Total Guitar recently caught up with guitarist Gary Holt and picked his brain regarding his favourite Slayer guitar solos, writing new Exodus material, and life on the road. An excerpt from the interview is available below.

Q: Are there any solos in particular from the Slayer back catalogue that you love?

Holt: “I love the solo sections on 'Hell Awaits', 'Fight Till Death', 'The Antichrist', 'Angel Of Death' is one where I have lots of room to roam. Before I joined the band, I loved 'Spirit In Black', that is a really good Jeff solo.”

Q: What kind of balance do you strike between staying faithful to the old solos and making them your own?

Holt: “The band gives the freedom to put my own feel on the Slayer solos. Some nights it doesn’t work, some nights it really works and I think, ‘Too bad I’ll never replicate that again!’

When Jeff was still with us, they didn’t ask me to replicate what he was doing. They didn’t want me to be Jeff because no one can replicate Jeff. His guitar style is so unique to himself. It would be a disservice to him for me to try and play like that.

What I try to do is I try to match his vibe. If his solo is real frantic and fast then I will try to do something frantic and fast as well. On his earlier stuff he would have real structured melodic parts in his solos and I try to keep those in there and do my own stuff around it. It’s like having a song written into the solos.”

Read the complete interview here.

Slayer recently thanked all their fans who were a part of the Repentless North American tour with Lamb Of God and Behemoth with this appreciation video: