Dave Lombardo is a metal titan. Whether he’s playing with Slayer, Testament, Suicidal Tendencies, the Misfits, or Dead Cross, you know there’s gonna be some thunder coming from the kit. But Lombardo is more than just a drummer, he’s a true musician; his ear and musical insight is worth its weight in gold. That is what makes Lombardo such a sought-after performer, and what defines his greatness. Speaking of being great, in a recent interview with Metal Hammer, Lombardo was asked to choose his three favorite Slayer songs.
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“I don’t want to give you the typical ‘Angel of Death, ‘Raining Blood’,” Lombardo said. “No, let me go into the deep cuts.” Along with “Captor of Sin” from Haunting the Chapel and “Ghost of War” from South of Heaven, Lombardo’s last choice was a personal one, as it brought back fond memories of the late Jeff Hanneman.
“I have to go with something from World Painted Blood, as that was Hanneman’s last album. ‘Beauty Through Order’ – I remember recording that song, as the music had a natural crescendo, a natural de-crescendo too. We didn’t follow the grid and just stay metronomically correct, we went with the emotion of the song. The song started off, for example, 150bpm, but at the end of the song, it was 175/180bpm, because it grew with intensity.”
“I remember sitting with Hanneman on the World Painted Blood tour, before he got sick, and listening to that song. We would laugh at some of the whammy bar parts that were overdubbed, it sounded like some kind of bird or something flying through the air.”
Hanneman died of liver failure brought on by alcohol-related cirrhosis on May 2, 2013. Exodus guitarist Gary Holt would fill his shoes until Slayer‘s retirement in 2019. You can check out the rest of the interview with Lombardo in Metal Hammer here, and you can enjoy his favorite tunes in the videos below.
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