With the tragic death of Jeff Hanneman, thrash legends Slayer had to make the soul-searching and bold decision to enlist another guitar player to complete their anxiously-awaited new album, Repentless. And of course the man first in line was their recent touring partner and Exodus legend Gary Holt. In a BraveWords exclusive video below, Slayer discuss recruiting him for their groundbreaking 11th album.

Holt says about his performance on Repentless: “For the solos on the new record I just kept it simple and brought my Kemper preamp - the one that looks like an old space-age toaster. So I had to fly to Los Angeles with my tone-in-hand basically. I didn’t even bring my own guitar; I just went in and kind of went for it. It was super cool, I just went in and everybody just let me do my own thing. I would do 20 takes or something and Tom (Araya) said the first one was just killer.”

Kerry King adds: “I just tried to think what the fans would like, if the fans could pick how it went down and would be cool with Holt participating on leads. It seemed like the right way to introduce hold on a Slayer record.”

Singer Tom Araya passionately remembers that decision: “When the whole issue came up about finding someone to sit in for Jeff, my take was ‘fuck it let’s stop, we’ll wait for Jeff to get better.’”

Watch more riveting footage from Slayer below: 

Slayer will release their 11th studio album, Repentless, on September 11th via Nuclear Blast. The release will be available in Limited Edition Box Set, Limited Edition Splatter Vinyl, Limited Edition Bi-Coloured Vinyl, Limited Edition Silver Vinyl, Limited Edition Gold Vinyl. For more details and to order visit this location.

The Repentless artwork was created by Brazilian artist Marcelo Vasco in collaboration with the band's Tom Araya and Kerry King.

Repentless tracklisting:

“Delusions Of Saviour”
“Repentless”
“Take Control”
“Vices”
“Cast The First Stone”
“When The Stillness Comes”
“Chasing Death”
“Implode”
“Piano Wire”
“Atrocity Vendor”
“You Against You”
“Pride In Prejudice”

In the video below, Slayer discuss the track “Chasing Death”:

An official visualizer video for the album’s title track can be seen below:

"“Repentless” is my Jeff tribute," said Slayer's Kerry King. "I call it the 'HannemAnthem’.  It's my perspective of Jeff's perspective, it's what I think... if Jeff wrote a song for himself, “Repentless” would be it."

Arrogance, violence, world in disarray
Dealing with insanity every fuckin' day
I hate the life, hate the fame, hate the fuckin' scene
Pissing match of egos, fuck their vanity

For the song's full lyrics, click here.

Check out the new songs "When The Stillness Comes" and "Implode" below:

The Metal Eagle Edition of Repentless is also available. Made of aluminum alloy, measuring 15” X 17” X 3” and weighing in at a hefty 7.8 pounds, the Metal Eagle Edition will house a deluxe digipak of the new Repentless CD plus bonus material detailed below. The limited (only 3,000 copies worldwide) and numbered Metal Eagle Edition will be a direct-to-consumer item and available exclusively via the Nuclear Blast mailorder online stores.

The Metal Eagle Edition will include the following exclusive items:

- Deluxe digipak (folds out into “inverted cross“)
- Bonus BluRay & DVD incl. Slayer Live At Wacken 2014 & Making Of Repentless Documentary
- Bonus live CD Slayer Live At Wacken 2014

- Fold-out poster
- Album sticker
- Numbered certificate

Pre-orders are available at this location, head over for purchasing info.