Former SLAYER Drummer DAVE LOMBARDO Is Working On SATANIC PLANET Project

Former SLAYER and current SUICIDAL TENDENCIES drummer Dave Lombardo has been using the coronavirus downtime to work on "some unexpected projects," including SATANIC PLANET, which also features his DEAD CROSS bandmate Justin Pearson and producer Luke Henshaw.

Lombardo told Rolling Stone: "It's odd — at a time where I thought, Well, that's it; no more touring, and I was just going to work in my studio, get it all finished setting it up, all the mics and everything, 'cause I just moved into this house … I was asked to work on a more industrial project rather than an acoustic drum project. So I've been working with that. And I'm just focused on being creative. I personally like isolation to a certain extent, so it's not surprising to me what it feels like to actually be in a type of a quarantine."

He continued: "It is a little unnerving knowing that you can go out there and go to the store and possibly catch something that you can't get rid of, but so far everything's been pretty cool, and the numbers in my county are pretty low. Staying positive, you know?"

Elaborating on his involvement with the SATANIC PLANET project, Lombardo said: "Some of the vocals are done by the head of the Satanic Temple. This is through his affiliation with Justin, so they decided to create an album that's kind of influenced by Anton LaVey's early album that he recorded of one of his Black Masses. So we took influence from that. What was supposed to be one song ended up being the whole record. They liked what I did and so I've been tackling that nightly. I usually start around midnight and go till around three in the morning. [Laughs] But yeah, it's kind of cool; it's fun. Like I said, it's been keeping me busy. And other little odd-and-end jobs that I've been doing."

Lombardo, who currently splits his time between crossover pioneers SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, horror-punk icons MISFITS and hardcore supergroup DEAD CROSS, was effectively fired from SLAYER after sitting out the group's Australian tour in February/March 2013 due to a contract dispute with the other bandmembers. He was subsequently replaced by Paul Bostaph, who was previously SLAYER's drummer from 1992 until 2001.