SLAYER’S WORLD PAINTED BLOOD DEBUTS AT #12 WHILE ARAYA RECOVERS

Slayer’s 10th studio album, “World Painted Blood”, which debuted at #12 on The Billboard Top 200 chart and #1 at Indie Retail, finds the iconic metal band sitting on the charts next to the likes of Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift and Michael Jackson. “World Painted Blood” is Slayer’s follow up to “Christ Ilusion” which is the bands highest debut yet when it debuted at #5 back in 2006. So does the band even follow the charts?

Artisan News caught up with lead guitarist Kerry King in studio to get his thoughts on album sales and record charts.rn

“I’m curious the first week because in the Metal community I think that’s the big day. That’s the most sales in the first week because the die hard fans want it. They want to get their hands on it, either by downloading it or however they get their hands on it these days. So, the first week interests me not because I’m looking to get #1, I don’t we’ll ever get #1 but you never know. It depends who you come out against, you know. If it’s R&B or if someone has big records coming out we won’t be anywhere near it but, I know the last one I think we debuted at #5 which is if I’m not mistaken the hightest we ever did.”

“World Painted Blood” sold more than 41,000 copies in its first week without being carried in the major chains like WalMart or K-Mart. In addition, “World Painted Blood” is a top 10 seller in major markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Boston as well as the #1 album at indie retail this week, having sold nearly twice the number of the #2 entry, demonstrating the strong, core fan base that the thrash/metal giants continue to possess. The album continues to make an impact globally as well, debuting in the Top 10 in countries including Germany, Australia, Japan, and Canada. It was also recently announced that bassist and lead vocalist Tom Araya will undergo surgery for a back injury, resulting in the postponement of Slayer’s Canadian Carnage tour with Megadeth, which was set to kick off on Nov. 8. Look for Slayer to hopefully announce a new round of tour dates after Araya’s recovery in 2010.