Year: 2024
Total Time: 43:54
Label: Reigning Phoenix Music
The 30th November of 2019 is a significant date for the history of extreme metal music and for metal genre in general as the biggest extreme band of the planet, the mighty SLAYER, played their last farewell concert and retired. However they recently announced that they are going to play for three shows but is still unknown if they are planning anything else besides these live performances. So, immediately after the last SLAYER’s shows, rumours started rising about the fact that Kerry King has in his mind to continue making music and that he was preparing his new personal project. In fact the first talking were mentioning that Phil Anselmo would handle the vocals, Gary Holt the guitar and Paul Bostaph the drums. Sometime later and during his interviews King confirmed that he was working on his first personal album and that he was frustrated about the fact that SLAYER retired. Finally, on last February Kerry King can revealed all the details about his personal music project. So, the album will be entitled “From Hell I Rise” and the line-up includes Mark Osegueda (DEATH ANGEL) on vocals, Bostaph on drums, keyboardist Phil Demmel (ex-MACHINE HEAD, ex-VIO-LENCE) and Kyle Sanders (ex-HELLYEAH) on bass.
Regarding his debut album, during his first interviews he was mentioning that he sees his project as an extension of SLAYER and that the majority of the compositions could have been the next SLAYER album. These statements reflecting precisely what “From Hell I Rise” sounds like. We didn’t expected anything different and the truth is that some negative comments I read during the reveal of first single “Idle Hands” left me wondering and quite surprised. As they were accusing King that the song was very familiar to SLAYER and that Mark’s vocals sounded exactly like the way Araya was singing. I can’t imagine that there were people who expected King to play Power or Death Metal? We should also mentioned that this song was an unreleased SLAYER song from “Repentless” era. So, is very logical that most of record’s compositions reminds us the songwriting King had in SLAYER from “God Hates Us All” to the “Repentless” albums. As I want to give a more clear view of “From Hell I Rise” song style I will try to describe them in collation with some SLAYER’s compositions.
The album begins with “Diablo” which is an intro song similar to “Delusions of Saviour” and “Darkness of Christ”, to is being followed by the Thrash Metal dynamite entitled “Where I Reign”. Aggression and speed to the maximum with Mark Osegueda screaming on the chorus “From Hell I will Rise, reign fire from the sky”. Next are the two already released singles. In “Residue” the speed is dropping and the emphasis is giving on the groove and the ‘huge’ sound, while “Idle Hands” is another Thrash Metal orgasm in the vein of “Repentless”. Continue with “Trophies Of The Tyrant” and “Crucifixation”. The first one in mid-tempo rhythm and I could describe the music style similar to “Chasing Death” from SLAYER’s last album. “Crucifixation” is one of record’s best compositions with fast rhythms and a breakdown which travel us to “South Of Heaven” area. Noticeable is the fact that King has arranged the track list in a way that after a fast song a slower is coming.
We continue with “Tension” which starts with an acoustic, ‘haunting’ part and just when you think the outbreak is coming the song suddenly ends. It’s only 2:48 minutes length and I believe that if they had added at least two more minute the song would have been much greater. This style of song is similar to SLAYER’s “Deviance” and “When The Stillness Come”. Follow up is an even shorter song. “Everything I Hate About You” lasts one minute and twenty-one seconds, but is awesome raw with the endless brutality and the hardcore influences. The guitars in “Toxic” that is next bring us to mind the “South OF Heaven” area and the song’s structure is built on a combination of fast and groovy parts, while “Two Fists” is different from the rest of the album as it is a Punk song.
Return to the fast, groovy rhythms speeds with “Rage” and which could be described as a combination of SLAYER’s songs “Cast Down” and “Snuff”. The album ends with “Shrapnel” and the title track. The first one is in a more ‘experimental’ style than the rest of the album while in the title track moves to a fast tempo and is very possible to have been written during “Repentless” area. We should also mentioned Mark Osegueda’s vocal performance who is really brings out his guts, while Phil Demmel has also left his imprint on the album with his excellent solos. The overall sound of the album is clear and huge and responsible of that is the well-known Josh Wilbur (HATEBREED, LAMB OF GOD, GOJIRA, MEGADETH) with his excellent production.
Kerry King is nearing 60 years old and he could be sitting around in his luxury house and living comfortable by SLAYER’s legacy earnings, instead of that he prefers to write songs, releasing albums and going on tour. Is very honest as he is not presenting himself as something different from what we have knowing him .He is straightforward about the musical style of his new personal journey and the fact that he doesn’t wish to do anything else. Yes, the album remind us the great SLAYER and “From Hell I Rise” could be described as close as we’re getting to a new SLAYER album.. Of course Mark Osegueda is the alter ego of Araya and how not, as some of the songs were already written for Araya and King’s songwriting fits to this particular vocal style. But for me and for a lot of people there are not negatives and If someone is being bother by these facts they can go and listen to SLIPKNOT and GHOST. So, Kerry King starts his personal career with an aggressive Thrash Metal debut, which overflows with rage and energy, including quality compositions. The band sounds tight, King refreshed, and wins the bet as his project is deemed a great success! The album can only be listened to on high volume and it will make us company for a long time. At the other hand, for those who love SLAYER, “From Hell I Rise” will thrill them.
Rating: 8/10
Editor: Nikos Manousis
Related Link: KERRY KING – Official Page
