It’s official: Slayer’s Kerry King and Paul Bostaph are working on new music together

(Image credit: Press)

The bad news is that it looks like the chances of Slayer ever getting back together are slim to non-existent. The good news is that it doesn’t mean the ex-members will never work together again.

Just a day after guitarist Kerry King hinted that he was working on a new project with ex-Slayer duo Paul Bostaph and Gary Holt plus former Pantera singer Phil Anselmo, Paul Bostaph confirmed to radio show riff crew (via Blabbermouth) that he would be involved.

While Bostaph didn’t give away any hard details about the project, he did give some clues to how it was shaping up.

"I guess the best way to put it is Kerry writes what he writes,” he said. “Is this gonna be a rock and roll record? No. Is it gonna be what you want it to be? Yes. Is it gonna be what you expect it to be? Yes. It's not gonna be some rehashed stuff… It's gonna sound like Slayer without it being Slayer — but not intentionally so. I mean, Kerry's been writing songs in Slayer his entire career, and he has a style. And that style, as a songwriter, you just don't change your style because your band is done. But that's what you love to write.

"The thing about it is that we don't wanna sound like 'Baby Slayer,' you know what I mean?" he continued. "There is Slayer. But it's gonna be good — it's gonna be really good. I've been listening to the music and I just cannot wait to get into the room and start jamming with Kerry.”

There’s no news on when it will appear - or whether Anselmo and Holt are actually involved – but Kerry doesn’t seem to be suffering from any kind of writers’ block.

“I’ve been very lucky with riffs in 2020 – maybe because I can't go anywhere,” he told Dean Guitars. “But riffs have not been a problem. And looking forward, what that means for me is I'm going to be able to pick the best stuff – and it's good stuff.”

Dave Everley has been writing about and occasionally humming along to music since the early 90s. During that time, he has been Deputy Editor on Kerrang! and Classic Rock, Associate Editor on Q magazine and staff writer/tea boy on Raw, not necessarily in that order. He has written for Metal Hammer, Louder, Prog, the Observer, Select, Mojo, the Evening Standard and the totally legendary Ultrakill. He is still waiting for Billy Gibbons to send him a bottle of hot sauce he was promised several years ago.