Slayer guitar hero, Kerry King, recently released his debut solo album, From Hell I Rise, via Reigning Phoenix Music. In a new interview with Guitar World, King takes us behind the making of the album. An excerpt from the feature follows...
At the risk of being redundant, From Hell I Rise is nothing short of Slayer reborn. And that’s hardly a crime, since it’s exactly what King wanted; and it explains why he originally wanted to call the band King’s Reign or Blood Rain (references to Slayer’s most heralded album, 1986’s Reign In Blood). Both names were already trademarked. With From Hell I Rise, King pulls no punches. Neither does he provide any strikingly new combinations.
“I can only write the way I write,” he says with a shrug, then takes a pull from his glass of tequila. “That’s all I know how to do. That’s all I want to do. I mean, me not being in Slayer sucks. I want Slayer to exist, so this is the only way I know how to do that.
“To me, it would be weird to do anything else. Everybody knows how I write. This is my comfort zone. I’m a big metal guy. I don’t want to make rock ’n’ roll. I don’t want to make anything else. If people say this album sounds like Slayer, I take that as a huge compliment.”
Read the complete feature at Guitar World.
King recently aunched a video interview series in support of From Hell I Rise. Watch Chapter 1 & Chapter 2, Parts 1 & 2 below:
Stream / purchase From Hell I Rise here.
From Hell I Rise tracklisting:
"Diablo"
"Where I Reign"
"Residue"
"Idle Hands"
"Trophies Of The Tyrant"
"Crucifixation"
"Tension"
"Everything I Hate About You"
"Toxic"
"Two Fists"
"Rage"
"Shrapnel"
"From Hell I Rise"
"Toxic" video:
"Residue" video:
"Idle Hands" visualizer:
Find Kerry King's live itinerary here.