Thrash metal giants Slayer are making a comeback for their first live shows since 2019. The announcement may come as a surprise to many, given the band had formerly announced a retirement and hosted a farewell tour.

Slayer will be playing at two festivals in the US this September – Louder Than Life festival and Riot Fest– with the same line up of members that it previously ended things with: Kerry King, Tom Araya, Gary Holt and Paul Bostaph.

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Interestingly, a Slayer reunion had seemed more off the cards than ever in recent months. With hindsight, maybe they were cleverly throwing us off their trail all this time. If that is not the case, then this whole move is rather perplexing to say the least.

King had previously said he hadn’t spoken to Araya since the band’s final show (though he had spoken to other members), and that he could “pretty much say a hundred percent no” to the chances of any reunion happening.

However, King had also said that he felt the retirement was “premature” and expressed sadness at not being able to play in the band anymore when speaking to Metal Hammer. Following their “retirement”, he quickly got to work on solo material. He officially announced his debut solo album From Hell I Rise, just a few weeks ago, which he had described as “an extension of Slayer”.

“Nothing compares to the 90 minutes when we’re on stage playing live, sharing that intense energy with our fans,” Araya says in a new press release (via Revolver). “And to be honest, we have missed that.”

King also states, “Have I missed playing live? Absolutely. Slayer means a lot to our fans; they mean a lot to us. It will be five years since we have seen them.”

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Slayer will be headlining Riot Fest on Sunday 22 September and day two of Louder Than Life on Friday 27 September. Find out more via the official Slayer website.