February 16, 2011

SLAYER have recruited Gary Holt from EXODUS, to fill in temporarily for Jeff Hanneman who is currently recovering from a surgery. Holt will join Tom Araya, Kerry King and Dave Lombardo on their five-date Australian Soundwave Festival tour that begins February 26. Hanneman underwent emergency surgery on his right arm late last month after contracting a serious infection, possibly caused by a spider bite. He is now recuperating at home and is expected to make a full recovery. He will return to the SLAYER line-up as soon as he has fully recovered. While Hanneman’s doctors were not able to definitively identify the infection’s origin, they diagnosed necrotizing fasciitis, an infection caused by bacteria. According to WebMD, necrotizing fasciitis can destroy skin, fat, and the tissue covering the muscles. The disease sometimes is called "flesh-eating" bacteria. "Jeff is our brother, we’ve all been friends and together as a band for almost 30 years", said Araya, "so we just want him to completely recover as soon as possible." "After everything that happened last year", King added, "we all agreed that we just can’t let our fans down again", referring to Araya’s severe back and neck pain that prompted his January 2010 surgery, unfortunately leading to the band’s postponement or cancellation of numerous shows in 2009 and 2010. "Jeff is totally on board with this decision, so we will tour as planned. At this point, we can’t pinpoint exactly what day he’ll be back, but he’ll be back as soon as he possibly can. And we can’t wait for Jeff to get better and get his ass back on the road."

Spain’s AVULSED are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. During the first half of the year a total of 18 songs (taken from all their albums) will be re-recorded for a CD entitled "Fleshcube". Instead of just doing a compilation with the original recordings, the band decided to re-record all these songs with the current line-up, the current guitar sound (way heavier than before), their current drummer (who has empowered the playing of the songs) and in general, the usual modifications that each song suffers after being played for years and years. A special limited edition will be released, most probably a box containing a double CD, exclusive shirt, stickers, photos and other goodies, limited to the first ones to come, but it’s still undecided how it’ll be. AVULSED will also be presenting "Fleshcube" live after its release, planned sometime after the summer. They are furthermore working on new tunes for their 6th full length album tentatively to be recorded in 2012 with the working title of "Ritual Zombi". In late 2010, AVULSED furthermore recorded a cover of BLACK SABBATH’s ‘Neon Knights’ for an upcoming double CD in tribute to Ronnie James Dio, including some of the most relevant Spanish Metal bands. AVULSED is the only Death Metal band on this compilation. For more details and new merchandise check out www.avulsed.com.