When Slayer guitarist Kerry King initially announced his new solo project, there were rumors circulating that seemed to suggest that Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo would be serving as his new vocalist. Those plans obviously never came into fruition, but King has since confirmed to Rolling Stone that the idea was considered.
King said the following:
“It was considered. My management, my promoter, my record label all wanted Phil. Phil’s a good friend of mine, but I always thought he’s not the right guy. That has nothing to do with his ability; I just knew he wasn’t the right guy. When you hear [Death Angel’s] Mark [Osegueda] on this record, you know that’s the guy.”
He continued:
“I had to do due diligence, because at the end of the day, had Philip been the guy, we’d be in arenas immediately because we could play new stuff, we could play Pantera, we could play Slayer, and fans would’ve been happy. It ended when the Pantera thing came up.”
King went on to say that he “won’t confirm or deny” rumors suggesting that he was approached about the Pantera reunion. He also discussed his decision to recruit Osegueda:
“With Mark, he was on board early on. I just didn’t pull that trigger. I was like, “Let’s see what happens.” Say for instance, [Judas Priest’s] Rob Halford calls me and says, “Hey, I would love to be your singer,” I’d have to go that way.”
Metal Anarchy 
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