Whether or not you think Slayer is really Slayer without the late Jeff Hanneman, founding guitarist Kerry King told Revolver that he is moving forward with recording a forthcoming album with new drummer Paul Bostaph and Gary Holt. King says that he, Bostaph and vocalist Tom Araya have plenty of songs written and demoed, and they are awaiting signing a deal with a label.

When asked about material Hanneman wrote and never released, King doesn’t plan on releasing any material as the late guitarist left it. King says that a Hanneman track that was left off of their last album, World Painted Bl00d, was left off for a reason. “I know Jeff wanted to rework it, so it’s not like he’s not here, so I’m gonna change his song. I know he talked about rewriting lyrics for it,” King says of the track. “If we’re gonna put out Jeff’s last contribution in Slayer, if it ain’t awesome, you’re not gonna hear it. So I wanna make it awesome, so you can hear it.”

King hopes to sign a deal at the beginning of 2014 and have an album out by May.