Ex-SLAYER Drummer JON DETTE Shares Drum Cover Of ANTHRAX's 'A Skeleton In The Closet' As Part Of 'Big Four' Series

Drummer Jon Dette (TESTAMENT, SLAYER, ANTHRAX) has uploaded the latest in his "Big Four" drum-cover series: ANTHRAX's "A Skeleton In The Closet". The clip, which can be seen below, follows his previously released videos for METALLICA's "Damage, Inc.", SLAYER's "Killing Fields", METALLICA's "Blackened", ANTHRAX's "A.I.R." and MEGADETH's "Wake Up Dead", SLAYER's "Postmortem" and METALLICA's "Fight Fire With Fire".

Says Jon: "1987! Another great year for heavy metal! KING DIAMOND dropped 'Abigail'. TESTAMENT came onto the scene with 'The Legacy' and ANTHRAX dropped 'Among The Living'.

"Who remembers playing 'Master Of Puppets' for the first time and saying, 'Holy shit! This is better than 'Kill 'Em All' and 'Ride The Lightning'!' Who remembers playing 'Reign In Blood' for the first time and saying, "Holy shit, this is better than 'Show No Mercy' and 'Hell Awaits'!' Well I do! And that's exactly what I said when I heard 'Among'!

"There's something special about the 3rd releases from these bands (MEGADETH I'd say 4th release was more special than the 3rd) that when I listen to them today, they still sound as fresh to me as they did in the '80's.

"ANTHRAX really came into their own with 'Among The Living', with some of their greatest songs ever! To this day, the band plays more tracks live off 'Among The Living' than any other album in their catalog.

"Call me old school, but I also prefer these older albums that weren't tracked to a click! No putting tracks on a grid. No samples. Just good old fashioned mixing and great playing! What a concept! Lol!

"'Skeleton' was one of my favorite songs off 'Among The Living'. When I started filling in for Charlie [Benante] in 2012, I was always hoping we would play it live. 5 years later, I finally received the amazing news that the band wanted to perform the ENTIRE 'Among The Living' album on the 2017 tour, celebrating 'Among The Living''s 20th anniversary. What a great tour that was!"

The 52-year-old Dette played as a full-time member of SLAYER from 1996 to 1997 and as a touring member in 2013.

In a 2013 interview with Metal Rules, Dette revealed that he collaborated with SLAYER guitarist Kerry King on some of the early ideas for what became the band's final studio album, 2015's "Repentless", before he was replaced by a returning Paul Bostaph. "I actually started working with SLAYER after we had gotten back from Australia [in early 2013]," he said. "We started working for demo and music for their new record. And then obviously what happened with Jeff [Hanneman, guitar] passing away, that changed some things. But it was definitely moving in that direction for me to be working with SLAYER [again]. But as I said there are just some things that changed with that once Jeff passed away, and I think, ultimately, they felt more comfortable with ‎Paul Bostaph, just because Paul had been in the band for longer. I think it was not going to be as much of a shock to their fans, because first Dave is gone, and now Jeff is gone, the band, it's now down to two original members. So if Paul makes them feel more comfortable and at home, then more respect to him and I wish them the best with that."

King confirmed that he worked with Dette early on in the songwriting process for "Repentless" before deciding to re-hire Bostaph instead. "We pursued it," Kerry said in a 2015 interview. "We got back from Australia. I did demos with Jon Dette, I did demos with Paul — the same two songs, under the same circumstances; they each had, like, 24 to 36 hours to learn 'em — and just see where it went. And Tom [Araya, SLAYER bassist/vocalist] and Jeff [Hanneman, SLAYER guitarist] both decided Paul, and in hindsight, that was the right choice."

Dette originally joined SLAYER in 1996 when Paul Bostaph left to work on his side project THE TRUTH ABOUT SEAFOOD. Dette performed with SLAYER at the 1996 Ozzfest to promote the band's covers album, "Undisputed Attitude".

Prior to joining SLAYER, Dette appeared on TESTAMENT's "Live At The Fillmore" album, which came out in 1995.

In recent years, Dette had played sporadic shows with ANTHRAX as a temporary replacement for Charlie Benante, who had been undergoing physical therapy in his battle with carpal tunnel syndrome.