Twice as big, twice as many expectations, twice as curious. That is our feature Twice as Heavy. Almost four and a half years after Slayer blew Angel Of Death from the stage for the last time – or so we thought – and singer Tom Araya took in the sight of the audience for minutes, guitarist and thrash legend Kerry King announced his the first “solo album”. Such a release obviously demands to be viewed from more than one side. Besides, the editors would fight each other to determine who would ultimately get the unpredictable fate in their hands. Marco (favorite genre: progressive metal, but is an omnivore when it comes to music) and Michiel Hoogkamer (favorite genre: too many to mention, also likes Prince) are the lucky ones this time.
The choice to put the word solo album in quotation marks in the previous paragraph is certainly justified. Although the tattooed icon wrote all the songs for the record, he enlisted many a well-known name for the execution of From Hell I Rise. For the drums, mister King simply moved the stool from his old friend Paul Bostaph to his own band. He could have also pulled off that trick to complete the guitar tandem, but because that would have been too easy, the choice did not fall on Gary Holt but on Phil Demmel (ex-Machine Head and ex-Vio-lence, among others). The thick strings are played by Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah, the band, not the exclamation). But it is on vocals that we find the most surprising choice: Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda, a friend of King since the early thrash days, is allowed to lend his vocal cords to King’s compositions. Or perhaps sacrifice them, if you listen to him roar.
Big names, high expectations. Are they met?
Michiel: After the first listen, I would have answered this question with a firm “no”. In fact: I hope the band will play a lot of Slayer songs live, was my first reaction when a number of Zware Metalen colleagues that did not have the promo asked me whether it was any good. At that point in time, I didn’t hear too many memorable things on From Hell I Rise. The mix also took some time to get used to, especially because Mark’s scorching, intense vocals have been pushed forward a lot. With the name Kerry King – and that is the name of the band after all – I might have expected more emphasis on the riffs. But now, after many listens, my opinion has changed. Although I still think that Mark’s voice could have been a little less prominent, the choice for a real band sound is certainly the right one. And although there are certainly some songs on the album that are less appealing – the slower Residue for example does not have the hypnotic effect on me that it possibly aims to have – there are also a number of tracks on Kerry King’s debut that easily hold their own among the best thrash songs that have been released in recent years and will be released this year (2024) and that are far better than the majority of them. Reason to answer the question with “yes!” now.
Marco: To be honest, I didn’t have very high expectations beforehand, partly because of the uninspired sounding last album of Slayer. On that album Kerry of course was also responsible for all the music. But I have to be fair, after the superfluous intro, Where I Reign really gets going. Especially the maniacal vocals of Mark Osegueda, who sounds much more aggressive here than we are used to from him, give this song an enormous boost. Musically, the song is built up from riffs that would have fit perfectly on one of Slayer‘s more recent albums. In that respect, this song, and actually the entire album, meet my expectations.
We read that From Hell I Rise also contains some songs that King was already working on at the time of Slayer‘s last album, more precisely the title track and Rage. To what extent is From Hell I Rise a logical follow-up to Repentless?
Michiel: Maybe it’s not entirely fair to draw that comparison, but Kerry himself indicates that he has hidden a few “not-so-hidden” references to Slayer in the work, so here we go! In the riff work there are certainly some similarities with Repentless here and there: they are mainly grumpy, surly and more than adequate, but not always super catchy and sometimes even a bit grumbling and mumbling. Yet you clearly hear a different band at work here. If only because of the intense, screaming vocals that, with a little empathy for poor Mark, give you the taste of blood in your mouth (although they also give a short salute to Tom Araya every now and then). Furthermore, we hear some free passages here and there on the record for which there was little to no room in the tight thrash pattern of Slayer. For example, instrumental opener Diablo sounds a bit like a dark jam session, as if Beëlzebub itself had recruited a stoner band as house band.
The lyrics seem to have a more punky and social tendency than before. In songs like Residue (“I can’t find where our liberty goes to die”) they seem to be fighting for (the preservation of) acquired freedoms, while in Toxic the verbal weapons are aimed at those people who are far too busy imposing their opinions on others. But of course a little bit of Satanism is also present (From Hell I Rise).
Marco: In my previous paragraph I actually already gave away the answer. The songs follow the formula that was already used on Repentless in terms of structure. Fortunately, From Hell I Rise sounds a lot more energetic than Slayer‘s latest effort, not in the least because Kerry King has largely left the lifeless sounding drop-b tuning behind this time. Only on the closing title track, which dates from the Repentless period, the strings hang like limp washing lines along the guitar neck. Kerry’s love for punk music also comes forward a bit more emphatically. The most obvious example of this is the deviant Two Fists, but the short but powerful statement Everything I Hate About You also has a considerable punk vibe.
Michiel: Phew, I don’t think I’ll be able to pick one favorite. I’ll just concentrate on full songs and then I’ll definitely leave some really good moments behind. Where I Reign (yes, there is one of the references) is in any case a wonderfully fierce thrash grenade, good enough to give the sometimes somewhat sleepy genre a good kick in the ass. Not in the least because of Osegueda’s seething delivery and the way in which the sweeping and diving terror in King’s solos is set against Demmel’s more melodic string pressing. I also like the slower, somewhat moody Trophies Of The Tyrant because Osegueda puts a bit more melody in his voice there and therefore sounds a bit more like he does with the great Death Angel. The track is also a nice vehicle for some flashy and varied guitar solos in which the beautiful contrast between the two string pluckers can again be heard. Demmel was a great choice, although we could of course have lived with Gary Holt as well.
But the strongest work for me is undoubtedly on the second half of the album. The furiously fast Everything I Hate About You will turn many a pit into a bloody “gym from hell” for a minute and 21 seconds and gives the most feeling of the unapproachable Slayer between, say 1986 and 1991, when you were almost afraid to enter a concert hall (just ask Mindfunk). Shrapnel, in which Mark briefly puts down his best Tom Araya in the first verse, is also quite good in its dark stomping. The guitar theme – apparently inspired by Scorpions and Helloween!? – that regularly returns, sticks nicely and Osegueda almost spits out his teeth in unbridled anger, which works very well here. With the closing title song, King puts a short but powerful exclamation mark behind his first excursion. After another mid-tempo departure, the pace increases. King’s riffs grumble in the background under almost atonal leads and again an angry Osegueda: “til blood rains from the skies!”. And so the circle is complete when the track finds its sudden end.
Marco: In general, I definitely prefer the songs where the gas pedal goes deep to the floor, such as Where I Reign, Idle Hands and Crucifixation. The adrenaline and boundless energy on these songs make up for a lot of what the songs lack in creativity. Unfortunately, on the slower songs it is more noticeable that the song material is not always that strong. Take a song like Trophies Of The Tyrants, which is made up of riffs that show no inspiration. Or Tension, where any form of tension is absent. A positive exception in my opinion is Shrapnel, a mid-tempo thrasher with a nice groove where Mark Osegueda can also show other facets of his voice. After several listens, Residue also turns out to be a grower that, with a lot of imagination, reminds us of the mid-tempo songs of Slayer during South Of Heaven and Seasons In The Abyss.
What is the best or most characteristic Kerry King riff on the record?
Michiel: Oh, that slower, dragging one that starts around two minutes into Crucifixation has a beautiful, somewhat dark (duh!) melody and is one that easily mills itself into the brain stem. Towards the end, it almost gets a nu-metal feel due to the bouncy rhythm guitar that accommodates it. Here too, that jam session-like freedom is noticeable before everything is pulled firmly back on track with a raging solo. The supporting riff in Toxic – unlike the somewhat pushy chorus – also has some of that classic royal magic, but we really hear it again in the menacing, recurring riff of Shrapnel that squeals out over heavy, thundering drums, as we heard before on an album by a band that has already been mentioned quite often in this review.
Marco: The motif in Toxic plays very conspicuously with perhaps the coolest riff in the history of thrash metal and will undoubtedly make many a Slayer heart beat faster. But yes, that riff was written by his late buddy Hanneman, so that doesn’t count. The opening riff in Where I Reign is in every way a typical King riff that will lead to many a circle pit in concert halls. Crucifixation starts with a fast riff that makes it hard to sit still and the riff that introduces the bridge is also extremely enjoyable.
Michiel: Oh that’s easy, the one from Kerry King’s first album outside of Slayer! Lame jokes aside: From Hell I Rise is just a strong thrash record that may take some getting used to and also has a little dip here and there. The chorus of Toxic, for example, is a bit dull and simple to my taste, but that doesn’t mean that entire meadows won’t sing along. At the end of the line there are enough convincing songs on the record and even the less memorable moments easily exceed the mediocre on the thrash-o-meter, partly due to the quality of the singing and playing. For example, the punky Two Fists may be a bit simple musically, but when Mark shouts “I thought my hatred went away, but no it’s fucking here to stay!” I’m completely on board. And so the record will be a great foundation for the rest of Kerry King’s career. Curious if it will get a sequel (and in what line-up) now that Slayer announced that they will do (some) shows again. However, new work from that band does not seem to be in the offing (but you never know) so Kerry King is for the time being the best vehicle to bring King’s riffs to the hungry masses.
Marco: Ultimately, this album will mainly function in metal history as an excuse for King and his cronies to tour the world as more than a glorified Slayer tribute and the song material will serve as filler between the Slayer classics on the setlist to be compiled. Despite all the comments I have on this album, I have to admit that From Hell I Rise is quite an entertaining record and the album will undoubtedly find its way onto many a year-end list by the end of this year. I myself, however, will not reserve a spot for this album.
Score Michiel: 82
Score Marco: 66
Score:
74/100
Label:
Reigning Phoenix Music, 2024
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
Line-up:
- Kerry King – Guitar
- Mark Osegueda – Vocals
- Phil Demmel – Guitar
- Kyle Sanders – Bass guitar
- Paul Bostaph – Drums
Links: