Melbourne’s rising femme-punk provocateurs Arabella and the Heist have just dropped their current single Electric, …
Out now: Hysteria METAL…ALIVE! edition #36 answering the question every Slayer fan’s mind – what’s next?
We spoke to Tom Araya about walking unexplored territory without Jeff Hanneman, the internet’s obsession with “dipshit opinions” and the clash of generations within and without of metal.
Also in our Metal…ALIVE! edition: What Does The Future Hold for Metal? We talked to bands (Watain, Devin Townsend, Bullet For My Valentine + more) and industry insiders about heavy metal’s present and future. PLUS: A sitdown with NSFW crusaders Devil You Know and too-hip-for-corpsepaint black metal outfit Deafheaven.
Read an exclusive excerpt below:
Jeff’s body barely cold in the ground, MetalSucks.net debated Noisey (VICE’s music site) posing this as a legitimate question—“Should the Slayer name be retired?” Are you fucking kidding me? MetalSucks took the affirmative, Noisey the negative. It was yet another piece baiting Slayer fans into angry clicks, sure. Point is, what Slayer does is Slayer’s business. Age is irrelevant. During Tom, Kerry and Dave’s time of grief, self-important metal know-it-alls thought they’d peer inside Slayer’s mind better than Slayer themselves. They’re far too content drowning us all in dipshit opinions than showing any fucking respect.
“You said it very correctly. They’re just dipshit opinions!” Tom laughs. “Because it’s so easy to say it and talk that way when you’re at the other side of a computer and a keyboard. Everybody is going to feel something, to have a difference of opinion when it comes to the founding member of the band. We loved him just as much as they did. We miss him just as much as they do.
“They” isn’t everyone, of course.
“When I say those things I’m referring to the loyal Slayer fans. Those are the fans who have known the band for a lot longer than say, a year. Those are the fans that are important to us. It’s good that we have new fans or new blood, but they’re soundbites. They’re the soundbite generation.”
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