Kerry King Says Tom Araya’s Future Plans for Slayer are “Unclear”

For some time, Slayer frontman Tom Araya has been suggesting he may not want to keep Slayer going, whether he’s talking about a possible solo album or saying that his band’s current line-up is “half of Slayer.” And now, it appears that these weren’t just glib quips on Tom’s part.

In a recent interview with Germany’s EMP Rock Invasion, Kerry King said that Tom is on the fence about the band’s future:

“He’s very unclear. That’s just how he is. I don’t know if he likes holding his cards in his pocket or what.

“I mean, I don’t have an answer. I’m holding off a lot of things I wanna do at home, just ’cause I don’t know if I’m gonna be working in two years. I’m gonna be working, hopefully in Slayer. Yeah, dude. What else am I gonna do? I came out of high school and fucking went on tour.”

When asked about his possible retirement, King said:

“Not for me. Not for me, man — especially on such a good record… I’ll take another record or two.”

Interesting. It’s not exactly mindblowing that Tom would want to leave Slayer — he’s a well-known family man, and his personal tastes lie far outside of metal. On top of that, he recently got spit on by a dude who was supposed to be his fan, which could make anyone who’s been dedicating their life to music for 35 years want to throw down their bass and storm away from their band.

But that then raises an interesting question: what happens if Tom Araya retires? King doesn’t seem interested in throwing in the towel any time soon, but Slayer continuing after Jeff Hanneman passed away already felt kind of questionable — would fans be interested in seeing Slayer with King as the only remaining original member? And meanwhile, who would replace Tom Araya? Can we think of any singer who would be Tom’s worthy successor? Who would even want to be that guy?

What do you think: should Slayer continue without Tom Araya, and if so, who could step up to replace him? Let us know in the comments section.

[via]