Slayer Did Things The Way They Wanted To On Christ Illusion

When Slayer released Christ Illusion last year, it was arguably their best record since the early '90s when they completed a string of heavy metal classics with Seasons In The Abyss.

Christ Illusion was re-released on July 24 with one new song and a bonus DVD. It was a move that not only had cash grab seemingly written all over it, but an uncharacteristic move for the thrash metal vets.

But vocalist/bassist Tom Araya explains that it wasn't just a way to boost record sales, but came about from Rick Rubin (who heads American Recordings, which signed Slayer) moving from Warner to Columbia/Sony BMG. A legal battle between Warner and Rubin's label is still being dealt with, but the whole ordeal left Slayer stuck in the middle of the mess.

"When Warner Bros. found out that Rick Rubin was going to move over to Sony, Warner stopped doing what they would normally be doing, which is trying to sell the record," explains Araya. "So when we moved over to Sony, they took it upon themselves and said we're going to reissue the album.

"Christ Illusion had only been out for a few months, so Sony figured we'd re-release the album as if it were the first time. That's the only reason why we reissued the album.

"There are other labels that release an album and a year later they reissue the album to try to increase the sales. In our case it was more like, 'We're taking over the album. We feel Warner didn't do a good job. We can do a better job, so we're going to reissue the album.' That's how it worked out with us. When Sony said they want to do this, we were like, 'Cool, but let's put some extra stuff in it to make it special.'"

"Final Six" was originally intended for the album but wasn't ready to go the first time around. It's included in the re-release along with the originally intended recording of "Black Serenade."

Upon last year's release, Christ Illusion was hailed as a return to form where much of the credit was given to the return of original drummer Dave Lombardo. But Araya, who exclusively handled vocal duties on this record, also says that the band returned to old studio practices, which gave Christ Illusion more of a vintage Slayer sound than some of the band's output during the Paul Bostaph era.

"When Paul joined the band, the recording process had issues that came up on those records. On this album, I put my foot down and said we're going to do this the way we've always done it, and that's the reason why this record goes back to albums like Seasons [In The Abyss]. This record, in the studio, was done like those records were.

"It wasn't a fight, let's just put it that way. It was more like, 'This is what I'm going to do. This is the way I've done it ever since this band has been together. This record's going to be done that way, and if not I'm not going to be a very happy camper.'

"I honestly believe that, because of that, this record has the quality of those older records. And I think if the records in between were allowed to be that way, if things would've been done the way they'd always been and should have been, I think those records would have sounded a little different. Not musically, but lyrically and melody-wise, I think those albums would have been a lot more like this one.

"Especially God Hates [Us All]. It's obvious that I had no control over God Hates because it wouldn't have come out that way. I usually try a whole bunch of different things when I'm singing. On this record, I was allowed to do that again. I think that's why this record goes back to those days because that's how we did things. We worked things out in the studio and we had to be happy with what we were doing. It never became an argument. Everybody did their part and, on this record, I was allowed to do mine, which is do the vocals and be happy with them the way I think they should go."

Slayer is on a co-headlining tour with Marilyn Manson that stops at Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre on Friday.