Slayer to Issue New Song ‘When the Stillness Comes’ on Record Store Day

Slayer. Photo: Tim Tronckoe/Courtesy of Nuclear Blast

Slayer will be celebrating Record Store Day this year with a picture-disc seven-inch that contains their new song “When the Stillness Comes” ahead of the band’s new album later this year. The group recorded the song last year in Los Angeles with producer Terry Date.

The single’s A-side features the image of a blood-stained skull with the band’s name carved into it, while the flipside sports an inverted cross and a live version of their song “Black Magic” ”“ originally released on their 1983 debut, Show No Mercy ”“ that they recorded at Germany’s Wacken festival last year. The single is limited to 5,000 copies and will be available only at the participating stores listed on the Record Store Day website on April 18th.

Slayer last released a new song a year ago, when they premiered “Implode” at the Golden Gods Awards and subsequently put it out as a free download on their website. It was the first new song the group had issued since the death of founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who died in 2013 of liver failure. Exodus guitarist Gary Holt has been filling in for Hanneman, and the band also now features returning drummer Paul Bostaph. Bostaph replaced founding member Dave Lombardo, who parted ways with Slayer after a contract dispute.

Last February, Hanneman was honored in the small Polish town of Jaworzno with a traffic circle named after him. The roundabout was rechristened, in true metal fashion, “Jeff Hanneman’s Circle Pit.”

In 2013, Slayer guitarist Kerry King told Rolling Stone that the group intends to put out some previously unreleased songs that his counterpart had written before his death. “There was a song left over from the last album that Jeff finished as an afterthought called ‘Piano Wire,'” he said. “It wasn’t on the album because it wasn’t as good as the other songs. I knew Jeff was gonna work on the lyrics and get it done. He was always talking about reworking the song…. I know there are two other ones, which are incomplete things, which he had for 15 to 20 years. Those will come out.”

The group will be hitting the road for a run of North American festival dates around the time of the single’s release.

Slayer Tour Dates:

April 25 ”“ April 26 – Jacksonville, FL @ Welcome to Rockville
May  1 – Virginia Beach, VA @ WNOR’s Lunatic Luau
May  3 – Charlotte, NC @ Carolina Rebellion
May  22 ”“ May  24 – Pryor, OK @ Rocklahoma
May  23 – El Paso, TX @ The Socorro Entertainment Center
June 11 – June 14 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
June 20 – Montebello, Canada @ Amnesia Rockfest