Guitarist Gary Holt was asked by FMJ about the songwriting differences between his two bands – Exodus and Slayer – to which he replied:
“Don’t write 10-minute-long songs [for Slayer]. [Laughs] [metalwani_content_ad]
“I think that’s the first thing. I tend to sometimes, in the Exodus realm, wander into some very progressive territory. And that’s cool – it’s all thrash metal to me.
“I think the biggest difference between one band and the other and the next band after that is quite often just note selection.
“Slayer – a lot of riffs are very chromatic, and it’s as simple as adjusting your style from one to the other, which, I think, after six-plus years in the band, I definitely have as good an insight as anybody into how Slayer writes a song, since I can play such a large amount of the catalog.
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“So, yeah, when that time comes and we are ready for the next album, if Kerry wants me to contribute, I’ve got riffs. I’ve got stuff right now that I’ve written that I am not using for Exodus, because it was kind of maybe just unintentional subconscious thing, like, ‘It sounds a little too Slayer.’
“So I pushed that aside, ’cause I spend predominantly the bulk of my time playing in Slayer nowadays. I’ve gotta make sure not to cross-contaminate. I’ve gotta treat both bands like a crime scene, you know.”