SLAYER Working On New Material

According to a posting on SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo's Facebook page, the band is currently working on material for its next studio album. Meanwhile, SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman who in January contracted necrotizing fasciitis, likely caused by a spider bite, and has been undergoing surgeries, skin grafts and intense rehab since "is still recovering and doing better," according to Dave.

In other news, PHILM the Los Angeles-based experimental post-hardcore triumvirate featuring Lombardo, guitarist/vocalist Gerry Nestler (CIVIL DEFIANCE),and bassist Pancho Tomaselli (WAR) is mixing its debut album for an early 2012 release via Ipecac Recordings. Dave says, "I can't wait for [everyone] to hear it! Looking forward to releasing it and doing selected shows around the world."

When asked for an update on Hanneman's health and when fans can expect to see Jeff back up on stage with SLAYER, the band's bassist/vocalist Tom Araya told Linna Olsson of SVT in early July, "Jeff was seriously ill. Jeff ended up contracting a bacteria that ate away his flesh on his arm, so they cut open his arm, from his wrist to his shoulder, and they did a skin graft on him, they cleaned up It was a flesh-eating virus, so he was really, really bad. So we'll wait for him to get better, and when he's a hundred percent, he's gonna come out and join us."

Araya told Billboard.com that SLAYER will not return to the studio until Hanneman has fully recovered.

"There's no way we'd go into a studio without him," Araya said. "As a band we're not going to do something without him. He's an integral part of the band. We require his musical skills, his writing skills. He's an integral part of the band. So we're going to hold off until he's at 100 percent and can join that process and be part of it."

SLAYER's latest album, "World Painted Blood", sold 41,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 12 on The Billboard 200 chart.

(Thanks: h-a-r-v / DeathMagnetic.pl)