TOM ARAYA – “So Called SLAYER Fans Can Be So Fucking Brutal”

Rocksverige.se caught up with Slayer bassist/vocalist Tom Araya to talk about their upcoming album Repentless, the television show Californication, a possible solo album and other topics.

Regarding whether they should have continued after the passing of guitarist Jeff Hannemann, Araya said: “I think the worst thing we could have done is to not have done anything and stopped. We started the whole process of writing an album, and we had to decide whether we wanted to continue and do the album and finish it. So me and Kerry (King, guitarist), we had opportunities to talk. ‘Cause we were working on the ideas of the songs, and then we toured, and then we had to have a conversation, just to figure out whether we wanted to continue or not, and whether we wanted to finish the album that we started. So I told (Kerry). I go, ‘Well, let’s do that. Let’s finish this and see where we go from here.’ So we finished it, and now we’re on a tour. We tour at the end of this year, and then we tour again… Probably the next two years we’ll probably be touring, and we’ll see where that takes us. But we figured we owe that much… Because everybody’s expecting a record. They knew several years ago that we were gonna start working on our record. And then to kind of just stop and drop the ball, I think a lot of people would have been [disappointed]. But the social media being what it is, a lot of people were telling us that we should hang it up anyways. It amazes me how so-called Slayer fans are pretty fucking brutal.”

Slayer will release their 11th studio album, Repentless, on September 11th via Nuclear Blast. Scion, whose partnership with Slayer birthed the now legendary Slayer-inspired tC sports coupe, have joined forces to offer fans a free download of the song “You Against You”.

 
The song, which is from Repentless, is available as a free download to the first 15,000 fans via ScionAV.com. “You Against You” is streaming below. A limited run of 7” vinyl records of the single will be available in January.

Repentless will be available in Limited Edition Box Set, Limited Edition Splatter Vinyl, Limited Edition Bi-Coloured Vinyl, Limited Edition Silver Vinyl, Limited Edition Gold Vinyl. For more details and to order visit this location.

The Repentless artwork was created by Brazilian artist Marcelo Vasco in collaboration with the band’s Tom Araya and Kerry King.

Repentless tracklisting:

“Delusions Of Saviour”
“Repentless”
“Take Control”
“Vices”
“Cast The First Stone”
“When The Stillness Comes”
“Chasing Death”
“Implode”
“Piano Wire”
“Atrocity Vendor”
“You Against You”
“Pride In Prejudice”

“Cast The First Stone”, a track from Repentless can be heard streaming below. A free track download is also available, courtesy of AdultSwim.com.

An official visualizer video for the album’s title track can be seen below:

““Repentless” is my Jeff tribute,” said Slayer’s Kerry King. “I call it the ‘HannemAnthem’.  It’s my perspective of Jeff’s perspective, it’s what I think… if Jeff wrote a song for himself, “Repentless” would be it.”

Arrogance, violence, world in disarray
Dealing with insanity every fuckin’ day
I hate the life, hate the fame, hate the fuckin’ scene
Pissing match of egos, fuck their vanity

For the song’s full lyrics, click here.

Check out the new songs “When The Stillness Comes” and “Implode” below:

The Metal Eagle Edition of Repentless is also available. Made of aluminum alloy, measuring 15” X 17” X 3” and weighing in at a hefty 7.8 pounds, the Metal Eagle Edition will house a deluxe digipak of the new Repentless CD plus bonus material detailed below. The limited (only 3,000 copies worldwide) and numbered Metal Eagle Edition will be a direct-to-consumer item and available exclusively via the Nuclear Blast mailorder online stores.

The Metal Eagle Edition will include the following exclusive items:

– Deluxe digipak (folds out into “inverted cross“)
– Bonus BluRay & DVD incl. Slayer Live At Wacken 2014 & Making Of Repentless Documentary
– Bonus live CD Slayer Live At Wacken 2014

– Fold-out poster
– Album sticker
– Numbered certificate

Pre-orders are available at this location, head over for purchasing info.

On Wednesday, August 26th, in near 100-degree heat and high humidity, in the exercise yard of the Sybil Brand Institute, the women’s prison in East Los Angeles, Slayer shot the music video for the new track, “Repentless”.

Watch from behind the scenes as Slayer films the music video in this new footage from RollingStone.com:

In fact, while Slayer performed the track under that punishing sun over an eight-hour period, the “prisoners” had to stage a riot for somewhere north of twelve takes before director BJ McDonnell finally called it a wrap. But that was all pretty much in keeping with McDonnell’s brutal vision for the clip, a vision that many in the veteran cast and crew referred to as “more like something for a feature film than a rock band’s music video.”

This is McDonnell’s first stint directing a music video. He directed the 2013 horror film Hatchet III, and his rich resume as a motion picture cameraman includes Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Ant-Man and The Interview.

For Slayer’s “Repentless”, he and the video’s producer Felissa Rose pulled together a gang of actors and crew who have been part of some of the most iconic horror films ever made: Derek Mears (Predators, Friday The 13th) Tyler Mane (Halloween) Jason Trost (Hatchet III), Danny Trejo (Machete, From Dusk Till Dawn), Tony Moran (Halloween’s” Michael Myers, American Poltergeist), Sean Whalen (Men In Black, Halloween II), and Vernon Wells (Mad Max 2, Commando, Weird Science) all are featured inmates in the video. And if that wasn’t enough, McDonnell and Rose brought in stunt coordinator Nils Allen Stewart who is known for his work on films like Planet Of The Apes, Anger Management and Daredevil.

Slayer’s prison yard performance is just one facet of what promises to be a grizzly video. While McDonnell and Rose are keeping full details about the video tightly under wraps until its premiere, it’s safe to say that there was a lot of blood spilled within those prison walls.

The date for the premiere of Slayer’s “Repentless” music video will be announced shortly.