Former Slayer drummer, Dave Lombardo, recently shed light on starting a new collective with hardcore punk/metal Dead Cross bandmate Justin Pearson called Satanic Planet. According to Brooklyn Vegan, “The project also features Justin’s Planet B bandmate Luke Henshaw, and Lucien Greaves, founder of The Satanic Temple, who Justin and Luke had on their Cult & Culture podcast last year.”

Dead Cross, founded back in 2015, is a thrash metal/harcore punk band whose roster is comprised of frontman Mike Patton (vocals), Michael Crain (guitar), Dave Lombardo (drums) and Justin Pearson (bass). They have released one full length studio album, their 2017 self-titled debut Dead Cross, via Ipecac Recordings and Three One G. As previously reported in the aforementioned Brooklyn Vegan article Lombardo, speaking on the Satanic Planet project, “…mentioned that the project also features contributions from Cattle Decapitation frontman Travis Ryan and from Jung Sing (who was in All Leather with Justin and also Silent, Maniqui Lazer, and more).”

As previously noted in the aforementioned Brooklyn Vegan article, Lombardo spoke in depth of how the recording process of the latest Satanic Planet project has been conducted during being quarantined due to the coronavirus pandemic, saying:

“Lucien came to San Diego, shortly after Luke and I went to Salem to record the Cult and Culture Podcast to start working on this album. We all had no idea what would be the output and to all of our surprise, it’s have drastically exceeded our expectations. Then of course, the pandemic hit us, tours were cancelled, as well as the rest of what we knew as normal life had shifted drastically. Once we hit up Dave to play on the album, I think considering circumstances, we roped him into playing on the whole thing and becoming a member of the project. Jokingly, it’s been a while since Dave has worked with Satan. I think it was 2009, when he recorded the last time with Slayer. Anyhow, Dave has a home studio and Luke and I have been working at Luke’s studio here in San Diego, wile Lucien has been hunkering down in Salem working on things from his part of the continent.”

In regards to speaking further of how the sound of the project will be like, Lombardo lent a myriad of ways to describe what is currently being developed and underway for the forthcoming project, saying:

“…As I do with most of the stuff I am part if, I just say it’s “annoying”, which it mostly is, and it’s meant to be. I’m also trying to coin that as an actual genre of music, for all the weird shit that can’t be easily placed in a box for marketing purposes. As for Lucien’s involvement, he does all of the lyric writing and a good amount of the vocals. But back to what it sounds like… it’s basically pretty fucked sounding, in the realm of industrial music, but really disjointed, uneasy, It’s supposed to sound like what one would assume a satanic record would sound like. As for a release date, we still need to finish up the album. We are planning on starting to mix it soon, and then hopefully find a label to release it. With who is involved in the project, and our friends who have contributed to the tracks such as Travis Ryan and Jung Sing, I think it will be well received as bizarre as it is turning out. I really look forward to the world hearing it.”

The Satanic Planet released a track entitled “999” back in February of this year, which also was before Lombardo’s involvement with the said project. From the aforementioned Brooklyn Vegan conversation with Lombardo, the listener can pull from the track’s more industrial music aspects as well as a very dark, somber, macabre and more to the point satanic aesthetic sound to the track.

To listen to “999” stream below, via YouTube.

Photo Credit: Marv Watson