"Metal is more of a brotherhood than any kind of music." Slayer's Kerry King hails the inclusivity of heavy metal

Fans celebrating the performance of a band at the Wacken Open Air festival on August 2, 2018 in Wacken, Germany.
(Image credit: Gina Wetzler/Getty Images)

Slayer guitarist Kerry King says the heavy metal scene is "more of a brotherhood" than any other music genre.

Speaking to Blunt Magazine while touring Australia with his solo band, King heaped praise on the inclusivity of metal fans when asked if he thought Slayer's music appealed to different generations.

He says: "Metal is more of a brotherhood than any kind of music that I can think of.

"I thought that 20 years ago. You would see older brothers bringing younger siblings or even parents bringing their kids because this kind of music isn't alienating in a family environment. You know what I mean?

"Like, it's not uncool if you like the same music your parents do. It's like, that's really cool. And this is one of the odd types of music that that is allowed.

"Like, the first show we did 'Kerry King', we did a small club outside of Chicago, and I saw a lot of older fans because they knew to go buy the tickets so fast because they're gonna go.

"It was a 400-seater, it was tiny. So there was a lot of our probably first-generation fans. But, yeah, all the time I see kids in Slayer shirts, kids in Kerry King shirts. You know – Metallica, Megadeth.

"It's just the type of music – metal."

King released his debut solo album From Hell I Rise earlier this year.

Metal Hammer's review of the album describes it as "the sound of a man with absolutely zero interest in fading into the background."

The review continues: "It is also the most pissed off and aggressive thing Kerry King has produced since God Hates Us All more than two decades ago."

Kerry King on Life After Slayer | Good Things Festival 2024 - YouTube Kerry King on Life After Slayer | Good Things Festival 2024 - YouTube
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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.