be ridiculous,” Kerry admits. “Myself, I don’t want to try and outdo Reign In Blood because that album was so perfectly thrash.

I mean, even Kerrang voted it Top Thrash Album’ of all time. To try to outdo that,

I think you’d be crossing the line between punk and metal. I think that we got as close as anybody could without being punk, and I don’t want to go beyond that. There’ll be songs similar to those on Reign In Blood but there will also be songs similar to what was on Show No Mercy. Not gay like ‘Tormentor’ and 'Crionics,' but a complete slow song, a complete song that has no fast parts in it. That’s kind of what’s gonna be on there. But there’ll be five or six Reign In Blood-type songs.”

So will the next disc be more melodic?

“I don’t know if melodic is the word. More heavy, probably,” Kerr says.

Tom echoes the idea that improving on Reign In Blood will be difficult, if not damned near impossible.

“That whole album was musically strong. I've been listening to it, and it’s like ’What the hell are we gonna do now?’ ”

Hold it. Araya. I'm the one asking the questions here. What are you gonna do?

"We’ve got some stuff that's complete, and comparing it to the last album, it's in the same vein but it's a little different. There’s gonna be a little 'gothic’ added to it, just like 'Raining Blood,’ in fact. The 'big' sound. Very much an anthem-type sound,” he says. “I think this one’s gonna be good. We just want to take more time in working with it, because there's no sense in rushing shit, because it's gonna sound like crap, and then everybody will go 'Oh, man. but their Reign In Blood album!’ Everybody will keep going back to the last album if this one sucks. So we gotta work at it and take our time.”

Rick Rubin will again be given the task of producing.

"Can't miss with him!” Tom asserts. "We’re a good combination.”

"With his.comprehension of sound our ideas, it just works well,” Kerry adj "He likes our music. It’s not like a ducer coming in and saying, 'Oh. I'm i ting five million dollars? Sure. I'll prodtke your record.' He likes us, so he's not jf^t there to cash in.”

The band is toying with the idea of; ing a death metal version of the tSjj Iron Butterfly classic "In-A-Gadda-J Vida.”

■ The only reason we want to do a c(*r is we got a chance to do a song 6»a soundtrack. So if we do a cover on th whether it's good or bad, it's not gd| plague our album for eternity. If it's gq great, radio will play it; if not. it's oj|a soundtrack buried forever and nobocjlfs gonna think about it,” Kerry says.

The project in question is Rubin's b He's compiling a soundtrack foTfce movie version of a book by Bret fflljs called Less Than Zero. Numerous balds like Slayer. Aerosmith and Poison ardleing recruited to provide cover song®or the flick.

”1 read the book in one day, and tjfftiking about the book, and listening toShe song, the song fits really well witljflhe book,” Tom offers.

For as hot as they blaze, particularly King and Hanneman. the guys in Sllyer have received virtually no recognition as musicians. It seems there's no justifs in this world.

"Kerrang did a thing on me and|lpff, and either Circus or Hit Parader did»!ot any of the guitar magazines, but mfgazines do guitar sections on us. Noaing big like Guitar Player or Guitar, ofj |latever the hell those magazines, are. pBn't even read ’em,” Kerry says.

The reason for this lack of attdKtion surely lies in Slayer’s style of mu.

”1 think we could be the best guj on earth, but playing the kind of mi play I don’t think they’d give us rii Kerry says Slayer's axe murder© hailed "just in the thrash world. Nd| music world, but in the thrash wdj fans will say we’re God. There’s jf ping us. I know there’s many gu out there that walk all over me a but to the kind of people that list© music, it’s how we use the music it into songs that nobody else ci think.” Me too. “Lead-wise, sure,: tons of people that play better t| but they can’t make up the songs

Indeed, much of Slayer’s fanat; lowing is lured by the sheer t complexity of their songs. The “riffs,” and there are plenty of 'e| how many?

“There could be as few as may!

“ 1 lot of the stuff the} Kerry writes are ju't evil stories... cri de, obscene stuff mat would really mike people sick.” Tom A ray a

Idon’fflmow. but there could be as many as 15m 16. depending on how the song work®or as short as 'Raining Blood’ is Ithinjlwere's more riffs in that song, different;»nes. than any other song. But then Jta could go to 'At Dawn They Sleepwr 'Crypts Of Eternity’ (from the albumjlfe// Awaits)': I mean, those songs have egbugh riffs to make three songs out of Juake ‘Chemical Warfare.’ Around thetirrmwe were doing epics like on Hell /Waifs»nd the Haunting The Chapel EP. those ®ngs could have been made into more,il||t they just formed themselves into loncffirangs.” Kerry says.

Slayms material undergoes extensive editingjpefore it sees vinyl. Tom speaks of KefjWs and Jeff's composition methods: Reign In Blood there were a few

songs ffifet went through massive changes. here’s this massive, long

song aBthen they went ‘Ah, let’s do this. OK, le®do that,’ and then it got pieced togethtt.A lot of the stuff we do they figure jjjjt. have an idea of what they want, altogether and play it. and then they repze 'Oh, how about if we do this?’ And a«|t of the songs get changed aroundljrastically sometimes. I remember Al® Of Sacrifice.’ It was like a five or six"WUIe son9 with totally different music"Rwas supposed to be on Hell AwarfsMd we figured it’d crowd the album scSe didn't do it. And then the more and m®te we listened to the song, we startecMhanging it. In fact. 'Altar Of Sacrifi«got put into Raining Blood' in variouw^r,sIt's funny because it was a five-rigjute song that got turned down to HkeafeA/o-and-a-half or three-minute song."'

S° tl®|engthy rewriting process prevents Tom getting my eager mitts on an advl|ce tape of the next LP.

"We®^ve stuff that we’ve done, but ,here sj» good chance that everything could ffllturned around and changed,” Tom says. "If we were to play a tape for you of stuff that we have, and say, 'Yeah, this is what our stuff’s gonna sound like.’ and then you come back later and we say This is what our stuff sounds like now.’ it wouldn’t sound anything like what you heard the first time. Our stuff goes through a lot of changes. We have to get the feel for it, and if we like the way it feels as a whole and it feels really good, then we’ll keep it. If not, it’s always getting changed until it feels right. And once it feels right, stick the words in.”

The band's policy of writing the music first and then adding lyrics long afterwards heightens the intensity and quality of the final product.

"Usually we make a whole album of instrumentals—that’s how good we like our music. Then we just throw the words on,” Kerry says.

"The whole time that the song is being written, the vocal lines and the chorus lines are always put in certain spots, and then I’m sure Kerry's got these ideas going through his head every time he plays that certain part of the song. While he’s playing it he’s thinking up a melody to go with it.” Tom said. "But the music comes first. Because I would want the music to sound good without the lyrics. If it sounds good without the lyrics, it’s gonna sound even better with the lyrics.”

But the words to Slayer songs are much more than just verbal icing on the musical cake. If the group hasn’t enjoyed much attention for their instrumental prowess, they have definitely achieved infamy for their vicious, detailed descriptions of satanic violence. Your typical Slayer fan is well-versed in such savory/unsavory (pick one) topics as necrophilia, sadism and murder. Tom tells me that the lyrics are merely "horror stories put to music,” but I wanted to know why he often sings specifically about Satan.

“No special reason,” says Kerry. “I like horror movies, and most horror movies are about evil things and whether they talk about Satan or not, it’s usually got Satan involved in it.”

Tom: “It's like a magnet. Anything about evil, people think 'Oh, Satan.’ Anything having to do with that idea is considered a satanic thing. A lot of the stuff that he (Kerry) writes are just evil stories. I mean, you know, just crude stories. Crude, obscene stuff that would really make people sick, that annoys them. .. ’Altar Of Sacrifice’ is the only song on the (latest) album that really contains the word ‘Satan’ itself, or that has anything to do with Satan and the angels and stuff.”

Do the band members practice or believe in Satanism?

“Sometimes, when I’m in the mood,” Tom answers, sounding a little bothered, as if my inquiry is an overly-personal question. "Man, I just hope I live long and prosper, that’s about it. I mean, if that’s Satanism I guess that’s what I preach." Well, you’re the expert.

But do they perform rituals? Tom doesn’t; Kerry says that he does. “Yeah, I feed rabbits to my snake.” And for incantations he says "Choke that sucker!"

In the thrash world

r ■ a a

our fans will say J we’re God. There’s no stopping us.”\ Kerry Kim

Kerry speaks about the inspiratiorihe gets from splatter flicks. "My faygpte movie is Nightmare On Elm Street, laddie Krueger's my idol—that guy’s insane. Nobody evil matches him, he’s cd§3. And what a great role model for u&sall.

A Stephen King fan, Tom is mp®affected by literary, rather than cinenptic, violence. "We're all movie buffs, ’cause I like movies, but I do a lot more reusing than anything. I like reading the stcSfes, and then when I go see the movie, May. ’Ah, the book was better.' I get a||my ideas through what I read, different tigs I read. Kerry gets his ideas througffiriovies, just like Jeff. Jeff's the sameway. We're into horror stuff: I read, they v&itch movies.”

Tom is quick to point out that re^ life is also teeming with horror. ‘Tpf$s up Time magazine. That’s got a lotMteresting things in it about death andfpiurder. And that’s stuff that’s fact. Soifflfnot only into fiction, I’m also into nonrfi5n."

Bones and blood lie on the gk Rotten limbs lie dead *i Decapitated bodies found On my wall, your head/

I asked Tom if he thought their rnj spires people to commit violent acts he says. “I think an act of violenc^j mitted by a person with somethih| been ticking inside him for a font ’Cause usually when someone 4; act of violence it’s something thaw premeditated or it’s from some otfj blems that just keep mounting ary and mounting and all of a sudd| snap. They go berserk. Like the g just killed 14 people in England. Hfc his mother, burned the hous^ and he went out and shot 14 p® didn’t even know. You kinda W& people say 'Well, he must ha£ listening to one of those heavy metal records"

Have any instance of violence been linked to Slayer?

"Well recently there was a kid that went in and attacked his parents while they were sleeping. He had a stick with some nats through it," Tom recounts. "I remember this because it was the first incident that I heard that they accused our music as an influnce on him. The first question would ask this kid's parents is 'Well ow well did you really know your son?'"

It turns out the attacker was a Slayer fan. "The police went in and looked in his room, and they open a cassette deck, and it was our song. They pushed it in and pushed play' and it was 'Altar Of Sacrifice.' And it's like 'Whoa, that's what he was listning to,' and they wrote it down in the rebort. It's really stupid. If you start evaluating these people that do these crimes don't think the music or the songs were a motivating factor."

Kerry supports the contention that people who do wrong presumably because of a rock album would do wrong without the album. too: "If they can take a song and turn it into real life, their brain s fried anyway.” And Tom is clearly agitated by the notion that his music, or any music, can make people do things they wouldn’t normally do.

“If our music was that influential, this whole world would be dead.”

Kerry King

“Music can make people happy and sad. The whole idea of our music is to rile them up a little, to (help them) enjoy themselves while they're there listening to the band. But after it's over and done with, that’s it. It’s a release. It’s a form of release to me! I mean, we sit here and play the stuff: you don't see us going out and killing people. And that’s the reasoning people try to pull. ‘Oh, the music influenced him.' Well if the music is that influential, why aren't we damaged? Why aren’t we ‘brain-damaged children?’

“Music is to enjoy yourself, to get some enjoyment out of it. And these kids do. They go out there and they thrash. That’s the enjoyment they get out of our music. They don't want any more than that. So how can you say our music can affect people that way? It can’t. Because there'd be so many people that would be so f— up right now.

Running and hunting and slashing And crushing and searching And seeing and stabbing and shooting

And thrashing and smashing and Burning destroying and killing And bleeding and pleading then death!

“In the short time that we’ve been playing we must have played to at least 100,000 people. A hundred thousand kids alone. Now, if our music was that influential, this whole world would be dead.”