Kerry King has announced his debut solo album, From Hell I Rise, arriving May 17th, along with the lead single “Idle Hands.” The guitarist has also unveiled the members of his post-Slayer band.
The official announcement comes years after King symbolically left his iconic chain onstage at the end of Slayer’s final concert in 2019 at The Forum in Los Angeles. At the time, King was quick to inform fans that he would be forming a new solo band to carry on the sound and ethos of Slayer — whose retirement King felt was “premature”.
“I knew early on that I wasn’t done,” remarked King in the press release for the album, “and I had no intention of not continuing to play.”
“Idle Hands” is the first song out of “two full albums” worth of material that King claims to have accumulated in the years since Slayer’s retirement — a period of gestation that was lengthened by the pandemic. Slayer fans will immediately recognize King’s axework on the blitzing thrash track, including one of his signature unhinged solos. As expected, the overall sound falls very close to the guitarist’s former band.
King tapped a supergroup of fellow thrash vets to form his new band, including drummer Paul Bostaph (Slayer), bassist Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah), guitarist Phil Demmel (ex-Machine Head), and Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda on vocals.
Everyone locks in with King’s obviously Slayer-influenced direction without trying to directly emulate Slayer or sound like a tribute act. While Bostaph as a onetime Slayer drummer naturally fits in with King’s vision for the band, Osegueda sticks to the same distinct and more punkish delivery he uses in Death Angel — an intriguing change from the barks and spitfire vocals of Tom Araya.
As for Osegueda, the Death Angel singer has said via Facebook that he is “proud” of his contributions to From Hell I Rise, but also assured fans that he is “still very much the lead vocalist of Death Angel.”
