Slayer are to bring in Exodus guitarist Gary Holt to temporarily replace Jeff Hanneman for their upcoming Australian dates.

The latter is recovering from surgery on his arm, after contracting an infection.

"Jeff is our brother, we've all been friends and together as a band for almost 30 years," Tom Araya said in a statement, "so we just want him to recover as soon as possible."

"After everything that happened last year," Kerry King added, "we all agreed that we just can't let our fans down again," referring to Araya's severe back and neck pain that prompted his January 2010 surgery, unfortunately leading to the band's postponement or cancellation of numerous shows in 2009 and 2010.

"Jeff is totally on board with this decision, so we will tour as planned. At this point, we can't pinpoint exactly what day he'll be back, but he'll be back as soon as he possibly can. And we can't wait for Jeff to get better and get his ass back on the road."