Warren Lee, previously a guitar technician for SLAYER, has unveiled the inaugural snapshot of Kerry King’s fresh solo endeavor
Kerry King‘s premiere solo album, “From Hell I Rise,” is slated for release on May 17. All compositions for the LP were penned by the renowned guitarist, who enlisted drummer Paul Bostaph (formerly of SLAYER), bassist Kyle Sanders (from HELLYEAH), guitarist Phil Demmel (ex-MACHINE HEAD), and vocalist Mark Osegueda (of DEATH ANGEL) to join him during the recording sessions.
Overseeing the production at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles last year was the accomplished producer Josh Wilbur, whose repertoire includes collaborations with KORN, LAMB OF GOD, AVENGED SEVENFOLD, and BAD RELIGION, among others.
Earlier today, Lee took to his social media to share a couple of photos from the Henson sessions and he wrote in an accompanying message: “I can finally talk about this…..
“I retired from touring in 2019 went on to get settled into a life in one place, home. Last March, I got an unexpected call from the homie himself. He needed me in LA since his usual tech, Anders was busy doing another tour. A few weeks later I was on a flight out to Los Angeles and headed to the locker to dust off the gear and get it up to speed to use for the recording. We spent 2 weeks at Henson Studios and this shit came out amazing.
“Very proud to have been a part of this. Once again, thank you to @kerrykingmusic for always believing in me and letting me be a part of some really cool shit.
“Today you get to hear the first single ‘Idle Hands’. Today is also my best friend and Kerry‘s old tech @buttscrump birthday. What a coincidence. Happy birthday homie. We miss you.
“Congrats and good luck to the homies. Go give this song a listen!!!”
Kerry King told Rolling Stone that the title track, “From Hell I Rise”, is one of two songs — along with “Rage” — on the album that he has carried over from SLAYER‘s “Repentless” sessions. “It was finished, we recorded it,” he says. “I wasn’t happy with the performance part of it, so I was like, ‘All right, I’ll put this in my back pocket until the next SLAYER record.’ And that didn’t happen, so it’s now on my record.”
Asked why he decided to call his band KERRY KING, the guitarist said: “I didn’t. It was going to be KING’S REIGN for a long time, which is really cool. But even with that one, I went to the guys, like, ‘I’m not a vain dude. I don’t want my name to be a part of it.’ We talked about BLOOD REIGN for a while, but it didn’t work. Every time I came up with anything remotely cool, it was taken by some obscure band in Eastern Europe. It became KERRY KING because I love that logo.”
Regarding how he put together his solo band, Kerry King said: “I knew Paul was going to be with me. My original intent was to have [SLAYER guitarist] Gary Holt but the farther I got away from SLAYER, the more I thought people would call this band “SLAYER Light” or “Baby SLAYER.” They’re going to say that anyway, so I didn’t need to fuel that fire. There was no falling out between me and Gary.
“Demmel came out with SLAYER at the end of 2018 to fill in for Gary for four shows,” he continued. “What he did for us, I don’t think I could do for any band on the planet. He had basically two days to watch [SLAYER] play so he could know where the pyro was and the tempo of our set. I couldn’t do that for JUDAS PRIEST, and I’m a giant PRIEST guy. With this, Bostaph said, ‘Hey, what about Demmel [for the new band]?’ I texted him. He’s like, ‘Yeah, I just got done with MACHINE HEAD the day before yesterday.’ I went, ‘Well, that’s kind of perfect.’
As for Osegueda‘s addition to the band, Kerry King said: “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.”
Kerry King also confirmed that PANTERA‘s Philip Anselmo was “considered” as a possible singer for his new project. “My management, my promoter, my record label all wanted Phil,” Kerry King said. “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 Mark on this record, you know that’s the guy.
“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.
“I saw Mark a few years back singing covers of MINOR THREAT and cameo in THE WEDDING BAND with members of METALLICA. It was different from what he does in DEATH ANGEL, and he sounded great. He’s super versatile. He took steps to make this different than DEATH ANGEL. I don’t touch on probably 50 percent of what he can do on the album.
“Mark knew how I expected the songs to be performed. On my demos, I sing with very good conviction, but I don’t have pipes; that’s why I don’t sing. With ‘Residue’, he sounded so good I had to ask him, ‘Is this sustainable? I don’t want you to blow your load on this record and then blow your voice out every third show.’ And he swore up and down he could do it. He went on to some of the harder ones and did the same thing on those, so I went, ‘Okay.’”
KERRY KING “From Hell I Rise” track listing:
01. Diablo
02. Where I Reign
03. Residue
04. Idle Hands
05. Trophies Of The Tyrant
06. Crucifixation
07. Tension
08. Everything I Hate About You
09. Toxic
10. Two Fists
11. Rage
12. Shrapnel
13. From Hell I Rise