Kerry King Explains Why He Will Always Play Slayer Songs With His Solo Band

Kerry King recently elaborated on why his solo band incorporates Slayer classics into their live shows. During a press conference promoting his appearance at the Bangers Open Air 2025 festival in São Paulo, Brazil, the iconic guitarist explained the significance of performing songs he wrote or co-wrote during his four decades with the thrash legends.

King stated (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Part of the reason I’m doing Slayer songs in my set is because it’s part of my past, part of our legacy, and if Slayer never comes down here again, I play these songs so people in South America, wherever I play, they can still enjoy the songs that I’ve written over the last 40 years. So, to me, it’s an extension of Slayer because Slayer went away. Slayer got taken away from me as well. I planned on being Slayer forever. And I still am; we’re just not playing that often. But I like to give fans a taste of what I am now, what I was then, songs they’re probably never gonna see again live. I wanna give that to them. I wanna show people that were too young to see Slayer the first time how cool it was, because I think we do the Slayer songs justice. And me moving forward, I’ll have more and more solo material, but I’m not ever gonna forget that I was in Slayer and I’ll always play some of that too.”

The setlist for King‘s solo performances typically includes Slayer mainstays such as “Repentless“, “Hate Worldwide“, “Chemical Warfare“, “Disciple“, “Raining Blood“, “At Dawn They Sleep“, and “Black Magic“. He previously mentioned to Metal Hammer magazine his intention for the current album cycle was to only play Slayer material he “wrote or co-wrote. So nobody can say ‘he’s playing Jeff (Hanneman, late Slayer guitarist) songs,’ because although I love Jeff songs and he was such a big part of my life, I don’t want to rely on it this year, this album cycle,” adding tactically. “At some point, I will play ‘Angel Of Death‘, but there’s so many f**king faceless haters on the Internet, I don’t want to give them ammunition.”

This careful curation occurs even as Slayer itself has resurfaced, playing two festival shows in late 2024 after a five-year break and announcing North American and European tour dates for 2025, including their first UK and Canadian appearances in six years and a unique East Coast show in Hershey, Pennsylvania this September.

Despite Slayer‘s renewed activity, King remains heavily invested in his solo venture. His debut album, From Hell I Rise, arrived in May 2024 via Reigning Phoenix Music, featuring King on all songwriting duties. He’s backed by a powerhouse band comprising drummer Paul Bostaph (Slayer), bassist Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah), guitarist Phil Demmel (formerly of Machine Head), and vocalist Mark Osegueda (Death Angel). The album was produced by Josh Wilbur (Korn, Lamb of God).

Remarkably, King is already composing music for his second solo record. He revealed in a recent chat with Rolling Stone Brasil that he’s written two new songs since his band’s last US tour concluded in late February and has an ambitious plan to record the follow-up quickly, possibly before the end of 2025. “I made up two songs since I’ve been home from this U.S. run (in late February). So we keep working on stuff. We haven’t played together yet, but we have stuff to work on when we get together”, King shared, indicating a strategy to hit the studio soon after the current album’s touring cycle wraps up, which he estimates could be around October 2025.

Kerry King also made a memorable appearance at WWE’s WrestleMania 41 on Sunday, April 20, delivering a live guitar performance for Damian Priest’s entrance theme, “Rise For the Night.”

The song, “Rise For the Night,” was produced by Def Rebel, the group behind WWE’s original theme music since 2019, and features Kerry King on guitar.

King’s live appearance at WrestleMania 41 was highly anticipated, especially since Damian Priest is scheduled to host Slayer’s long-awaited concert in September 2025.