Slayer have announced their next tour will be their last.
The heavy metal band – made up of Kerry King, Tom Araya, Paul Bostaph and Gary Holt – confirmed they will head on the road around the globe for one final time by sharing a video titled ‘The End is Near… Slayer to make its exit with one, final world tour’ on their official website.
The 30-second clip has one of their most famous songs, ‘Raining Blood’, playing in the background as several images looking back at their career pop up in quick succession.
At the end of the video, a message states: "Slayer’s final North American tour dates coming…"
Slayer are yet to release a tour schedule for their forthcoming run of shows but the group confirmed they will hit the US with Lamb of God, Anthrax, Behemoth and Testament.
The ‘Angel of Death’ hitmakers released their 12th and final studio album ‘Repentless’ in September 2015, two years after they were left devastated by the death of their guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who formed the band with Kerry in 1981.
Slayer shot to fame with their 1986 album ‘Reign in Blood’ and are known as one of the so-called Big Four thrash metal bands alongside Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax.
In 2016, vocalist Tom Araya admitted it was time to "collect my pension" after 35 years in music, hinting at a possible retirement, but said he still loved playing live.
He said: "At 35 years, it’s time to collect my pension. This is a career move.
"I’m grateful that we’ve been around for 35 years; that’s a really long time. So, yeah, to me, it is.
"Because when we started off, everything was great, because you’re young and invincible. And then there came a time where I became a family man, and I had a tough time flying back and forth.
"And now, at this stage, at the level we’re at now, I can do that; I can fly home when I want to, on days off, and spend some time with my family, which is something I wasn’t able to do when [my kids] were growing up.
"Now they’re both older and mature. So now I take advantage of that.
"Yeah, it just gets harder and harder to come back out on the road. 35 years is a long time."
Slayer to quit touring after farewell shows
