Kerry King was ready for a new Slayer record but Tom Araya’s statements upset him.
In a recent interview with Revolver, the guitarist recalled how his debut solo album started:
“I had every intention of making another Slayer record until Tom [Araya] was doing an interview with some publication, and they asked him about the next Slayer album. He said something like, ‘I don’t know, I gotta talk to Kerry before we start working on the next record.’ And that’s what he wanted to talk to me about: He had no intention of doing another record.”
King Decided To Move On
He shared what he felt after hearing Araya’s words:
“And when I found that out, of course, I’m hurt, first and foremost. Second, I’m like, ‘I got a lot of work to do.’ Third, I’m like, ‘I’ve just gotta play my gig as best I can every night [on the final tour] and prepare to move on.’ And fourth, I was like, ‘OK, all these songs that I’d been writing for Slayer? Now they’re just mine.’”
What Did Araya Say About A New Slayer Album?
In a 2017 interview with Futuro, Araya seemed unsure about a new album from the band. He noted:
“I don’t know. I know that when we recorded the album itself, there was a lot of music … Once we get done with what we’re doing, we’ll have to sit down and discuss it and talk it out. [..] Me and Kerry are still trying to put the final touches on the business aspect of things, as far as the band goes. Cause of Jeff’s passing, we still haven’t put closure to all of that, so we’re still working on that, and we’ll see. We’ll see how things go and we’ll see if there’s a new album.”
King Was Eager To Work On A New Record
Contrary to Araya, King had seemed optimistic about a new record in a previous interview. The guitarist said the following about a follow-up to ‘Repentless’:
“We’ve got lots of leftover material from the last album, ’cause we wrote so much stuff, and we recorded a bunch of it too. If the lyrics don’t change the song musically, those songs are done. So we are way ahead of the ballgame without even doing anything for the next record. And I’ve been working on stuff on my downtime. Like, I’ll warm up and a riff will come to mind and I’ll record it.”
King used those materials for his debut solo album, ‘From Hell I Rise.’ Kerry revealed in February that he hadn’t spoken to Araya after Slayer played their final show in 2019. Nearly five years later, Slayer will reunite for three festival appearances this fall, but there’s no plan for a full return.