After 30 years of reigning, Slayer frontman and bassist Tom Araya questioned whether the band would carry on after the passing of guitarist Jeff Hanneman on May 2, 2013. When the topic on the bands future was brought up to Araya, he responded by saying, “After 30 years, it would literally be like starting over. To move forward without Jeff just wouldn’t be the same, and I’m not sure the fans would be so accepting of that drastic a change. Especially when you consider how much he contributed to the band musically. And you can have someone sit in for him, but there’s no one on this planet that can do what Jeff did. There’s no replacing him.”

Fans of Slayer will have to wait and see what comes of this, and if time will heal the sadness of Hanneman's untimely passing. Slayer's other guitarist , Kerry King seems to disagree with Araya saying “I don’t think we should throw in the towel just because Jeff’s not here.”Slayer have over thirty shows booked for 2013,so things should play out after these already scheduled shows take place.