Former Slayer guitarist Kerry King has given a brutal response to a journalist who questioned him about his relationship with his ex-bandmate Dave Lombardo.  Speaking in the same interview with Rolling Stone in which he put Lombardo's fellow former Slayer bandmate bassplayer/vocalist Tom Araya on blast, King gave a blunt response to a question about his relationship with Lombardo stating that  "Lombardo is dead to me".

He elaborated on the statement, revealing what appear to be rather deep issues stemming from Lombardo's firing from the band in 2013. 

“He went on that tirade when we were on a flight to Australia, and he knew we couldn’t retort for 14 hours, and he threw me under the bus,” said King. “I was the only one keeping him in the band. Tom [Araya] wanted him out before that, and [the late] Jeff [Hanneman] had just gotten the spider bite, so he wasn’t playing with us much. I said, ‘We need [Dave]. The fans won’t get it if we replace him right now.’ And then the Australia thing came up. He threw me under the bus, and I’m like, ‘I’m the guy that kept you here.’ So I thought, ‘Fuck that guy.’”

King continued, “He’s super impressionable. He was listening to this woman that was his attorney at the time, and she thought we had Metallica money, which we’ve never had fucking Metallica money. So she’s just blowing shit in his ear, and he thinks he should be getting more than he should be getting. It’s like, talk to somebody that actually knows the situation and isn’t just blowing sunshine up your ass to make money in your commission.”

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King also hasn't spoken to his former Slayer bandmate Tom Araya since the band walked off stage for the final time in November 2019, King revealed to Kory Grow that he has spoken to every other member of the band other than Araya since the final show. 

"I've talked to everybody else from the band on the phone, text or email," King explains. "If Tom hit me up, I'd probably respond. It probably depends on what he hit me up for, but I don't wish him dead at this moment."

King elaborates on the comments sharing that he and Araya have never really been on the same page at any stage of their musical or personal relationship. 

"Me and Tom have never been on the same page, like if I want a chocolate shake, he wants a vanilla shake. 'Kerry, what colour is the sky?' Blue. 'Tom, what colour is the sky?' White. We're just different people. The further on in years we got, it just became more. "Am I going to hang out with Tom?" "He likes tequila a little bit, and I'm a big tequila-head, so I'll have my shot with him, and we'll part ways. We're not going to hang out or anything because we are very different people. And together, we made great music and a great live show."

King's reflections are his first public statements of any note about the Slayer breakup, the reasoning for which has always been slightly shrouded in mystery. King cleared that mystery up a little sharing his perspective.  "I think just the wear and tear of the road. I think he wanted to be home. None of us are real spotlight seekers, but he's certainly not. And when [late Slayer guitarist] Jeff [Hanneman] was around, he was like a hermit. He did not want fame. I tolerate fame. Somebody's got to be that guy."

The release of Idle Hands was accompanied by news that an album is on the way.Titled From Hell I Rise it will drop on May 17 via Reigning Phoenix Music and will feature his newly announced solo band consisting of vocalist Mark Osegueda (Death Angel), drummer Paul Bostaph (ex-Slayer), guitarist Phil Demmel (Viol-Lence, Machine Head) and bass player Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah).

Listen to Idle Hands below. 

Dave Lombardo has kept busy since exiting Slayer, filling the drum throne for a number of acts including Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, Misfits and the Simon Neill (Biffy Clyro) supergroup  Empire State Bastard. 

Speaking to Maniacs last year upon the release of their debut album Rivers of Heresy Empire State Bastard's Simon Neill and Mike Vennart praised Lombardo for his work with them stating "It still blows our minds a little bit. I mean we’ve shared the stage with Dave Lombardo, we’ve spent a lot of time with him, and every time he lives the room, we still go ‘fucking hell, that’s Dave Lombardo’. We started working on this record in earnest during the start of the pandemic because everyone’s time freed up as their lives shut down, so we were able to devote some time to it.”

“Every drum track that Mike had made on the demos was called ‘Lombardo’s’ because that was the type of drum sound we wanted for it. It is a bit of a good life lesson because we just thought ‘Let’s fucking reach out to Dave Lombardo and see if he’s interested, all he can say is ‘No I’m busy’, you know? We knew he was out with Mr Bungle and the Misfits and Suicidal Tendencies, but we sent him the music and within 24 hours he got back to us and said ‘Right, when do you need this for, I’m fucking in’. That was the biggest compliment we’ve had for this whole project. That was what really solidified this as a band, and made us decide to play more shows.”

“At first when were playing shows, my mind was blown, but we very much felt like a band. Lombardo is such a kind fella, he makes you forget. A lot of these uber legends and icons, the really decent ones make you forget that you’re in the room with an icon until they leave and that’s their magic. When we are making music with Dave, it feels like it's just the four of us, you know?” 

Buy Empire State Bastard - Rivers of Heresy 

Listen to Empire State Bastard