In a brand new interview with Guitar World magazine, SLAYER guitarist Kerry King spoke about the band’s decision to hire producer Terry Date to helm their new album, “Repentless”, after initially teaming up with Greg Fidelman, who also worked on 2009’s “World Painted Blood”.
“The ‘Repentless’ songs] ‘Implode’ and ‘Chasing Death’ were recorded and finished before [Rockstar Energy Drink] Mayhem [Festival in] 2012. But Fidelman dicked us. Hard. I don’t know if we were stringing him along or he was stringing us along, but he had no intention of working with us. He took another job when we were to start recording. That didn’t sit well with me. But I love how [‘Repentless’] came out. I love that we had Terry Date. If Fidelman didn’t snub us, we’d never have hooked up with Terry. Terry’s got a giant history of good shit with big-name bands like PANTERA and SOUNDGARDEN. I think it was a nice marriage. I love the guitars, Tom’s [Araya] voice and the drums. Sonically, it’s what it needs to be.”
King was full of praise for Fidelman during a 2009 interview with Noisecreep, conducted shortly after the release of “World Painted Blood”. He said at the time: “Greg is great at what he does, and he’s there more to help us make sure we explore all of the possibilities. He’ll see that all of our ideas get tried out for the songs. Greg sometimes is like the fifth member of SLAYER when it comes to that. He also has great ideas, like on [the song] ‘Americon’. He had an idea to throw in an octave in one section, and it really filled out the track. That’s why it’s good to have an extra person in there we trust.”
Kerry went even further during a separate 2009 chat with A.V. Club, telling the site: “I hope [Greg] does every record for us until we’re done, if he has time and we have time… He was there every fuckin’ day [during the ‘World Painted Blood’ sessions] for us. He was the last one to leave every day, and that’s inspiring. It earns you respect. It’s cool.”
“Repentless” was released on September 11 via Nuclear Blast.
Source: Blabbermouth
