California based metal gods Slayer have officially entered the studio to record their as yet untitled seventh original studio album, which is tentatively planned for a Halloween release. -CUT-

"This one is heavy as hell" roars the shaven headed guitarist. "There's not nearly as much focus on speed as there was on "Divine...", which was particularly fast. We didn't concentrate on doing fast ones for the sake of it, although, of course, there are still a few real fast ones. The heavy songs are really heavy in the same way that 'Gemini' (from '96's 'Undisputed Attitude') was.

The jump between 'Reign In Blood' and 'South Of Heaven' was probably the biggest departure we're ever done and though this one represents a similarly big jump, we've already proved we can slow down and maintain the intensity, so it probably won't be such a shock. We're not mimicking 'South Of Heaven'; if anything, this one is slower, heavier and far more crunching."

Does the guitarist believe that members of Slayer's infamously hardcore 'Slatanic Wehrmacht' fan club will embrace the new direction?
I wish people would want to hear stuff like this, period!" he laughs. "One of the things that got me off to such a slow start in writing for this one was because I was so discouraged and pissed off every day by what was popular. -CUT-

In the past, writing new songs has been seen as an arduous task by the Slayer men, but this time, according to King, the writing has been more of a group effort, with even the newly reinstated Paul Bostaph, back behind the drumkit after a two year hiatus, contributing to the 12 new tracks.

I don't know what happened with getting Paul back in the band!" jokes King. "It was brought to out attention that both he and (Dave) Lombardo were interested in being back with Slayer and we hadn't anything real committed with (John) Dette, so out of the three we've had, we went for Paul.

I don't think we could ever seriously consider taking Dave back, there's too much water under the bridge for all that. I ran into him at a Pantera for the first time since we parted ways earlier this year and I told him then that I wished him well. I don't sit at home wishing that the guy dies or anything, I just don't think about him at all. I heard the first Grip Inc record and...er...let's just say that it wasn't to my tastes. -CUT-