Photo by Jim Louvau
Are you ready for the madcap chaos of Australia’s largest travelling music festival? Good Things season returns with a head-spinning line-up fit for a fever dream. Across three East Coast dates, this year’s Good Things Festival will deliver a trip down the rabbit hole with a stacked bill of international heavyweights, old favourites, hungry up-and-comers, and Aussie staples. And in a boon for younger attendees, Sydney’s Centennial Park festival date will be a 16+ event for the first time!
In the lead-up to Good Things 2024, HEAVY will be running a small feature on the bands playing so you can get up to speed before the big day. Today we bring you Kerry King.
Slayer’s final gig was on November 30, 2019, in the band’s Los Angeles hometown. But the night marked a new beginning for iconic Slayer songwriter/guitarist Kerry King. The band co-founder wasn’t nearly finished; he had much more brutal and provocative music brewing, stages to dominate, heads to roll. King’s sound and vision manifest in the 13 songs on From Hell I Rise, the first solo outing in King’s four decades of slaying the metal universe. His particular brand of blunt power, incisive lyrical themes, and aural assault are finally unleashed on May 17, 2024.
The arrival of one of the most anticipated albums of 2024–and one of the most eagerly awaited metal records ever—finds King beyond stoked. “It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had. There will be some faces punched in,” he says. The guitarist quickly addresses the most-asked question: “I think people are going to compare it to Slayer. I’m not afraid of that because I think it stands up to anything we’ve done in our history, musically, performance-wise.” That said, “There will be people complaining, ‘Why does it sound like Slayer?’ And ‘why doesn’t it sound more like Slayer? That’s just what people do.”
Joining the King crusade is a line-up that began with Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph. “Paul’s kind of like my [Vinny] Appice to Ronnie James Dio,” King says. “I knew Paul wanted to be part of this since 2018. My initial plan was to bring [Gary] Holt, but then I thought I probably shouldn’t have any more Slayer pieces, so that went Phil Demmel’s way.” The band is completed by bassist Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah), and in the much-talked-about vocalist spot, Mark Osegueda (Death Angel), a friend of King’s since the early ‘80s Cali thrash days. The line-up kills. From the instrumental entrée Diablo into the relentless, repentless Where I Reign, to the last cut, the statement-making, full-circle title track From Hell I Rise, King and co. are in full control. Music and lyrics are very intentional, with song topics including war, women’s rights, current American politics…and one-tune inspired by The Scorpions and Halloween-style riffs. (“That one, ‘Shrapnel,’ was something super-indulgent for me, and it came out really cool,” he says.)
King was creatively satisfied in Slayer, had no itch to go solo, nor was he dying to try genre-switching BS. But he very much felt the band he helped found called it quits way too soon, which is why From Hell I Rise sounds like it does, proudly not unlike Slayer. “I was writing most of the music anyway, especially at the end. Things I wrote during Slayer’s lifespan are showing up on From Hell I Rise, which you’ll see later, on the next record.”
Osegueda is the first new vocalist King’s been in a band with for 40 years, and his voice is well-known and revered. “I think a lot of people — namely industry types — were worried about him sounding too much like Death Angel,” King says. Those concerns proved moot. “I knew what we had; he and I worked really well together.”
So far, everything is working: Festival dates are booked; shows are set through Fall 2024, with more being confirmed daily. King and company are ready to deliver. For an hour-long set list, the guitarist imagines a mix of From Hell I Rise material and Slayer songs. “I’ve always planned on doing Slayer stuff, concentrating on the songs I did or had a part in doing,” he says. “I think in the beginning, we’ll be playing three, four or five Slayer songs.”
Focus track Residue. Get your Good Things tickets HERE
