“We thought it was a little odd – but once the riff kicked in, that blew us away”: Slayer’s Dave Lombardo reflects on Jeff Hanneman’s Raining Blood demo
Since its release in 1986, Slayer’s Raining Blood has become one of thrash metal’s quintessential tracks. But while the intro’s classic rain sound wasn’t immediately understood by Jeff Hanneman’s bandmates when he showed him his demo, the now-iconic galloping riff certainly won them over.
In a new conversation with Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel on the 100 Songs That Define Heavy Metal podcast, the band’s former and founding drummer Dave Lombardo recounts Hanneman showcasing his demo while at rehearsal.
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“Jeff recorded the demo,” he recalls [via Blabbermouth]. “He recorded the drums and the guitar and presented that to us at rehearsal. And we thought it was a little odd. It was, like, ‘What? You just want it to start this way?’ And I don’t know where the idea, where the rain came in. But the song was practically done, and it was on cassette. And we thought it was great, at least once the riff kicked in. That blew us away.”
If you’ve been living under a rock and need to remind yourself of Raining Blood’s classic harmonised descending riff and thunderous open Eb gallops, you can do so below…
Elsewhere in the interview, Lombardo recalls the drumming in Iron Maiden, Motörhead and Judas Priest as having “laid the groundwork” for his approach to drums on Reign in Blood.
“I had an idea of what I was doing in the first three records that we did from learning by listening to other drummers,” he says.
“At that time, obviously, it was Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Judas Priest. So the drummers at that time laid the groundwork for me. And learning those songs and playing those songs with Slayer really helped me hone in my ability to contribute drums to music that was presented to me.
“But then later, [when we recorded] Reign in Blood, Rick Rubin really kind of honed my creativity and he helped me apply the creativity in very special places that impacted the next part of the song.
In a conversation with Rick Beato last year, Rick Rubin explained his genius approach to production on the album, remembering: “I played him a Metallica record as an example of what I thought was wrong.”
The post “We thought it was a little odd – but once the riff kicked in, that blew us away”: Slayer’s Dave Lombardo reflects on Jeff Hanneman’s Raining Blood demo appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
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