Michael Lello at The Weekender recently caught up with SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo, discussing in particular frontman Tom Araya's back injury and how it has affected the band. An excerpt from the story is available below.

Araya’s aggressive head-banging, as well as a lot of WBP tracks, have fallen by the wayside when it comes to Slayer’s current tour. The band, however, is using the Jagermeister Music Tour, which on Saturday, Oct. 9 hits Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain, to showcase another album from its catalog: Seasons In The Abyss, the 1990 release regarded, along with Reign In Blood and South of Heaven, as one of the outfit’s peak studio outputs. Playing Seasons this fall, drummer Dave Lombardo says, was first pitched by management and promoter types.

“I think because we had to postpone the tours, they wanted to keep the interest of the fans, and they asked us to do that, and MEGADETH to do, what is it, ‘Hangar 18?’” says Lombardo, referring to a single from Rust In Peace, the 1990 album Megadeth is recreating on the Jager tour. Reminded of the actual album title, Lombardo says, “Yeah, whatever, the ‘Peace’ album they’re doing. So it’s kind of cool.”

Playing all of Seasons has been a blessing and curse for Lombardo, who says he is open to the idea of playing another Slayer album in its entirety on a future tour; in 2004 the band played all of Reign In Blood.

“Yeah. Sure. I wouldn’t mind. I don’t mind doing it,” he says, noting that band had never before played the Seasons track 'Temptation' on stage. “The only thing that bothers me about doing something like that (is) the fact that you can’t change the set around. I’m so tired of playing these same friggin’ songs that I’m going to have to play for the next three and a half weeks. But, hey, that’s the way it is.”

More songs from World Painted Blood will get their in-concert due in the near future, says Lombardo.

“Absolutely. It’s been even thought that we do the entire World Painted Blood album,” he shares. “That would be fun.”

In addition to inadvertently spawning Slayer’s Seasons reprisal, Araya’s injury has led to some improvements in the frontman’s performances, from Lombardo’s point of view.

“He’s doing really, really good,” Lombardo says of Araya’s back. “It’s not a good thing that he can’t head-bang, because no one wants to go through what he went through. What’s really good about this series of events that Tom went through is that he’s really focusing on his bass playing and his vocals, and he’s been able to hit, recently, the opening of ‘Angel of Death.’ There’s a scream, and he’s been able to hit it. I almost stopped playing and just looked at him and went, ‘Wow!’”

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As previously reported Slayer guitarist Kerry King is featured in a new trailer for the 20-city US Jägermeister Fall Music Tour, featuring 1991's original American Clash Of The Titans lineup - Slayer, Megadeth and ANTHRAX. Check out the trailer below: