Ex-SLAYER drummer DAVE LOMBARDO still gets the chills from 'Reign In Blood'
12-10-2026
In a new interview with Scott Penfold of Loaded Radio, original SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo reflected on one of the most uncompromising metal records of all time, SLAYER‘s classic third full-length effort, “Reign In Blood”, which celebrated its fortieth anniversary this past Wednesday, October 7. Asked how he views the album four decades later, Dave said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Oh, it still gives me the chills when I listen to that album. The palms of your hands get sweaty, your heart rate increases, and you’re in the moment.
“I’ve performed those songs so many times in my life on stage, and that adrenaline, just thinking about it, and when I listen to those songs, it triggers that adrenaline,” Lombardo explained. “I get charged. If I go into cardiac arrest, play ‘Angel Of Death’ or ‘Raining Blood’ or something, and watch me just pop up, like, ‘Hey, what’s going on?'”
When asked if he still holds thrash metal very close to his heart, Dave said: “I enjoy thrash when I hear good thrash. There’s a lot of really positive — or not positive, commendable attempts, but since computer software, music recording software, a lot of the music has turned very sterile. And so you kind of miss that push and pull of those albums that were almost — they were kind of restless. They were very just aggressive, I would say. And you could hear it. You could hear it in the recording. And I could see how that translated on to the record, because when we were recording those songs, we would look at each other and say, ‘All right, let’s go. Come on. Let’s fucking kill it. Let’s nail this one. Let’s get this song.’ ‘Faster?’ ‘Yeah, play it just a little faster.’ ‘Okay, let’s go.’ Count four and the band just comes in. Yeah, anger, angst, adrenaline — everything.”
Lombardo also talked about legendary SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who died in 2013 from alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver. He is credited for writing many of SLAYER‘s classic songs, including “Angel Of Death” and “South Of Heaven”. Dave said: “Jeff was a great guy. He was funny. He was an amazing songwriter. He was a trailblazer, man. He came to the band self-taught, and took it from there, and created some of the most amazing music of our genre.”
Earlier this year, Relapse Records announced the signing of SATANIC PLANET, in collaboration with Three One G Records. The official partnership ushers in the next chapter of SATANIC PLANET to release the band’s to-be-announced sophomore full-length album.
SATANIC PLANET is the creation of Lucien Greaves (The Satanic Temple co-founder and spokesperson), Luke Henshaw (PLANET B, SONIDO DE LA FRONTERA), Dave Lombardo (SLAYER, MISFITS, MR. BUNGLE, DEAD CROSS) and Justin Pearson (THE LOCUST, DEAD CROSS, SWING KIDS, DEAF CLUB).
Greaves comments: “I’m thrilled to be working with Relapse to bring the world the Satanest music for Satanists yet recorded, sonicly suffused with the higher ethics and activist grit of The Satanic Temple. Religious music just got a lot more interesting. May this serve as a soundtrack for a Satanic Awakening.”
Pearson adds: “As a fan of the Relapse musical community, I’m grateful to have SATANIC PLANET be on board for the next full-length. I think Relapse‘s eclectic nature of artists feels like a perfect home for what we have created, which I feel is an undefinable piece of offensive art.”
With the birth of SATANIC PLANET, hip-hop producer Henshaw and punk provocateur Pearson joined co-founder and spokesperson of The Satanic Temple, Lucien Greaves — the most prominent and outspoken contemporary Satanist in the world. Greaves has gained international attention as an advocate for religious liberty and the voice of the Satanic Reformation, delivering lectures nationwide and featured in national media outlets, including MSNBC, NPR, Huffington Post Live, CNN, Harper’s Monthly, Newsweek, Fox News, Vice, Salon, Rolling Stone and many more.
As the trio were diligently working, and nearly completed with, the music for their debut album, 2020 brought with it a monumental shift, seemingly bringing their momentum to a halt. However, this allowed the newly formed band to enlist the legendary Dave Lombardo, who found himself not touring for the first time in years, and suddenly having more time to work in his home studio on projects that interested him. With the addition of this iconic drummer, SATANIC PLANET was complete. The self-titled debut would be released on Three One G Records in 2021.
For SATANIC PLANET, Greaves moves beyond spoken word and into lyricism, with the experimental musical backing of Henshaw, the demonic vocals of Pearson, and the exploratory approach of Lombardo that fans of FANTÔMAS, for example, know him to be capable of.
The mission of The Satanic Temple, a religious organization, is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits. The Satanic Temple has publicly confronted hate groups, fought for the abolition of corporal punishment in public schools, applied for equal representation when religious installations are placed on public property.
SATANIC PLANET released their self-titled album in May, 2021.
Album track list:
Baphomet (feat. Jung Sing)
999
Grey Faction
Passage
Invocation
Devil In Me (feat. Nomi Abadi)
Unbaptism (feat. Travis Ryan, Shiva Honey)
Vete al Infierno (feat. Jung Sing, Carrie Feller)
The Hell
Strangers
Exorcism (feat. Travis Ryan, Shiva Honey)
Satanic Planet (feat. Eric Livingston)
Liturgy
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