Shortly after Slayer’s farewell tour wrapped up in November 2019, guitarist Kerry King was determined to keep thrashing with a new project. But a worldwide pandemic forced him to delay those plans, until he finally unveiled his eponymous outfit earlier this year.
Along with an all-star band consisting of singer Mark Osegueda (Death Angel), guitarist Phil Demmel (Machine Head), bassist Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah), and drummer Paul Bostaph (Slayer), King unleashed the single “Idle Hands” in February while announcing the full-length album From Hell I Rise, which arrived on May 17th.
Following a live debut at a club show in Chicago, and appearances at the Welcome to Rockville and Sonic Temple festivals, King’s band recently kicked off a UK/European run. They’ll return to the States to support Lamb of God and Mastodon on a summer tour (tickets available here).
On top of all that, it was announced that Slayer would reunite for a trio of US festival gigs this fall: Riot Fest, Louder Than Life, and Aftershock.
Heavy Consequence caught up with King to discuss his new project, his stance on organized religion, what keeps him raging, and his expectations on taking the stage with Slayer again.
Read our interview with Kerry King below, and pick up the album From Hell I Rise in various formats here.
As I understand it, you wanted to debut this project not too long after the Slayer farewell tour ended in late 2019, but sat on it due to the pandemic. Was it frustrating waiting a few years to finally get it off the ground?
Of course it was frustrating, but the hardest part came once we actually finally recorded and then basically sat on it for another year. I [initially] didn’t waste a lot of time. I think after Slayer’s last show, I probably chilled for like three months, but got right back on it. That was right before the pandemic. So I just anticipated business as usual. I thought by the end of [2020], I would have had music out, and I thought I’d be touring again, but obviously that didn’t happen.