The Jeff Hanneman Memorial Celebration will take place on Thursday, May 23 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles from 3:30 – 7:30PM.  Hanneman passed away on May 2 at the age of 49.

The memorial celebration will be free and open to the public on a first-come, first-in basis (subject to venue capacity).  All ages are welcome, and paid parking will be available around the venue.

George commented on the experience: “Hey TÝR fans, this is George Kollias and I hope you are ALL ready for a crushing new album from TÝR!!! I had the pleasure to record the drums on the new album, we had an absolutely great time in the studio and I gotta tell you, the material is super strong and catchy, I’m 100% sure you will all love this new album!! Big thanks to Heri, Terji and Gunnar for the opportunity and to Jacob Hansen for his incredible work with the recordings!”

TÝR commented:  “It was a pleasure to have George in studio. He’s an amazing drummer and he certainly made an impact on this album. We’re very excited to release this album.”

A recent announcement on the TÝR Facebook page has confirmed that the band has parted ways with drummer Kári Streymoy. The band commented on the amicable split: “We regret to inform you that Kári Streymoy and the rest of the band have parted ways. Kári suffered a back injury in 2008, and since then he has had some issues with his drumming. That is the main reason that the co-operation has been problematic for some time now, and we finally decided to part ways. We want to thank Kári for his time in the band. It’s been great to have you with us, we wish you the best of luck in the future and we hope you recover fully some day.”

This album will be the band’s seventh full length effort. One of the new tracks, “The Lay of Our Love“, will feature a duet with TÝR vocalist Heri Joensen and Liv Kristine from LEAVES EYES.

The band’s last record label, Prophecy Productions, released this statement:

“With sadness we heard about the death of former In the Woods… guitarist Oddvar A:M who also contributed to the Prophecy Productions releases ‘Three Times Seven On A Pilgrimage‘ and ‘Live At The Caledonien Hall.
Rest in peace, mate. Confusion will be your epitaph, and today we’ll be crying.”

The video was directed by the great Patrick Ullaeus.

As a bonus, check out another song from Construct, entitled “The Science of Noise.”

“While the details are being worked out now, SLAYER wants its fans to know that there will be a celebration of Jeff Hanneman‘s life sometime later this month, along with Jeff‘s family and friends, the public will be invited to attend. More information will be posted here soon.

“Kerry King and Tom Araya are trying to deal with the loss of their brother by remembering some the good times they shared.

“KERRY: ‘I had so many great times with Jeff…in the early days when we were out on the road, he and I were the night owls, we would stay up all night on the bus, just hanging out, talking, watching movies…World War II movies, horror movies, we watched “Full Metal Jacket” so many times, we could practically recite all of the dialogue.’

“TOM: “When we first formed SLAYER, we used to rehearse all the time, religiously, 24/7. Jeff and I spent a lot of time hanging out together, he lived in my father’s garage which was also our rehearsal space. When he got his own apartment, he had an 8-track and I would go there to record songs I’d written, not SLAYER songs, other stuff I’d written. At a certain point, you still have the band but you start your own lives outside of the band, so that 24/7 falls to the side, you don’t spend as much time together as you once did. I miss those early days.’

“KERRY: “He was a gigantic World War II buff, his father served in that war, so when SLAYER played Russia for the first time – I think it was 1998 – Jeff and I went to one of Moscow’s military museums. I’ll never forget him walking around that place, looking at all of the tanks, weapons and other exhibits. He was like a kid on Christmas morning. But that was Jeff‘s thing, he knew so much about WW II history, he could have taught it in school.’

“TOM: ‘We were in New York recording South of Heaven. Jeff and I were at the hotel and we had to get to the studio – I think it was called Chung King, a real rundown place. So we left the hotel and decided to walk, but then it started raining. We walked maybe five blocks, and it was raining so hard, we were totally soaked, so we decided to get a cab. Here we are, two dudes with long hair and leather jackets, absolutely soaked, thumbing to the studio. No one would stop. We had to walk the entire way.’

“TOM: ‘Jeff was a lifeline of SLAYER, he wrote so many of the songs that the band will always be known for. He had a good heart, he was a good guy.’

“We’ve just learned that the official cause of Jeff‘s death was alcohol related cirrhosis. While he had his health struggles over the years, including the recent Necrotizing fasciitis infection that devastated his well-being, Jeff and those close to him were not aware of the true extent of his liver condition until the last days of his life. Contrary to some reports, Jeff was not on a transplant list at the time of his passing, or at any time prior to that. In fact, by all accounts, it appeared that he had been improving – he was excited and looking forward to working on a new record.

Bassist Doris Yeh states, “The BuTik Palace in Puli was used as command headquarters by Japanese colonial government to repress a Seediq Aboriginal Uprising in Wushe in 1930. During the initial phase of the 228 Massacre in 1947, militiamen in Taiwan also used it as its command headquarters. The chants in the second half of the song are the names of all martyrs who sacrificed themselves in resistance against dictators and fought for independence. The ideology of ‘Defenders of Bú-Tik Palace’ was really suited for using martial arts to express its platform. Whenever we are interviewed overseas,” she continues, “we are always asked if Asians know martial arts, and before, we would immediately deny it, but later we thought; ‘why don’t we really shoot such an MV for you guys?’”

In addition, the song features popular Taiwanese opera actress Meiyun Tang as the guest singer.

Swedish death/thrash gods, DARKANE, are set to release album number six, The Sinister Supremacy, this summer.  Massacre Records will release it on June 28th in Europe with Prosthetic Records releasing it on July 2nd in North America.  The album, which marks the band’s first new music in five years, will feature the return of vocalist Lawrence Mackrory back in the DARKANE fold for the first time since the group’s 1999 masterful debut Rusted Angel.

We are saddened to learn that SLAYER guitarist and founding member, Jeff Hanneman, has passed away. He was 49. Here is a statement from the band:

“SLAYER is devastated to inform that their bandmate and brother, Jeff Hanneman, passed away at about 11AM this morning near his Southern California home. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry, and will be sorely missed.

“Our Brother Jeff Hanneman, May He Rest In Peace (1964 – 2013)”