Slayer guitarist Kerry King stated in an interview for The SDR Show that he sang on the demos for all the songs on his debut solo album , From Hell I Rise (2024).
Asked about how his vocals sound, he replies: “I sound like an angry white punk kid, like a teenager. I recorded most of the vocals in the first take because I know what it's like, unless I stumble over a line or something. So yeah, I knew what it was like. I just put [the vocals] there so we'd have something.”
“I knew I didn’t want to sing because I can’t really play and sing at the same time. The easy parts, yes, but not like Zakk Wylde ( Black Label Society ) or James Hetfield ( Metallica ) do. They’re crazy vocalists who play crazy riffs while singing. I don’t know how they do it.”
Kerry also responded to whether he intends to release these tracks with his vocals: “I’m not against it. If you asked me if Glenn Tipton ( Judas Priest ) sang all the Judas songs, would you want to listen? That’s a strange scenario, because you have Rob Halford singing. That would be curious, intriguing.”
Finally, he adds: “We’ll see. I’ll be singing on the next [album] too, so it’s not like I’m going to disappear.”
Kerry King's solo band consists of vocalist Mark Osegueda ( Death Angel ), guitarist Phil Demmel ( Machine Head , Vio-Lence ), Kyle Sanders ( Hellyeah ), and drummer Paul Bostaph ( Slayer , Testament , Exodus ). The group was the opening act on the Ashes Of Leviathan tour, a joint tour between Lamb Of God and Mastodon .
King's project also secured a spot at several important festivals, including Rock Am Ring, Hellfest, Tuska, Download, and Sweden Rock Festival, among others.
From Hell I Rise was released in May of this year. All the material on the album was written by the 60-year-old guitarist, recorded in Los Angeles last year, and produced by Josh Wilbur , who has worked with bands such as Korn , Lamb Of God , Avenged Sevenfold , Bad Religion , among others. See our review of the album .
Below is the full interview (in English):
Listen to From Hell I Rise:
READ ALSO: Slayer: Kerry King states “we never said we were done playing”