When Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo hears his band’s latest CD, “World Painted Blood,” he is reminded of Slayer albums like “Reign in Blood,” “South of Heaven” and “Seasons in the Abyss.”
o What: Slayer and Megadeth in concert.
o When: 6 p.m. Sept. 4.
o Where: Washington County Fairgrounds, 873 N.E. 34th Ave., Hillsboro, Ore.
o Cost: $39.50 through TicketsWest, 800-992-8499 or http://ticketswest.com.
o Information: http://faircomplex.com.
Those albums, released in 1985, 1988 and 1990, respectively, are to many Slayer fans the group’s definitive records. They established Slayer as the hardest, heaviest and most intense band in all of heavy metal and influenced what has followed since.
“World Painted Blood” reflects the intensity that Slayer was known for in earlier years, Lombardo said in a recent phone interview.
Lombardo speaks enthusiastically about today’s Slayer, which is something no one would have anticipated just a few years ago.
He and the band went through a stormy split after “Seasons in the Abyss.”
Paul Bostaph took over on drums, and the group continued to crank out albums, with “Divine Intervention” in 1994, “Undisputed Attitude” in 1996 and “Diabolus In Musica” in 1998.
“Diabolus” drew a mixed response, but Slayer returned in fine and brutal form on the 2001 CD, “God Hates Us All.”
Then drummer Bostaph left the band.
Next came the real surprise. In need of a drummer that could do justice to the band’s material, Slayer’s manager reached out to Lombardo and asked if he’d fill in for the remaining tour dates.
Lombardo agreed, but he was cautious about committing to anything beyond the tour dates. That was more than understandable considering the friction he felt with the other members of Slayer — bassist/singer Tom Araya, guitarist Kerry King and guitarist Jeff Hanneman —before he left in 1992.
“They auditioned other drummers, too, which was really cool,” Lombardo said. He was willing to help in a pinch, but didn’t want to commit to more until he felt out the “vibe of how things were. So I took it slow.”
As it turned out, Lombardo fit right in with Slayer the second time around. The problems that had once existed were gone.
“Things were great,” Lombardo said. “We had grown up. We all got along.”
Eight years later, Lombardo is not only still in Slayer, he has recorded two studio albums with the band, “Christ Illusion” in 2006 and “World Painted Blood,” which was released last fall.
And the promising vibe that Lombardo felt when he first re-joined Slayer has only gotten better. He believes the group’s attitude, creativity and level of dedication during the recording of “World Painted Blood” were better than ever.
“Everybody’s head was in the mix,” Lombardo said. “Everybody’s mind was working together on this music.”
The enthusiasm for making music was there from the moment work began on the CD. Lombardo said that during writing and rehearsal sessions all four band members offered ideas. They worked together to explore the possibilities of the songs and fine-tune arrangements down to the last detail to make sure the songs were as tight and strong as possible.
Lombardo said the behind-the-scenes cooperation also carries over when Slayer plays on stage. But the band had to wait longer than it wanted to start feeling those on-stage vibes.
Araya needed surgery to relieve long-standing back pain, which forced Slayer to delay its co-headlining tour with Megadeth from January until July.
The Slayer/Megadeth tour is one of many hard rock and metal tours that have hit the road this summer. There have been two major traveling festivals, Mayhem and Uproar, and several other packaged shows, including the Carnival of Madness tour with Shinedown and Puddle Of Mudd.
Lombardo has a theory on why hard rock and metal continue to draw big crowds, even during a year when many tours struggled to sell tickets.
“If we really think about how kids or fans are communicating, they’re on their computers,” he said. “They’re listening to their music, they’re surfing the Web, whatever. And what they want to do is they want to get out. They want to go out to a show. They want to listen to some loud music performed live by these musicians. So I think it’s a good release for kids to get out from in front of the computers and go check out a show.”
