Lets face it, nearly every metalhead is affected by Slayer’s farewell tour. Our jaws dropped and even one of our contributor’s moms is saddened. While Kerry King promised us that he will continue to make new music, Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine wants Slayer to hold on for at least one more Big 4 extravaganza.

Speaking of opinions, Jason “Bakko” Bakken of Cobras & Fire recently interviewed Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante and asked how he felt about Slayer’s retirement.

Benante responded:

“I think I’ve known for a while now that some of the guys in the band maybe were feeling it a bit at this point, and I can totally understand that, because I feel it too. I guess when I saw it yesterday, it kind of hit home with me a bit. I actually got a feeling of putting a time stamp on things.

I never look at age. The only time I look at age is when someone brings it to my attention or someone posts my birthday in the papers and stuff like that; that’s when I look at it. Or nowadays, it’s become really common for the people that I looked up to who are now passing on. So when Slayer put that thing out yesterday, it kind of hit me in a way that was, ‘Fuck, man! This ride is… Maybe we’re all coming to the end of our ride here a bit.’ And I think it probably startled a lot of people, both musicians, both the fans.

I think life is starting to catch up to all of us. Fans are just… I think they’re all worried now that, what’s gonna be left? These shitty bands that are coming up now?”

He added:

“I think the fans want these bands to live on forever, and, of course, so do I. But there’s so many factors into this. Do you wanna go see your [favorite] band and do you wanna come out of it going, ‘Oh my God! That was terrible. They barely could play.’ Because I’ve witnessed that. And it’s, like, ‘Ooh, man.’ You feel bad. And you don’t want your favorite artist or favorite band to go out like that, but yet there’s a part of you that’s, like, ‘No, no, no. Nostalgia, man. I still need this in my life. Don’t do this to me.’

There’s one thing you have to remember: it could either be a song, it could be a movie or whatever, it’s always gonna take you back to that place where you were probably most happiest. And that’s a big thing, especially for all of us, to go back to a place that was safe, happy. You had no responsibility. Who cares? Who cares what time it is? I don’t give a fuck. It’s, like, remember the days of just staying up all fucking night just to finish a video game and not worry about the next day. I mean, things like that. Being on tour, staying up all night, drinking, listening to music, bonding, and then getting up the next day and doing it all over again. And not having the weight of the world, not having anxiety about what’s someone gonna tweet today. I mean, it’s crazy.”

Benante hit a few points that most of us fear with “what’s left?” And with that, the only thing we can think of is one song by Type O Negative:

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