SLAYER's KERRY KING: 'We're Not Close To Hanging It Up'

SLAYER guitarist Kerry King recently spoke to Decibel magazine (web site) about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's much-anticipated follow-up to 2001's "God Hates Us All", tentatively due late summer/early fall via American Recordings.

According to King, the upcoming CD doesn't have a working title just yet ("every time you give one of those out, it always changes anyway," he explained),and it contains no overriding lyrical theme a la the war stories of "Diabolus In Musica" or "Divine Intervention"'s explorations of madness.

"I think the idea is to get eleven [songs] on there," King offered. "We have the music for ten and I have lyrics for four of those, so we're in the home stretch."

King is hoping to enter the studio shortly and promises a quick recording process.

"We've been playing together for so long now, we can just nail it and get it out there so we can go out and tour again."

The upcoming CD will be the group's first studio recording since drummer Dave Lombardo rejoined the band back in December 2001. While King claims Lombardo hasn't directly influenced the songwriting, "it definitely changes the complexion of the final product. I think if anybody's gonan fit the band best it's gonna be Dave, because he was there when we started."

"I think it'll be an extension of 'God Hates Us All', but with Dave's unique style," King told Revolver magazine for its February 2006 issue. "Dave's such a natural. He's a loose cannon, but in a good way. He'll go off and play something crazy, and we'll be like, 'Holy shit, remember that!'"

Although King was previously quoted as saying that he wants Dave Sardy to produce SLAYER's next album, there is currently talk about about a possible collaboration with "Reign in Blood" producer Rick Rubin on the upcoming CD. "I don't know if he's heard what we've been doing lately, so we'll probably have to go do a demo in Dave's garage again, like the old days, get it to Rubin and see what he thinks," King told Decibel.

While most of the album's lyrics have yet to be penned, the final product is sure to be as scathing, misanthropic and controversial as anything SLAYER have written. One of guitarist Jeff Hanneman's songs may even address the attacks of 9/11 from the terrorists' perspective. "We're SLAYER, dude," King told Revolver. "We have to be dangerous."

Although SLAYER are obviously in no danger of being forgotten, King promises that the classic lineup "isn't a reunion 'cash-in-and-go-away' thing. We're not close to hanging it up; we've still got a lot left," he told Decibel.