Slayer 66 2/3: The Jeff & Dave Years. A Metal Band Biography. (43 page)

Intro: “Metalstorm” (on tape)

1. “Flesh Storm”

2. “War Ensemble”

3. “Chemical Warfare”

4. “Ghosts of War”

5. “Jihad”

6. “Cult”

7. “Disciple”

8. “Bitter Peace

9. “Payback”

10. “South of Heaven”

11. “Raining Blood”

12. “Hell Awaits”

13. “Mandatory Suicide”

14. “Angel of Death”

Following are some scenes from the massacre.

4:15 p.m. It’s hot as hell. And bright as hell, too. Nice day for a concert. The opening act, Bleeding Through, isn’t scheduled to start until 7. Slayer fans don’t fuck around; they’re lined up already. Think Seal’s “Crazy” can’t be deafening? It can when it’s being playing at full blast over the Tower City Amphitheater’s sound system, and there aren’t 4,000 hot bodies to soak up the sound. At the right volume, adult-contemporary hits from the ’90s can kill you. Or make you wish you were dead. Seal, not Slayer, is the devil’s music.

Quick description of fans: Guys in camo hats. Girls with pink hair and big, black boots that ride all the way up their calves. Guys in dreads. Note to all balding guys with dreadlocks: Let it go, man. Let it go.

4:30 p.m. Sweat’s washing black and white makeup off the Manson kids. More notes on the crowd: Many girls in black corset-dresses, pink fishnets, and high-heeled boots. Girls at heavy metal shows did not used to look this good. You’ve come a long way, baby.

4:38 p.m.: The Manson family outnumber the Slayer cult, but one dude in an original 1986 Reign in Blood tour shirt can easily take out ten Hot Topic shoppers. If some prison-riot shit goes down between the two disparate fan bases, it won’t last long.

4:44 p.m.: Apropos of nothing, some guy yells the first
“FUCKIN’ SLAYER!”
of the night. Many more will follow.

5:20 p.m.: Spotted: The first shirtless, puking, apparently underage kid with a Slipknot tattoo across the base of his neck. Many more will follow.

8:05 p.m.: As promised, Slayer take the stage like an occupying force, to the canned sound of one of the songs from their debut, 1983’s
Show No Mercy
. Don’t think we’re poseurs for forgetting which one it was; the concert melted the brains of at least half the people there. The band launch into “Flesh Storm,” one of many songs about war, atrophy, black magic, and assorted forms of bloodshed. The 4/5-f tent is so packed there’s no room for much of a pit, just a massive crush of bodies pressed against bodies. Lift up your feet, and you won’t fall. Just like every Slayer show for the last 20 years.

8:15 or thereabouts: Gray smoke wafting around them like battlefield fumes, Slayer launch into a double-shot of war songs: “Chemical Warfare” and its sort-of sequel, “Ghosts of War.” Lucifer himself would be intimidated, or at least impressed. Tattooed from his fingertips to his skull, bald guitarist Kerry King is raging, pulling his guitar back and forth across his body like a warlock furiously trying to kick-start his broom.

8:25 p.m.: Appropriately, it is goddamned loud. A coterie of Manson fans are hiding on the far side of the vibrating concessions building, where the ear-pulverizing volume is slightly less toxic. Back on the road between Tower City Mall and the amphitheater, a line of thrifty fans are watching from the chain-link fence. Their cochleas are probably bleeding, too. You can see the right outfield walls of Jacob’s Field from the amphitheater; if the stadium collapses any time in the next year, Slayer’s sound man may be sued, and the plaintiffs will have a solid case. I shit you not: people two hours East in Erie can hear “Payback.”

8:35 p.m.: In a steady haze of red smoke, Slayer are playing so loud, they’re actually making the sun go down. The sound is echoing off surrounding brick buildings, killing trees. On the immediately adjacent Cuyahoga River, topless multi-tier boats and rowing crews float by. Aside from the whole soundtrack-to-total-and-complete-devastation thing, it’s quite a cosmopolitan scene. Down the block, the encroaching metal is probably making some poor saps at the Sheryl Crow concert pee themselves. This point bears repeating: The Mighty Thor himself could not handle two hours of this volume; good thing Slayer’s scheduled for a 70-minute set.

8:50 p.m.: “Raining Blood,” one of the two best metal songs in the history of the multiverse. Strobe lights fill the tent like deadly lightning, and Dave Lombardo’s rolling double-bass is a thunderous apocalypse. If this is what the end of the world will be like, bring it on. I bet it won’t be as loud.

8:55 p.m.: “South of Heaven,” a Satanic dirge. The human tidal wave roars back and forth. Drop a piece of coal in the crowd, and it’ll come out a diamond – if the sound doesn’t blow it to pieces.

9:10 p.m.: “Angel of Death” slays. Still reigning.

Click here to Google search “Slayer photos 2007”

Chapter 41:

Big Winners

The
Christ Illusion
tour wrapped in early September, 2007. 2008 wasn’t a big year for the band, but it was something to write home about, nonetheless.

In July 2007, Slayer released an expanded reissue of
Christ Illusion
with new, non-Carroll artwork and two new tracks: an alternate version of “Black Serenade” and a new track called “The Final Six.” “Final Six” was based on the “Spill the Blood” template: a clean intro and slow riff give way to the same bumpy groove that runs through the rest of the record.

So far, “The Final Six” is a unique entry in Slayer’s catalog: Not only did Hanneman and Araya co-write the lyrics; after 25 years in the band, the singer received his first music composition credit.

The two new tracks pushed the album length to 11 songs and 45 minutes.

Araya proved to be the band’s lucky rabbit’s foot. The new song netted the group its third Grammy nomination, again for Best Metal Performance.

A year after Slayer’s improbable Grammy win, the band scored another.

Beaming, Araya humbly accepted the award. He thanked Rubin, his family, the band’s manager, and most of all, the fans.

“The industry is great,” said Araya. “But the fans are the ones that take the time to look you up to see what you're doing, wait for the record to come out and buy it.”
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Then the talk gave way to silence. But come summer, the silence made way for rock. The band played European festivals for a month.

Age was inevitably settling in on the band. Araya, then 47, hinted he was getting ready for retirement.

"Seeing a 50-year-old man headbanging on stage would make me cringe,” he told Joel McIver of Thrash Hits. “If I was watching that, I'd think, Dude, you're a little too old for that, aren't you? You're gonna fall off!"
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Araya wouldn’t be headbanging much longer.

Gray strands were infiltrating Hanneman’s hair, as they were with Araya. But it suited them well. The bearded Araya looked like a wise wizard, Hanneman like a veteran Viking. And more than ever, Hanneman was feeling his battle scars.

Playing wasn’t easy for Hanneman, but he did it. As always, his preferred self-medication was beer, either Coors Light or Heineken. His wife Kathryn tried her best to talk him into minimizing his drinking. Sometimes he’d dry out for months. Then the wet periods never stopped.
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Hanneman’s drinking took a turn for the worse in 2008, when Jeff’s dad died.  Hanneman had felt neglected as a kid — his father, a World War II veteran, was around 40 and had four other kids by the time Jeff came along. But they had become closer later in his life. After Hanneman’s dad passed, his disposition took a turn for the worse.
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In October and November, Slayer spent a month reenacting their latest live DVD,
Unholy Alliance
, in Europe. Starring management stablemates Slayer and Mastodon, with melodic metalists Trivium and Viking heshers Amon Amarth in tow, the trek raged from Spain to Russia.

Unholy Alliance was Slayer Inc.’s attempt to launch an Ozzfest-style recurring tour with a super-bill. The first Alliance tour launched with the 2004 Slipknot teamup. It didn’t take off as an annual affair, but continued intermittently though Unholy Alliance III in 2008.

With a little over 40 shows played in two dozen countries, that was the year in Slayer.

Click here to Google search “Slayer photos 2008”

[2008 also saw the release of Ill Bill’s
“U.B.S. (Unauthorized Biography of Slayer)
,” bar none the best rap song about Slayer. The album title was
The Hour of Reprisal
, a nod to “Raining Blood,” and featured Larry Carroll’s first album artwork outside Slayer.]

Chapter 42:

World Painted Blood

Slayer’s classic lineup released their final album in 2009. It was an epochal year in Slayer history. After it, things were never the same.

Before Araya, Hanneman, King, and Lombardo’s final record was released, a major change took place behind the scenes, away from the public eye.

Late in the game, Lombardo’s bedrock foundation cracked. The Lombardo marriage crumbled. After 27 years of constant companionship. After the relationship pushed the band members’ connections to the breaking point. After Mrs. Lombardo convinced Dave to rejoin the band. After three children. After nearly 23 years of matrimony. Surprisingly, Dave was the one who tapped out. He filed for divorce in July 2009, citing irreconcilable differences.

When he filed the paperwork, two of the three Lombardo children were still minors, which complicated the matter. As of this writing, ancillary issues are still in dispute.

In the divorce records, Teresa claims Dave “decided to leave the marriage”
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and moved on to a new girlfriend, though the new relationship was short-lived
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.

One of Lombardo’s associates venomously offers that Teresa has a “flare for the dramatic.”

The divorce didn’t become final until September 2012, when Dave’s tenure in the band still seemed solid. The billable hours added up month after month, and Lombardo decided he didn’t like his legal team. Early in the proceedings, Lombardo filed a motion to dismiss his attorney. And that action was slow to resolve, as well: In 2012, Lombardo’s attorney filed a small-claims case against the drummer, for debt under $5,000. (The small-claims case was shortly dismissed without prejudice later that year
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.)

By then, the divorce case had turned ugly, and the file would grow until it was thicker than an encyclopedia volume. In 2011, the court ordered that Lombardo not take his daughter, who was still a minor, along to bars or clubs — which, in his case, often constitute his place of business. Even after the divorce was final, the two continued battling over expenses and support (which is common in separations).

The 2012 stipulated judgment that accompanied the dissolution ruled: After a lifetime of partnership, Dave must continue to support Teresa at level she was accustomed to. The “Permanent Spousal Support” section declares, “The purpose of this agreement is insure that Respondent [Teresa] receives at least $100,000 per year of income, including spousal support and her share of community property royalties, share of merchandising, etc.”
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from all his projects over the years, from Slayer to
Power Grooves
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. The court awarded joint custody of the minor children
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.

In 2013, Dave split with Slayer and lost the vast bulk of his income from the band, which averaged around $200,000 in later years. After he failed to negotiate a new contract with Slayer, he was suddenly less flush. Now the drummer decided he wanted a new deal with his ex-wife, too.

So far, the Lombardos had been fortunate in the divorce. Unlike so many celebrity splits, details from the proceedings — and other incidents — remained buried in court files, and never made it into the press, either musical or mainstream outlets.

In the 21-page Judgment from September 2012, Superior Court Judge Debra Harris justified the alimony, noting, “Respondent [Teresa]  is not employed, having been a homemaker throughout her marriage to Petitioner [Dave]. Respondent was employed in a union job when the parties first married, but she left that job at Petitioner’s request so Respondent could travel with the Petitioner while he was on tour. Respondent agreed to leave the work force at that time as Petitioner assured her he would care for her for her life. Respondent is now forty-nine (49) years old. Respondent has a high school education and no significant employment experience, nor any college education. Respondent has also been a victim of domestic abuse in the past in this relationship.”
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Dave’s July 2009 Petition for Dissolution of Marriage followed an incident that took place in March of that year. Dave was charged with Inflict[ing] Corporal Injury on Spouse/Cohabitant, identified as “Jane Doe” in the court records, which do not list Teresa as a victim. (Domestic cases customarily omit the victim’s name.) Dave initially pleaded not guilty, and later changed his plea to “nolo contendere” (no contest), which is not a guilty plea. The court ordered three years’ probation for Dave, plus enrollment in a 52-week batterers’ program, with fines and fees, the violation of which could result in a 60-day jail sentence, “with credit for time served of 2 day(s).”
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