SLAYER Preps New Album; Lines Up Tour Dates For Summer

Monday, 20th April 2015 By Dead Rhetoric

SLAYER — bassist/vocalist Tom Araya, guitarist Kerry King, and returning drummer Paul Bostaph, along with touring guitarist Gary Holt and producer Terry Date — has completed recording its eleventh studio album and the band’s first new effort since 2009’s Grammy-nominated “World Painted Blood”. The CD is expected out later this year, and will be released on SLAYER’s own as-yet-unnamed label through Nuclear Blast.

SLAYER will tour extensively to support the new album, headlining this summer’s Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival as well as playing other major outdoor festivals and several “An Evening With…” SLAYER-only concerts. The confirmed itinerary is below.

Following SLAYER’s studio sessions in March 2014 that yielded the track “Implode”, offered by the band as a free download, SLAYER recorded on and off between September and mid-January at L.A.’s Henson Studios, and has just finished mixing the album. Eleven songs have been recorded, but what will end up on the final track listing is yet to be determined. Early reports indicate that SLAYER fans have a lot to look forward to — the new music is a sonic assault of brutal, ominous, lightening-fast and heavy-as-hell music with lyrics that unmask what SLAYER knows best — the terror, the corruption and the societal turmoil that dominates our world.

“The new songs have that iconic SLAYER feel,” said Nuclear Blast America’s general manager Gerardo Martinez. “Tom’s vocals are probably the best I’ve heard in two decades, and Kerry, Paul and Gary are playing their asses of with powerful, intense performances and riffs and beats that are absolutely lethal.”

Fans got a second preview of the new album this past Saturday when another one of the new songs, “When The Stillness Comes”, was released as a limited-edition (only 5000 copies worldwide), seven-inch vinyl picture disc exclusive for Record Store Day.

April
24 – Iron City – Birmingham, AL*
25 – Monter Energy Welcome to Rockfille – Metropolitian Park, Jacksonville, FL
26 – Civic Theatre – New Orleans, LA*

May
1 – Lunatic Luau – Farm Bureau Live, Virginia Beach, VA
3 – Carolina Rebellion – Charlotte, NC
22 – Rocklahoma – Pryor, OK
23 – Socorro Casino – El Paso, TX*

June
13 – Bonnaroo – Manchester, TN
16 – Paramount – Huntington, Long Island NY*
17 – Paramount – Huntington, Long Island NY*
19 – State Theatre – Portland, ME
20 – Amnesia Rock – Montebello, Montreal

(Mayhem headline dates):
26 – Sleep Train Amphitheatre – San Diego, CA
27 – San Manual Amphitheatre – San Bernardino, CA
28 – Shoreline Amphitheatre – Mountain View, CA
30 – White River Amphitheatre – Seattle, WA

July
1 – Idaho Center Amphitheatre – Boise, ID
3 – Ak-Chin Amphitheatre – Phoenix, AZ
4 – Isleta Amphitheatre – Albuquerque, NM
5 – Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Denver, CO
7 – Harrah’s Council Bluffs – Council Bluffs, IA
8 – Eagles Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI
10 – Kilpsch Amphitheatre – Indianapolis, IN
11 – DTE Energy Amphitheatre – Detroit, MI
12 – First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre – Chicago, IL
15 – Molson Canadian Amphitheatre – Toronto, ON
17 – Susquehanna Bank Arts Center – Camden, NJ
18 – First Niagara Pavilion – Pittsburgh, PA
19 – Xfinity Theatre – Hartford, CT
21 – PNC Bank Arts Center – Holmdel, NJ
22 – Meadowbrook (Bank of NH Pavilion) – Gilford, NH
24 – Jiffy Lube Live – Bristow, VA
25 – Xfinity Center – Boston, MA
26 – Nikon at Jones Beach – Wantagh, NY
29 – Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood – Atlanta, GA
31 – Whitewater Amphitheatre – San Antonio, TX