Hanneman died in 2013 before recording sessions began. But work had previously begun on the follow-up to 2009's World Painted Blood, although he took no part in it.

Araya tells Loudwire: "We were demoing this a while ago and Jeff was around. I kept telling him, 'Dude, you need to listen to some of the stuff. Help out here.'

He'd show up at rehearsals, he'd listen and he'd leave. I kept telling him, 'You've got to put your hands in this. You could make things sound really good.'"

Hanneman's absence meant that Kerry King was left to take charge of the music. "I was a little apprehensive," Araya says. "I felt it would be lop-sided because Slayer has two sounds - aggressive and fast, and aggressive and slow.