Jeff Hanneman’s ‘Raining Blood’ Demo Was ‘Odd’ but ‘Blew Us Away’, Dave Lombardo Says

Slayer’s song “Raining Blood” was less of a group effort than you might think. In fact, according to former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo, late guitarist Jeff Hanneman “practically” finished the song before even bringing it to the rest of the band.

Lombardo was recently a guest on the 100 Songs That Define Heavy Metal podcast, wherein he and Metal Blade Records CEO Brian Slagel discussed the legendary song, which Lombardo played drums on for Slayer’s 1986 album of the same name.

After Slagel asked where the song’s hauntingly iconic intro, Lombardo explained that pretty much the whole thing came from Hanneman.

“Jeff recorded the demo. He recorded the drums and the guitar and presented that to us at rehearsal,” Lombardo said, as transcribed by Blabbermouth. “And we thought it was a little odd. It was, like, ‘What? You just want it to start this way?’ And I don’t know where the idea, where the rain came in. But the song was practically done, and it was on cassette. And we thought it was great, at least once the riff kicked in. That blew us away.”

Sharing some insight on his approach to drumming on “Raining Blood,” Lombardo added: “I think—well, especially with that song… I had an idea of what I was doing in the first three records that we did, three, four records, from learning by listening to other drummers. At that time, obviously, it was Iron Maiden, Motorhead, and Judas Priest. So the drummers at that time laid the groundwork for me. And learning those songs and playing those songs with SLAYER really helped me hone my ability to contribute drums to music that was presented to me.

“But then later, [when we recorded] ‘Reign In Blood’, [the album’s producer] Rick Rubin really kind of honed my creativity and he helped me apply the creativity in very special places that impacted the next part of the song,” Lombardo continued.

“So let’s say when the vocals—let’s say in the verse. You keep that space open. You can add little, tiny nuances, but you don’t wanna overplay, because then you’re taking away from the vocals. And then when the chorus comes in, or the bridge or whatever, he helped me hone in my creativity and add, let’s say, a creative drum roll to lead into the next section.”

“So I think that’s where you’re hearing, as a listener, the drums being played in a more melodic form as it’s part of the song instead of, ‘I’m playing drums and I need to show you how good I am at these chops that I’ve developed through the years.’ It wasn’t about that,” Lombardo finally explained. “It’s about the song and making it as special and giving it the right amount of drumming.”