Through their active years, avant-metal group Fantômas often circled back to paying homage to metal band Slayer. The band is composed of vocalist Mike Patton, Buzz Osborne, Trevor Dunn and Dave Lombardo. In taking a look back in Fantômas history, Revolver Magazine rehashed the famous, “head-spinning” medley of Slayer songs the band performed at certain shows in 1999 and 2000. As put by Revolver Magazine, parts of the songs “Angel of Death,” “Criminally Insane,” “Necrophobic,” “Postmortem” and “Altar of Sacrifice” are used “but delivered with Patton’s characteristic eccentricity, from the spastic vocal flourishes to the spikes of electronic noise.”
Slayer was active from 1981 to 2019, barring some hiatuses and splits through the years. Lombardo would know this most intimately as he was Slayer’s drummer and is a co-founder of the band. Aside from his work with Slayer, Lombardo continues to play drums for a host of other bands, including Testament, Mr. Bungle, the Misfits and, of course, Fantômas. With his talents on the drums, Drummerworld has named him the “godfather of the double bass,” referencing his use of the double bass technique. He has had great influence on metal as we know it today, with many drummers going as far as crediting him by name. When asked about Lombardo, Arch Enemy drummer Daniel Erlandsson described how Lombardo has been a defining figure in his techniques: “Basically, he was one of the first drummers who started playing that fast… He’s really tasteful in his playing, and he doesn’t over play… He’s gifted with a groove that not many Speed Metal, or Metal drummers generally, have.”
It is this distinct style that ultimately and most strongly links Fantômas to Slayer; the bands might be called cousins. Fantômas bassist Trevor Dunn even went so far as to say that the band members’ decision to reunite and rerecord demos with band Mr. Bungle was because they wanted to record the songs with the drummer they were inspired by: “[After] being in Fantomas for a while with Dave [Lombardo], I just thought, ‘man it would be fun to record that music with Dave,’ because that music was kind of written with him in mind originally. All due respect to our original drummer [Danny Heifetz], me and Trey [Spruance ] and Mike [Patton] were devouring all the metal that was coming out in the ’80s; we were heavily influenced by Slayer and Dave’s drumming in particular.”
It is due to the band’s personified link to Slayer in the form of Lombardo and the other members’ reverence of Slayer that make their medley so enticing.
Photo Credit: Marv Watson
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