Slayer is almost set to make their return to the live stage. The band will play 3 festival dates starting with Riot Fest in Chicago on Sept. 22, and the show marks the band’s first live performance since the conclusion of their farewell tour in November of 2019.
In a new interview with Nikki Blakk, Slayer guitarist Kerry King spoke about a variety of topics including the thrash metal scene in the early ’80s, The Big Four, and he also discussed Metallica’s foray into more radio friendly territory before returning to their thrash roots on recent albums.
King was asked if he felt that Slayer was “special” in the band’s early days while they had several other peers around them within the thrash metal genre.
“No, because Metallica was more of a thrash band back then,” King explained. “Everybody was, really. Megadeth was thrashier. And obviously, Metallica went on a much more poppy trail than we did. They came back around.”
King then shared his thoughts on recent Metallica albums and named “Spit Out The Bone” as a more recent offering by the band that he loves. “They’ve had a couple pretty killer records — the last couple,” King said. “And I get confused which one’s called what, but the one with ‘Spit Out the Bone’… I love ‘Spit Out the Bone,’ killer f*cking song.”
King said that while the other three bands of The Big Four all eventually branched off into other sounds, Slayer, for the most part, stayed closer to thrash. “But as we matured and went our separate paths, we pretty much stayed the thrashiest of the Big Four, I would say,” King said. “That didn’t make us better or anything. We’re just different.”
King’s full interview can be viewed below.
