Kerry King has announced details of a UK and European solo tour, and said that Slayer have no plans to reunite or write any new material.
The comments from the metal icon come as Slayer recently played their first live gigs in nearly five years since the end of their lengthy farewell world tour back in 2019.
This included a slot at Chicago’s Riot Fest in September – which saw them play fan favourites like ‘Raining Blood’, ‘Angel Of Death’ and ‘South Of Heaven’ – and a slot at Aftershock Festival in Sacramento. Another scheduled show, headlining Kentucky’s Louder Than Life Festival, had to be cancelled due to issues with the weather.
Now, reflecting on the gigs, Kerry King has confirmed that the thrash metal band are ready to call it quits, and have no intention of lining up any more shows or sharing any new material.
“We’re never gonna tour again. We’re never gonna make a record again. Mark my word: we’re never gonna make a record again, we’re never gonna tour again. Because that was the last thing,” he said in an interview with Metal Roos (via Blabbermouth). “We said [back in 2018], ‘This is our final tour.’ It took five years for us to come and say, ‘Hey, here’s a couple of shows, five-year anniversary.’”
He also said that although he was glad to see such a positive response from fans amid the comeback shows, the timing wasn’t ideal for him as it came just weeks after he announced details of a solo project and tour.
“The announcement timing was not my favourite, but my band was doing its thing,” he explained. “The festival’s Slayer agreed to play, they wanted to release [the details then]… So, the timing wasn’t in my favour, but everything went [as it did], and here we are in Australia [with my new band] kicking ass.”
The interview with Metal Roos comes at the same time that King has announced a number of European headline dates for Summer 2025, including two stops in the UK.
Hitting the road with his solo band – which includes Mark Osegueda, Phil Demmel, Kyle Sanders and Paul Bostap – the newly announced dates come as an extension to the already-announced shows supporting Gojira he las planned.
New shows at Manchester’s Academy 2 and Bristol’s SWX have been announced, scheduled for August 12 and 13 respectively. Other new shows include stops in Frankfurt, Wien, Transylvania, Krakow and more.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow (December 12) at 10am local time. Visit here to buy tickets and find a full list of new tour dates below.
Kerry King’s 2025 European and UK tour dates are:
JULY
29 Zoom Saal, Frankfurt, DE [NEW]
30 Simm City, Wien, AU [NEW]
AUGUST
1 – Rockstadt Extreme, Transylvania, RO [NEW]
4 – Komplex 457, Zürich, CH [NEW]
6 – 9 Brutal Assault Festival, Jaromer, CZ
7 – FZW, Dortmund, DE [NEW]
8 – 10 Alcatraz Festival, Kortrijk, BE
12 – Academy 2, Manchester, UK [NEW]
13 – SWX, Bristol, UK [NEW]
14 – Motocultor Festival, Carhaix, FR
17 – Dynamo Festival, Eindhoven, NL
19 – Tauron Arena, Krakow, PL * [NEW]
The comments about the future of Slayer come as King previously insisted that Slayer “will never tour again”, and told Classic Rock History: “Don’t get used to this being a yearly event.”
In other Kerry King news, back in October the guitarist revealed that he would like either Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson or Vin Diesel to portray him in a biopic.
The comments arose as he responded to a fan’s question about who he would like to play himself in a biopic created about the band in Metal Hammer, the thrash metal legend responded with the former Fast & Furious stars.
“The only one that loosely fits the description [to play me] is Vin Diesel,” King explained. “If you go down that road you might also say The Rock, but I’m not nearly that giant! That would be awesome, though – I’ll say The Rock, because I like a lot of the stuff he’s in.”