Get ready. It's finally happening. For real this time. Kerry King will be launching his new band in 2024.
The former Slayer guitarist initially aimed to have his next venture out on the road back in 2020, but the pandemic waylaid those plans. In the three years since, King has periodically hyped up his mysterious new band, teasing that it will sound a helluva lot like Slayer and promising that it "will be fucking good."
In summer 2022, King confirmed that ex-Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph will be involved with the group, and the axman promised fans that he wouldn't be "dragging his feet much longer" on getting the band off the ground.
Now, it appears that 2024 really will be the year we hear new music from King, marking his first musical activity since Slayer played their final shows in late 2019.
On a new Instagram page titled Kerry King Music, a cryptic photo has been posted that shows the chain King wore around his neck onstage for years resting in a heap on what looks ike a stage.
The accompanying text simply reads, "Coming in 2024..." That seems like a pretty good hint that King's new project will be unveiled sometime next year. Check out the teaser below and stay tuned for more updates.
"You know me, so you know what it's going to sound like," King commented in 2022 of the new material, which, he said in 2021, amounts to more than two records' worth. "I played this new song for a buddy, and I said to him, 'If there's anything I've written in the last few years that sounds like Slayer, it's this.'
"And he said, 'That sounds like you could have pulled it off of any Slayer record.' I actually made that riff up backstage at a Slayer show. We were walking to the stage and I got my phone out and recorded it so I wouldn't forget it.
"That actually ended up being one of the last songs that I finished for the sessions, so when that hits the air, or stores, or Apple, or wherever it is that people buy music from these days, you can all play the guessing game discussion about which one it is."
