Words and pix by Robert Forte
Kerry King’s new solo record and subsequent tour are both very much an exercise in back to the future. King certainly hasn’t reinvented the wheel musically here as the output on From Hell I Rise largely follows the format and soundscapes present throughout the last third of Slayer’s recording career.
Although there are some interesting ideas that work outside of the traditional Slayer formula sprinkled throughout the record such as the punk tinged Two Fists, it’s the material that aligns more closely to King’s seminal project such as Crucifixication and Tension that end up serving as the From Hell I Rise’s highlights.
Additionally, in a live setting the Slayer covers as well as the songs that sonically mirrored Slayer on From Hell I Rise where lead vocalist Mark Osegueda (Death Angel) was able to channel his innermost Tom Araya from a vocal perspective, worked the best.
Thus it came as little surprise that Osegueda’s standout moments in Boston came via songs such as Where I Reign and Crucifixation, two songs that feel as though they might have actually been written for Slayer’s final studio effort, 2015’s Repentless.
Whether Osegueda channeling Araya is a good or a bad thing will ultimately be something left up to the individual. However, live and on record it’s hard not to feel a bit closer to and connect with King’s new music when it strays much closer to Slayer’s sonics.
Oseguda shined on tracks in Boston such as Residue and Shrapnel leaving one to wonder how different King’s new record may have sounded had the singer delivered more of his own unique vocals and fewer Araya-esque tropes. As for the other guitar player in King’s new outfit, Machine Head’s Phil Demmel, the chemistry King and Demmel shared in the studio clearly carried over into the live performance.
The fervent enthusiasm and aggression Demmel played with in Boston was beyond intoxicating, especially any time the guitar virtuoso unleashed one of his many devilish solos on the sweating Boston faithful. As if not having thrash royalty in the band via King, Demmel and Oseguda wasn’t enough, the guitarist has also brought longtime Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph as well as Kyle Sanders formerly of Hellyeah along for the From Hell I Rise ride.
Their contributions on record work brilliantly as both seamlessly fit into the post-Slayer thrash puzzle that King is trying to piece together, but it’s the level of their live performance that truly makes Bostaph and Sanders worthy additions to the thrash “supergroup” King has cobbled together. In Boston Sanders was a non-stop whirling dervish throughout the night while Bostaph continually proved why he was the right man to step in for original Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo before the legendary southern California thrash outfit ultimately called it quits.
As one might expect from any Kerry King performance the guitarist worked in several Slayer covers in Boston some of which fans ate up such as Disciple and Black Magic, while others missed the mark unless you were either a die-hard Slayer fan such as, At Dawn They Sleep or were simply dying to hear a song Slayer played live relentlessly since it was released back in 2015, Repentless.
Without question the most talked about highlight from the show in Boston would come via a fevered take on one of the most iconic songs in all of thrash metal and Slayer history, Raining Blood. Not only did Bostaph’s extended drum intro set an evil and ominous precursor to the song, the crowd response combined with the absolute crushing guitar work by King and Demmel left most at the Royale in Boston equal parts elated and flat out flabbergasted by the track’s fiery conclusion.
King did stray outside of Slayer to perform other covers in Boston, curiously though, both came from Killers, Iron Maiden’s second full length record released way back in 1981. King played the lead track, Killers as well as Purgatory as a tribute to the recently deceased Paul Di’ Anno who had served as the lead vocalist for Iron Maiden on their first two studio recorded albums.
To be fair both Iron Maiden covers were executed at a high level, however, neither really resonated with the fans in Boston especially King’s take on Purgatory. Instead, the two song Maiden tribute kind of served to slow the pace of the show down too much while also zapping some of the elevated energy from the Boston audience at the same time.
Perhaps a better approach would have been to just play the more recognizable song in Killers and instead of Purgatory maybe throwing in another Slayer cover would have helped to keep the temperature of the show in Boston a bit warmer throughout.
Speaking of Slayer covers, if you’re expecting to hear anything King did not contribute to with Slayer, forget about it, at least on this tour. King has repeatedly stated in interviews that for this tour’s run he only plans on playing Slayer songs he either wrote, co-wrote or helped to arrange musically.
This of course means any Jeff Hanneman or Tom Araya written or co-written songs without King’s contributions will be absent from at least the setlists of this tour. Again, this is a caveat tied to King’s current tour some Slayer fans will be okay with while others will not be but you have to ask yourself this question, “Am I okay with never hearing songs like South of Heaven or Mandatory Suicide? I’m not sure many Slayer fans will answer “yes” to that aforementioned question
It’s difficult to judge King’s initial solo effort outside of Slayer for a few reasons. One, the tracks From Hell I Rise seemingly feel like they were written for Slayer and two, the band that King tours with right now did not contribute to the song writing process for the record. Thus it’s no surprise that most of the material off of From Hell I Rise largely sounds like post-Hanneman Slayer.
Conversely, it’s very easy to properly judge the quality of the musicianship in Kerry King’s new band because the reality is, it’s fucking phenomenal. This fact’s existence alone allows King’s live show to come off as aggressive and as down right evil in a good way as any Slayer fan could ever really hope for.
Quibble with the setlist if you’d like to and even point out some holes in the formula that King has used to great success musically, if you’d like to try and pick apart his first solo release, From Hell I Rise, but do so at your own peril. The one thing no one who sees this tour in person will be able to argue with is the fact that King can still easily pull off one of the most resplendent, beautifully aggressive live metal shows running on the the circuit today
And to be honest, if you’re lining up to complain about that, you probably aren’t a Slayer, Kerry King or metal fan in the first place. And to that I’d say, too bad and good riddance.
