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Raven.config(’https://6b64f5cc8af542cbb920e0238864390a@sentry.io/147999’).install();Knocked Loose [2024] Rig Rundown! 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Enter email address Subscribe Get the PG apps How to Replace Your Guitar Speaker The Black Keys Make Ohio Players with Beck & Noel Gallagher Slash and Gibson Introduce Signature 1963 ES-335 Knocked Loose’s 7-String Ibanez Iceman & RG Prestige Guitars Slayer’s Kerry King Reclaims the Throne Freddy Villano May 1, 2024 As one of the lead guitarists of Slayer, the outspoken, opinionated King has also bred snakes off and on since the late ’80s. Photo by Annie Atlasman Four and a half years after Slayer’s last performance in 2019, guitarist Kerry King returns to the throne with his first solo outing, From Hell I Rise . When Slayer played their last show in November 2019, Kerry King already knew he had no intention of slowing down musically. What he didn’t know was that the pandemic would be the conduit to a second act. But, as German theatrical director, dramaturge, and playwright Bertolt Brecht once astutely observed, Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” Covid helped shape the foundation of King’s musical future, because the pandemic inadvertently created a luxury he’d rarely experienced before: time. Rather than feeling inconvenienced by the delays, he homed in on elements of his craft in ways he’d never done before, and the resulting album and his solo debut, From Hell I Rise , became his hammer. The pandemic really shaped the sound and the performance on this record,” says King. It gave us some flat tires at first, because Paul [ Bostaph, drums ] and I both caught Covid, and it took a while for us to get back in the saddle.” Bostaph had already digested so much of the material by the time they dove back into recording that it became a real game changer compared to how they’d worked together previously in Slayer. It was the first [project working together where] he heard all the lyrics before he recorded, and he heard all the leads except one or two. It’s the most prepared he ever was, and being so familiar with it made it that much easier for me to play what I wanted to play.” Kerry King - Idle Hands (Official Audio) King is a cofounding member of Slayer and arguably one of the most instantly recognizable and well-respected thrash metal guitarists of his generation. Over nearly 40 years, he has pioneered some of the most brutal and revolutionary guitar riffs ever created in the genre. His singular use of the tremolo—pulling up more than pressing down—and the multiple tunings that pepper the band’s catalog, from D# to C# to B, are just two of the attributes that set King apart from his contemporaries. He also wrote or cowrote some of Slayer’s most incendiary songs, including Mandatory Suicide,” Repentless,” Hell Awaits,” Disciple,” and Raining Blood.” With Slayer—who have announced reunion dates for September 2024, five years after the group’s official terminus—King lays claim to six RIAA gold certifications, one multi-platinum plaque, and five Grammy nominations with two wins in the category of Best Metal Performance for the songs Eyes of the Insane” and Final Six,” both off of the Christ Illusion album. [My solos are] usually an afterthought, and the last thing to get done. This time everything was thought out [beforehand] and not just thrown in there.” Known for his allegiance to the Las Vegas Raiders NFL football team, his love of snakes, and his taste for Jägermeister, King is outspoken, opinionated, and authentic. The self-proclaimed metal kid” famously takes himself a little too seriously for some. But the real testament to his seriousness lies within his attention to detail, and the songcraft on From Hell I Rise , as well as the time he and Bostaph spent refining the material during the pandemic, is demonstrative of his commendable work ethic. Kerry King’s Gear As King’s debut solo release, From Hell I Rise was born and shaped during the pandemic, which came on the tails of Slayer’s last show in 2019. Guitars Dean USA Kerry King V Limited Edition Dean Kerry King V Black Satin Dean USA Kerry King Overlord Battalion Grey EMG KFK Set Kahler Tremolos Amps Marshall JCM800 2203KK Marshall MF400B Mode Four Effects Dunlop DCR-2SR Cry Baby Rack Wah Dunlop Wylde Audio Cry Baby Wah MXR Flanger M117R MXR Kerry King Ten Band EQ KFK1 MXR Wylde Audio Overdrive Strings & Picks Dunlop String Lab Series Kerry King Guitar Strings (.010–.052) Dunlop Triangle .73 mm Every note seems intentional, every beat meticulously composed, yet all of it played with a spontaneity that belies its years-long incubation period. Having almost all of his solos worked out by the time he went into the studio was a refreshing approach. They’re usually an afterthought,” he admits, on the back burner, and the last thing to get done. This time everything was thought out [beforehand] and not just thrown in there.” From Hell I Rise is a decisive musical statement from a man on a mission, out to prove himself after the then-apparent demise of one of thrash metal’s Big Four,” and was eventually spurred on by a furious two-week recording session at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Featuring a band that also includes bassist Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah), guitarist Phil Demmel (Machine Head), and vocalist Mark Osegueda (Death Angel), the record rages with intensity—real musicians playing real metal in real time. In an era when technology can often smooth the edges off the human element on recordings, From Hell I Rise features fire-breathing performances from musicians who clearly honed their craft long before the crutch of technology was made available. And even though it has an intangible, nostalgic vibe to it, make no mistake, it is not some relic from the bygone past, but rather a bristling, modern-sounding tour de force. If you’ve ever liked any Slayer throughout any part of our history, then there’s something on this record that you’ll get into.” From the opening salvo of Diablo,” an instrumental call to arms that harkens back to early ’80s Iron Maiden, to the first single, Idle Hands,” a fast, aggressive track that highlights King’s deft, articulate approach to rhythm guitar, to the detuned manic riffing in the title track, From Hell I Rise runs the gamut from classic punk to thrash to straight-up old-school heavy metal. Familiar topics, including religion and war, abound. Herculean speeds are achieved. King says the album is heavy, punky, doomy, and spooky. If you’ve ever liked any Slayer throughout any part of our history, then there’s something on this record that you’ll get into.” Part of the X factor on From Hell I Rise comes courtesy of producer Josh Wilbur (Korn, Lamb of God, Avenged Sevenfold, Bad Religion). King says Wilbur grasped his lead guitar sound better than...