Kerry King Reveals Tom Araya Didn't Play Bass on Slayer Records 

Never trust anyone who doesn’t like Dave Lombardo

Who cares? Tom was a performer and frontman, and good one at that.

He's unleashed his inner Dave mustaine

I love Slayer, but KK always came off as a bit of a dick. Also, seeing Tom very obviously shredding bass live, I'm not sure I believe that he didn't play in the studio.

Sounds like to me Kerry is trying to bury the rest of the former band members of slayer. It seems he has sat there and ran his mouth almost non-stop since the band retired. He has a new band he needs to focus on that instead of trying to put his former band members down. I got to see Slayer back in 2012 and Tom kicked ass along with Dave on drums. Honestly his new project sounds real good but I doubt I will give them a listen. Kerry is just bitter bout slayer calling it quits

Is anyone else getting a sense that Hanneman was always the glue that held this band together for so long???

Jeff is the riff fuhrer. Dave is the most skilled. Tom could sing like all hell. And then there was Kerry.

Jeff wrote all the hits.

Kerry King: "Hey, remember those canons in the 1812 overture? - yeah, I played them!"

Bla, bla; I guess Kerry played everything: both guitars, bass, drums. He don’t like Dave Lombardo, Tom Arraya(oh, Slayer was Tom’s band), Kirk Hammet,.. Is anybody who fits to his wishes? I guess no. And, by the way, Jeff wrote mainly all the best Slayer songs and he was a Slayer God and not Kerry.

I've been a Slayer fan since 85 and personally KK has been the douche in the band since the beginning . He always comes across as trying to hard

Kerry also invented the wheel and discovered fire. Lol

I don't buy it....if Tom could play them live in front of huge crowds he can play them in the studio....if I remember right there's footage of Tom playing in the srudio...

Hanneman wrote all of their iconic riffs. No debate. Lombardo had the most skills as a musician. Araya vocals were amazing. Kerry King was a bald headed little dwarf that just tried to act tough.

As for someone who was there from the very beginning when Slayer used to rehearse in Tom's Garage we all witnessed Tom playing bass especially in the early recordings of show no mercy haunting The Chapel at track records Tom does in fact know how to play bass

Next thing he'll claim he was Chuck Norris' stunt double.

Kerry King was also Steve Vai's guitar teacher.

King played bass and all the rhythm guitars as well from Divine intervention onwards. This is old news; any Slayer fan knows this. Also, it's pretty common with bands.

poor fucking kerry! consumed by envy, because he will never recive the admiration ans love from slayer maniacs, that jeff deserves...😢

Love slayer Don't care for King or his project

Tom Araya was never "known" to be a virtuoso bass player. If you watch him play live, one could see that. King, probably sounded better in the studio for recording purposes and probably could do it in less takes. Their music was never mixed with any kind of heavy bass, but more of a focus on the dueling lead/rhythm guitar. But, to reveal it now is just to take a pot shot at Araya whose vocals are BA to say the least.

Kerry is just looking for attention to fuel towards his new project. I don't believe his claims to have any truth to them whatsoever - the least talented member of Slayer was Kerry by far!

Dave Lombardo and Anaya's style of vocal is what elevated them from the mediocrity.

Kerry throwing his toys out of the cot again!!!. Will always be the 2nd best guitarist in slayer.

Kerry King also played the drums in the studio. Lombardo simply had to learn the parts. Lucky for him that Bostaph already knew how to play.

Who cares! Sorry but without Toms voice, Jeff’s amazing lyricists skills and Dave’s unmatched drumming ability, Slayer wouldn’t be shit! Kerry was always the weakest link of Slayer and easily the most replaceable

This is old news. Kerry or Jeff played bass on the albums . I heard these rumours in the early 90s

Some people are not comfortable in the studio I heard every albums bass was done by Kerry. Tom did played well on stage who cares. KK seems like a dick.

Tom is an iconic Frontman in Metal ,an absolute legend. I don't care who played bass on the 90's and later albums. To me Slayer died with Jeff. Let them Rest in Peace.

I saw them live a few times and I saw them at the ritz in manhattan back in 1986 where I was a few feet away from him and he played that bass. It was the best live performance I’ve seen by them. And I was very impressed by how he played bass and sang.

KK is unbelievably limited as far as musical skill goes. Not sure I believe a word he says at this point.

Tom is not the sid vicious of metal. If you think he can t play bass watch slayer s concerts on RU-vid.

I do not pretend to know the inner workings of Slayer, but this looks and sounds a lot like KK expressing his resentment over the way Slayer ended by throwing shade at former band mates. I guess harhouring a degree of disappointment over what went down is to be expected. Letting it fester like this, is a choice (even though letting it go can be hard). FFS, get over it already, and focus on what a new project can bring to the table. This way KK will be an old and bitter man before he knows it. Shame.

lol "Slayer's iconic basslines" wtf?

Tom says that Kerry only played bass on Repentless. I believe Tom over Kerry.

Don’t fucking care one iota if this is true or not. Tom was the voice of Slayer, period. KK seems to be resentful that Tom was ready to enjoy is life out of the public eye since KK obviously needs the public attention. I wish KK well on his new project, I’ll be seeing them with Lamb of God and Mastodon in July. Really excited to hear what Mark Oseguada brings to the entire album.

Tom played pretty Damn good while playing Live

I like all original band members!

Who knows on some albums, but the first three had to be Tom they were finger played and actually pretty good. From South of Heaven onwards the bass guitar got very basic and only did what it had to, to fill the sound. Also, Kerry did record all the rhythm tracks for every player album starting with Divine Intervention.

Kerry King is the Scottie Pippen of heavy metal 😂

In the studio KK did all the drums guitars bass vocals ran the boards and did all the production mixing and editing. Simultaneously. Live. In one take. No stacking or laying tracks over one at a time. He only takes credit for bass and guitar because hes such a humble and good friend.

I heard KK also came up and played all the drum parts for seasons in the abyss. Also, during the two weeks he was in Megadeth he managed to write all the solos Marty Friedman would later play in rust in peace. What a talent….

Idk it’s believable that maybe in the studio they divided up the work that way. But end of the day you can go look up live “straight from the board” Tom Araya bass and hear that he nails those parts and is a really good player

It's easy to talk smack about your old band mates... Dave Mustaine, anyone?

Kerry King invented music, but you are not ready for this conversation

theres footage of tom playing bass in studios no? i saw one from records of post 1990s..

On the Slayer: Making of Repentless documentary from 2015, there is a picture of Kerry playing a 5 string, B.C. Rich Mockingbird bass. At the time, I didn't think much of it because it's not unusual to see pictures and/or footage of musicians playing other instruments to come up with parts and ideas for songs and/or just mess around. But there is also a picture of Tom playing his bass in the studio so it could be a thing to where Kerry played bass on some songs on that album.

Slayer ended beautifully with World Painted Blood. For me at least. The last Slayer album!!!

Iconic bass lines? What the fuck are you talking about? I love Slayer, but name one iconic Slayer bass line.

Even if it’s true who cares? Tom played bass for thousands of shows during their career. We all know Tom can play.

i like King but he's lying his ass off lol . next thing he'll say he played all the instruments with slayer 😂

Funny how Slayer is doing two shows in a few months, must not hate each other that much

Kerry King criticizes Mustaine. But he is second after him for a big mouth full of narcissistic, etc, etc, etc comments. No shock here.

Tom is the real legend, not King.

" i sang on all Slayer records" Kerry King in 2026

Jeffs sounds was Slayers sound. Not kerry’s. Repentless was a heaping pile of steamy shit

Tom Araya seemed like he was ready to call it quits after touring for the God Hates us All album. He just got bored. He deserved all of the credit,praise and recognition that he earned by busting his ass for 40 years!

A true bass player already known this,,,, there is no bass solos for a reason! Jeff and Kerry is SLAYER

Next thing will be is it's not Tom's voice but Kerry's

What is next? He sang as well?

This is not news. This has been known for years.

Hm I wonder if Tom grew Kerry's goatee for him while he recorded the bass parts

Kerry’s ego is pretty effen gross , and I never heard an oh my god bass line in any slayer song ….ever .

He's still a pissed off teenager. that's really sad.

Dave can't be replaced

I don't think a 60 year old Kerry King is telling lies about playing the bass on records knowing that Tom Araya only has to say that King is lying but Tom hasn't. By the way in the Documentary of recording of the Relentless album, I think I didn't see anyone was recording with bass Guitar only Guitars and drums, Tom was just singing, correct me if I'm wrong.

I met them all at an album signing in the early 90’s and KK was a total jerk for sure. The rest of the guys were really cool.

‘Slayers iconic bass lines’. I love slayer but aside Hell Awaits, and maybe a bit in Diablos in musica, the bass is completely lost in the mix for the most part and certainly none of that you can hear is could be descibed as ‘iconic’!

Don't touch Mr ARAYA !! 🤘

His ego has always been out of control. Unless it's confirmed by someone else, I don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth.

Don't enjoy putting anyone down but the best part of early Slayer was Tom's vocals and Dave's drumming. Obviously Jeff was an absolute riff master, but King was always the least interesting guy in the band. Obviously not too bright either, hearing he picked up his life and moved to NYC. Maybe he didn't get the memo everyone is leaving that decaying town. Good luck! Not a bad new tune, but nothing exciting either. Just more Repentless 2

I think he was never really the center of attention and that made him bitter about his time with Slayer. I think he's not doing himself any favors with what he's saying now. And in a band, every member can usually play the other instruments anyway.

Maybe King was a workhorse in the studio and indeed a consistent original member- but that doesn't change the fact that he was the least important member of the band. Lombardo is a beloved legend beyond Slayer; Hanneman wrote all of the most important songs; Araya was the voice and frontman.

I like all the original band members of Slayer.

Kerry King is a small man with Napoleon complex. Hence the overkill tattoos, beard, and shades. His insecurity armor.

Fun facts: Both Tom and Jeff actually played all of Kerry's rhythm guitar tracks on all the albums.

All Slayer's albums since Seasons in the Abyss or since Divine Intervention? And that's an interesting tidbit considering Tom seems to show no problem playing and singing all their songs live. AND it's interesting considering Kerry King played all the rhythm guitars or most of them from Diabolous in Musica on. I don't know. The fact is I have Slayer's classics and Disc 2 of Soundtrack to the Apocalypse does a great job covering the Bostaph years. Then I have Christ Illusion and World Painted Blood. I probably give Christ Illusion a bit of an edge. It's tighter in the writing department.

Recording vs live isn't the same. You have to be incredibly precise to record. Bands use studio musicians all the time to record. If Tom wrote bass lines or had any part of the creative process, that's great. If he's only the talent for live, that's also great. Two different sets of skills, nonetheless.

Dude Tom can shred

Wouldn't be the first case of the bass player live wasn't the bass player on the album(s). Remember Tom was new to metal when they started, he didn't even know what it was when he joined Slayer. So it wouldn't surprise me if Kerry played bass at least on the early albums, there is some pretty shredding bass on those albums.

I don't care about the behind the scene. .. it's the collection of talent that every single element that makes up Slayer. The how does not matter Now I'm very interested in hearing something from both Slayer and Sepultura

When Jeff hanneman passed away so did slayer .

Isn't this odd timing for these comments considering the two show reunion?

Don't be surprised if later Kerry makes a claim that he also played all of Jeff's credited solos on their albums too.

Karen King probably played drums for Slayer too.

Love everything up until 1994 of the band and especially Kerry King's awesome live performances / look - especially during the 80ies. He's always been a hard worker and a very good player relative to his niche. As for his current activities - interesting to some extent but stylistically awe-ful.

The tell here is the notion of Slayer having "iconic bass lines."

Thoughts?? ... well it would be nice to see the actual reference that King stated that. While i do understand King does play a lot of the bass tracks mixed w the rhythm to get the song going, its probably unfair to say Araya had nothing to do w the sound.

Tom Araya sure played the bass live!

Kerry also said he played Jeffs rhythm parts too..Not new news..This has been known since Diablos..

Divine Intervention was the last interesting thing Slayer did.

So Tom Araya was getting his Bass Hero on just like the rest of us.😂

It actually makes sense.... it's not like Tom's bass parts were "genius" bass parts... they ALWAYS follow the guitar parts that either Jeff or Kerry wrote, so it makes sense that in the studio with the clock ticking and studio time being expensive, that making Tom LEARN all of these new riffs so that HE could play them on the record would be a waste of time and money... just have the guitar player who wrote the riff play it... be knows it already... then Tom can learn it later on his own time for the live performances. It's not like Tom lacked the skill to play them... which I think Kerry is trying to say without saying it (just to be kind of a bitch). That is how most people would look at the situation of Tom NOT playing on albums on the surface. Most people don't understand the recording process and would not know that stuff like that happens ALL THE TIME. I don't think less of Tom for this.

Kerry King-a-ling also hand-built all the guitars and basses. Facts.

yeah na he might seem like the rhythm guitarist but he is a awesome musician well trained song writer of his class I would want to play the parts too love your creativity with a message as well youth of the future will embrace slayer

Out of all the guitarists of the era, I’ve always felt Kerry has been the most underwhelming.

Tom made it no secret and said openly that he was done. He was tired of touring and being away from his family. And also his health issues with sleep apnea to use a breathing machine on busses etc... He was done. Jeff passed away in 2013, so that's that. Dave Lombardo left a long time ago to go on his own drumming adventures. Kerry has always expressed his opinions that Slayer retired too soon. (according to him). He's saying nonsense like this just to get heat and traction for his new album. That's all it is.

Araya and Lombardo should continue on their own

I always thought k.king should've been a bassist..He terrible at playing guitar

Don’t care for king