As you may likely know by now, both Dave Lombardo and Kerry King have stated that Slayer planned to release a two song EP of new material in time for their stint on Mayhem Festival. Well, the tour is well underway, but new Slayer songs have still not surfaced. So what’s the deal? Well, according to Kerry King, it’s looking less and less likely that the said EP is coming out this Summer.

In a recent interview with ARTISTdirect, the guitarist revealed that not only has Slayer only finished two songs, but that said two songs haven’t even been mastered yet. He also confirmed that it’s unlikely that the songs will be finished in time for Mayhem Fest, saying:

“I haven’t worked on it as much as I’d like to. I don’t really write on the road. When we’re in Europe, I don’t go out that often. There are still a number of currencies over there, and you get dicked every time you change money [Laughs]. If I don’t have any local money, I’ll probably sit in my room. I wrote some lyrics over there. I cleaned up a couple of song ideas we had. We have two finished. They just need to be mixed. I was under the impression we wanted those done so people had access to them for Mayhem and then we could play something live, but they’re not even mixed yet. By the time they’re mixed and mastered, Mayhem will be over. I just assume save them for the record so we don’t have to make up more for the record. We’ve got two others that just don’t have leads and vocals. I’ve got two or three more that are ready to at least be demos. I’d like to get them done in August and September so that means I’d better start finishing my lyrics [Laughs].”

So there you have it: Slayer will most likely not release or play new material live this Summer at Mayhem [we’ll give you a minute to take in the disappointment…]. On the plus side, though, King did share with ARTISTdirect the two finished songs’ titles (“Chasing Death” and “Implode”) as well as their lyrical themes. Here’s hoping, though, that they’ll get something done in time for us to hear those songs sooner then later.

[picture via Corey Soria]