Lombardo's third stint came to an end last year following a contractual argument. That led to Bostaph's return, also for a third term. The original sticksman recently insisted he'd been involved in all the creative work on the kit. But his replacement disagrees, saying the truth is that Slayer's approach to songwriting means that most drummers would wind up writing similar parts for guitarist Kerry King's songs.

"I heard that Dave wrote all the parts. It's funny - I didn't see him anywhere around when I was working on the music," Bostaph tells Andrew Haug. "When Kerry shows you something he's got in his mind what he wants. There's not a lot of room for the drummer to do anything in the music, but you have to know how to colour it.