Get the full triumph-over-tragedy story in this month’s Metal Hammer magazine.

While Slayer rage supreme on their blistering new album, ‘World Painted Blood’, the recording of the album was a particularly gut-wrenching experience for frontman Tom Araya. Having to cope with reliving the memories of his religious father’s hesitancy towards his day-job (get the full story in this month’s magazine), things took a turn for the worst at the beginning of the album’s recording stage.

“At the beginning of the year, when we started recording the album, my sister had been battling cancer for 14 years,” explains Tom Araya in his usual unnervingly soft tones. “When we started recording this album she was on the way out, and I wasn’t much use. But I was always in the studio: I didn’t want to be alone in the hotel room.”

Read the full story behind Tom’s personal anguish in this month’s issue of Metal Hammer – on sale now!