Last night at the Revolver Golden Gods awards held at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, SLAYER surprised the capacity crowd with an unannounced performance, kicking off the show with a three-song set that included the global premiere of "Implode", the band's first new studio recording in five years.

Recorded earlier this month at Henson Studios in Los Angeles and produced by Terry Date and co-produced by Greg Fidelman, "Implode" is now available as a free download as a "thank you” to the band's fans for their continued support. Or, as Kerry King put it, "you have been waiting for us, now we are delivering for you." Registered members of SLAYER's fan club were sent an email right around midnight giving them the link to the song and a chance to hear it before it was made public. "Implode" can now be downloaded at www.slayer.net.

Later this year, the two-time Grammy-winning SLAYER will begin recording a new album, tentatively set for an early 2015 release date. The album will make SLAYER history as it will be released on Nuclear Blast Records through the band's own label imprint, closing out a 28-year relationship with Rick Rubin and American Recordings. No name for the imprint has been decided on yet.

"Rick has played a huge role in our career, we've made some great albums with him,” said SLAYER's Tom Araya. "But today is a new day, record companies don't play the kind of role they once did, and we really like the idea of going out on our own, connecting directly with our fans, and Nuclear Blast is fired up about taking on that challenge with us."

All future recordings on the band's label imprint will be released worldwide exclusively through Nuclear Blast.

"I was a teenage rebel when 'Show No Mercy' came out," said Markus Staiger, owner of Nuclear Blast, "and I identified with that record. It was the most extreme, aggressive thing at the time. They were then and still are the most brutal metal band on the planet! I really cannot express how proud I am that we are able to work with SLAYER to join the Nuclear Blast family. We are ready for that next record and, I'm sure it will go into metal history!"

Added Nuclear Blast label manager Gerardo Martinez, "The prospect of helping SLAYER take a leading role in the creative process surrounding their releases, projects and other cross-promotional opportunities is the ultimate honor for me, a metalhead who grew up in Los Angeles listening to SLAYER. Nowhere in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that Nuclear Blast would be making history alongside one of the best bands in metal.”

SLAYER will spend the next few months on the road touring major North American and European festivals as well as headlining dates, sharing the stages with METALLICA, IRON MAIDEN and more, but is expected to be back in the studio in the fall to record the rest of the new album.

Joining bassist/vocalist Tom Araya and guitarist Kerry King during the sessions for SLAYER's new album are returning drummer Paul Bostaph, who replaced Dave Lombardo last year, and guitarist Gary Holt (also of EXODUS), who has been filling in for late SLAYER axeman Jeff Hanneman on tour for the past four years.

Bostaph was SLAYER's drummer from 1992 until 2001 and recorded four albums with the band — the gold-certified "Divine Intervention" (1994), the 1996 punk covers album "Undisputed Attitude", "Diabolus In Musica" (1998), "God Hates Us All" (2001) that received a Grammy nomination for "Best Metal Performance", as well as the DVD "War At The Warfield" (2001), also certified gold. In addition to SLAYER, Bostaph has been a member of FORBIDDEN, EXODUS, SYSTEMATIC and TESTAMENT.

Original SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo sat out the band's Australian tour in February/March 2013 due to a contract dispute with the other members of the group. Filling in for him was Jon Dette (TESTAMENT, ANTHRAX).