No Golf for Slayer’s Dave Lombardo

Anyone hoping to catch Slayer live this year should head to this summer's Mayhem Festival, where the thrash kings perform in the penultimate spot behind Marilyn Manson. Despite a new album, 'World Painted Blood,' wrapped-up and ripped for a mid-September release date -- exact date TBA -- Slayer won't perform any more U.S. dates until 2010.

"This is it," drummer Dave Lombardo tells Noisecreep. "We have two festivals in Germany in September, then some dates in Asia and Australia. That keeps us busy through to Dec. 15, I think."

Slayer has been debuting one new song during the Mayhem dates, the monster cut 'Psychopathy Red,' which the band issued digitally as an album teaser last fall. Clearly, if that track is anything to go by, fans can expect yet another uncompromising record from Lombardo and his bandmates, guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya.

"Yeah, it's typical Slayer," Lombardo announces proudly. "We're still going strong. I don't think there is any letting up. Not from us."

Heaven forbid, but could Lombardo see the day when Slayer wrote a pretty ballad? Lombardo laughs hard at that idea.

"With the name Slayer, with its history, you can't go outside these parameters. You can't go outside of these boundaries. You just don't go there," he scolds.

So what does Slayer do to lighten up once an album is finished? Maybe go out for a round of golf together? "No. No golf," Lombardo says, cracking up once again at the thought of such un-Slayer-like activity. "We have a round of beers, maybe. But no round of golf. A round of pints and maybe some shots of tequila. And a good laugh."