Slayer’s Dave Lombardo has announced that his debut solo album ‘Rites Of Percussion’ will be released on May 5 via Ipecac Recordings. He has also shared the album’s lead single “Journey Of The Host,” which can be listened to below. The thirteen-track album is described as a film score-like album, with the idea of a solo album dating back to 1998. 

“[Mike] Patton originally gave me the idea as far back as 1998,” explains Lombardo. “He introduced me to Tito Puente’s Top Percussion album. I was already familiar with Tito and was a bit shocked that Patton was so musically diverse, and that he surrounded himself with musicians of the same mindset. That inspired me. I have had ideas that I’ve recorded on cassette over the years, but Patton kept insisting that I had to do a ‘drum album.’ So, the idea behind the album is years in the making. I just had to find the right time—for me—to do it.”

He then goes on to talk about recording the album during the pandemic. “When the pandemic hit, I thought, ‘Well, I can’t tour now,’“ he says. “I immediately started working on the record. It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. I had my studio, all my drums. Nothing was in storage for once! My home became a place where I could be free and creative. On the one hand, the touring part of my livelihood had been taken away, but on the other, I finally had the time to educate myself on different software and recording techniques. It was a very educational and gratifying experience.”

The solo venture follows his collab project with his wife named Venamoris.

Rites of Percussion Tracklist:
1.    Initiatory Madness
2.    Separation from the Sacred
3.    Inner Sanctum
4.    Journey of the Host
5.    Maunder in Liminality
6.    Despojo
7.    Interfearium
8.    Blood Let
9.    Warpath
10. Guerrero
11. Vicissitude
12. Omiero
13. Animismo

Photo Credit: Marv Watson