THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Place: The L.A. Forum. The Time: Just before midnight on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019. Slayer’s Kerry King stood at center stage, his signature chains hung from his belt. He walked to stage right, unhooked the chains, held them high, dropped them, turned and walked off the stage. It was the end of Slayer — and the beginning of the next chapter in his musical story. “I knew early on that I wasn’t done, and I had no intention of not continuing to play,” he says.
True to his word, the guitarist had already written enough new material for two albums. And if it hadn’t been for the pandemic, his long-awaited solo project would likely have emerged in 2020. For his long-delayed debut album From Hell I Rise, King enlisted drummer Paul Bostaph (Slayer), bassist Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah), guitarist Phil Demmel (Machine Head) and vocalist Mark Osegueda (Death Angel). Working with producer Josh Wilbur (Korn, Lamb Of God, Avenged Sevenfold, Bad Religion), the vast bulk of the album was recorded at Henson Studios in Los Angeles in about two weeks, and was finished this past June.
“I didn’t know what to think, you know — it’s Kerry King from Slayer who I’ve heard a million times,” says Wilbur. “He’s a very strong presence. I wouldn’t say Kerry has an ego, but he has confidence in himself, which is a good thing. That’s what you want in your rock stars and in your band. He never comes off as a jerk or mean guy. But he does know exactly what he wants. He doesn’t beat around the bush. He’s like, ‘I don’t want to do that, but I want to do this.’ Very direct, but it comes from a place of confidence, and not from a place of anything else. I really enjoyed working with Kerry.”
According to King, the new music covers “various religious topics, some war entries, heavy stuff, punky stuff, doomy stuff and spooky stuff, with Herculean speeds achieved. If you’ve ever liked any Slayer throughout any part of our history,” he adds, “there’s something on this record that you’ll get into, be it classic punk, fast punk, thrash, or just plain heavy metal!”
And he maintains this is just the start. “Even with a record in the can, I’ve still got so many songs that need to be finished. This is what I know how to do…number one being music, number two being metal. It’s been a part of my life for 40 years, and I’m nowhere near being done.”
Slayer’s co-founding guitarist, King is one of the most instantly recognizable and well-respected musicians in thrash/punk/metal. Over the last four decades, he has pioneered some of the most brutal and revolutionary music ever created. King wrote or co-wrote some of Slayer’s most beloved songs, including Mandatory Suicide, Repentless, Hell Awaits, Disciple and Raining Blood. Known for his allegiance to the Raiders, his love of snakes, and his taste for Jagermeister, King is outspoken, opinionated and authentic to the core. Metal flows in his veins, he knows how to write what he writes, and he has no interest in changing that.”
