SLAYER: Video Interview With TOM ARAYA Posted Online

Cristiane Richardson, a Brazilian who presents the weekly heavy metal radio show "Sonic Attack" from London, conducted an interview with SLAYER bassist/vocalist Tom Araya on October 31, 2008 when the band visited the U.K. as part of the "Unholy Alliance: Chapter III" tour with MASTODON, TRIVIUM and AMON AMARTH. Tom talks about how he celebrates Halloween, SLAYER's follow-up to "Christ Illusion" album and free song gift to SLAYER fans, SLAYER writing and studio processes, his thoughts on SLAYER's most extreme fans and music formats, the secret of their long-lasting relationship with producer Rick Rubin. Tom also explains what happened to the material he wrote for "God Hates Us All", he talks about SLAYER career highlights and what's still to be achieved, why SLAYER is such a "zen" band, what he'd do if there was no SLAYER and where does he think his bandmates would excel at if SLAYER was no more, and his rituals or routines before going on stage.

Watch the chat in two parts below.

The members of SLAYER spent a couple of weeks in a Southern California recording studio in October tracking three new songs, including "Psychopathy Red". The Jeff Hanneman-penned song gives a chilling look into the twisted mind of Andrei Chikatilo, a notorious Russian serial killer.

Tom Araya told Decibel magazine that the material that has been recorded for the band's next album so far is "all traditional SLAYER. One of them is a fast, very punkish tune, and another one is excitingly new, you know what I mean? Just what's been done I nthe song. It's kinda new territory — not really — but just a really great melody. Sounds really, really good. I like it, it's very exciting."

He continued, "The three songs kinda came together. Our manager had mentioned the possibility to us, and Jeff said, 'I got three songs. One, a fast one, is new, but I got two older songs too.' When we got together, it just fell into place. We definitely liked the songs initially; they just never made it on the last album. When he presented his new song, I said, 'What about those other songs you had on this disc?' reminding him about the disc he sent everybody. And he said, 'Wow!' He didn't recall one of the songs. The rest he remembered. Two turned out to be two of the three songs we've recorded so far. 'I always wondered what happened to these songs,' I told him. 'I thought they were really good.' The one that got done first, the fastest one, it's a really, really, very strong song."

Part 1:

Part 2: