Slayer Guitarist Kerry King Calls Split 'Premature': 'I Still Want To Play'

When Slayer embarked on their farewell tour in 2019 and subsequently split up, the feeling was not mutual between all band members. During a recent interview with Metal Hammer, Kerry King lamented about the break up being "premature."

The guitarist admitted he felt “anger… what else?" when asked about his emotions toward the band ending.

"It was premature," he continued. The reason I say ‘premature’ is because my heroes from my childhood are still playing! I can still play, I still want to play, but that livelihood got taken away from me.”

As for the farewell tour, King called it a "bummer."

“We were going to all these places where we have all this history," he recalled. "It’s a bummer to think, ‘I’m not gonna see my friends there again.’ You’d get to that country and know you were going to see these people, and you’d see them yearly. I haven’t seen them now in three years. That sucks. And the fans, too. Slayer means a lot to our fans, and they mean a lot to us. I know I will see these people again, but no Slayer leaves a big hole for a lot of people.”

“But, anyway, on to the next chapter, I guess," King added. "We were on top of the world, and there’s nothing wrong with going out on top of the world, it’s a good way to go out. So, bravo for that. But do I miss playing? Yeah, absolutely.”