KERRY KING — From Hell I Rise (review)

KERRY KING — From Hell I Rise album cover

Album · 2024 · Thrash Metal

3.5/5 · 2024-06-24
UMUR

"From Hell I Rise" is the debut full-length studio album by US thrash metal artist Kerry King. The album was released through Reigning Phoenix Music in May 2024. King is of course known for his many years playing with Slayer. His wish was to continue with Slayer until they couldn´t do it anymore, but when Tom Araya wanted to retire from touring and recording, Slayer effectively disbanded in 2019. King however immediately vowed that he wasn´t done playing music and that he would return with a new band. It took a few years and a COVID-19 epidemic, but he slowly found the musicians he wanted to perform on his first solo album. He naturally asked his former Slayer bandmate Paul Bostaph to play the drums, and soon got guitarist Phil Demmel (Vio-Lence, Machine Head, live-Slayer) on board too. Bassist Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah, Skrew) then joined, and after trying out different vocalists King ultimately went with Mark Osegueda (Death Angel).

King never made it a secret that he wanted to continue producing music which sounded like Slayer where they went off with "Repentless" (2015). An album which was almost entirely composed by King. In many ways that´s exactly how "From Hell I Rise" sounds like, but of course Osegueda is a completely different sounding vocalist to Araya and that after all makes "From Hell I Rise" a different listen to Slayer. When Demmel is given the opportunity to play a guitar solo, his solo style also provides "From Hell I Rise" with some non-Slayer qualities. Personally I think King made a lot of good choices picking the lineup for "From Hell I Rise" as all members of the band bring something to the table. Osegueda is a skilled and unique sounding vocalist. Of course we already knew that from his work with Death Angel, but here he sounds really raw and pissed, which suits him and the music on the album well.

Other than the features mentioned above the actual music won´t surprise you. It´s got the mark of King all over it. Let´s just say that King didn´t take the chance to experiment with his sound or overall playing/composing style. I´m not sure doing that would have ended well, but I´m still a bit curious to know if King has something else in him. I guess I´ll have to continue guessing. So this is basically more of what you heard on the last couple of Slayer albums just with a different lead vocalist and a couple of different sounding solos. Fans of latter day Slayer and fans of old school Bay Area style thrash metal in general should be able to appreciate this album greatly. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

6 months ago
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Nightfly wrote:

6 months ago

Overall I was pleased with it. A couple of less than stellar tracks but on the whole really enjoyed it. I'd probably agree with your star rating, possibly stretch another half star.