Drummer Dave Lombardo has announced his first-ever solo album and released a song from it — an instrumental percussion voyage called “Journey of the Host.” Rites of Percussion, the album, emerges this May from the Slayer co-founder and drummer for Misfits, Mr. Bungle, Suicidal Tendencies and more.
To be released on his Mr. Bungle bandmate Mike Patton’s Ipecac Recordings, Lombardo explains, “Patton originally gave me the idea [for this album] as far back as 1998. He introduced me to [Latin jazz bandleader] Tito Puente’s Top Percussion album (1958). 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.”
Hear “Journey of the Host” near the bottom of this post.
Lombardo continues, “When the pandemic hit, I thought, ‘Well, I can’t tour now.’ 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.”
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Though it’s his first solo album, the Cuban-American Lombardo scored the Cuban metal documentary Los Últimos Frikis in 2019. One of the drummer’s newer bands, the experimental-industrial Satanic Planet, released the single “Devil in Me” in 2021.
In 1981, Lombardo launched Slayer with fellow Slayer co-founders Kerry King, Tom Araya and the late Jeff Hanneman. Slayer are considered among the “Big Four” thrash metal acts. They disbanded in 2019 after a farewell tour with then-drummer Paul Bostaph.
Pre-order Rites of Percussion, out May 5, here.
Dave Lombardo, Rites of Percussion Album Artwork + Track Listing
Dave Lombardo ‘Rites of Percussion’ solo album front cover artwork
Ipecac Recordings
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”
12. “Animismo”
