Slayer's King says crowds prove metal is thriving

Kerry King says he knows metal is in good health by the number of people going to gigs.

The Slayer guitarist reveals that the band’s upcoming European tour is near to sold out already and that he sees that as a better indicator of the state of the scene than how many records they sell.

King tells The Irish Times: “I judge it more by people coming to shows rather than on people buying music. It’s very different to what it was 20 years ago, but the live environment is unchanged, and that’s when you see if you are doing well.

“The tour that’s coming up is almost sold out already which is great news. It does seem to be a good time for metal.”

He adds that Slayer hope to include five songs from latest album Repentless for their live shows, but insists he’ll never bore of playing the band’s classic hits.

He says: “I love playing Reign In Blood, I love playing Angel Of Death, South Of Heaven and War Ensemble. They’re fun to play and they’re not boring songs. We’re playing three songs off the new album now – Repentless, Implode and When The Stillness Comes. By the time we come to Europe, I hope it will be five.”

Repentless was released on September 11. This week, the band issued a behind-the-scenes video of them recording the track Cast The First Stone.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.