KERRY KING's Friends Are Telling Him They Like His Debut Solo Album Better Than Any Single Record He Has Done In His Career

SLAYER guitarist Kerry King has launched the third in a series of interview videos to promote his recently released debut solo album, "From Hell I Rise". Check it out below.

Asked about the response to "From Hell I Rise" so far, Kerry said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I've heard from not only friends, journalists, people I'm doing interviews with that they like this better as a whole than any single record I've done in my career. It's hard for me to say that, because I've been a part of all that stuff. But good friends are really fired up about this record that wouldn't blow sunshine up my ass. And journalists I've known for a long, long time, but we're not just acquaintances; they're friends of mine that I don't get to see because of the pandemic. And now things are getting fired up. I'm gonna see all my journalist friends again. But people are talking this record up really big. And they've all heard the whole thing, of course, 'cause they're doing interviews about it, so they have backup to their story. But I've heard people are really stoked about this record. I like this record a lot. I like [SLAYER's final album, 2015's] 'Repentless' a lot. But I think the performance of everybody is better on this one."

Regarding the decision to name his band KERRY KING, Kerry said: "Well, first and foremost, it was never supposed to bear my name. [Laughs] It just kind of fell into place. We worked for months, we worked for years trying to come up with a fucking name that worked that wasn't taken, wasn't used by some other company that made a trademark, a conflict of interest. And it was time for some of our first shows to be announced and we had to roll with something. So we had this logo. Somebody said, just call it KERRY KING. Everybody knows who you are, everybody knows what you're about. That being said, the pressure didn't really hit because everything was done and recorded before we ever got to KERRY KING. It was an afterthought, and we had nowhere to go. And everybody loved the logo, so, you know — insert my name."

Kerry also talked about the rest of the KERRY KING lineup, which consists of Mark Osegueda (vocals; DEATH ANGEL),Phil Demmel (guitar; MACHINE HEAD, VIO-LENCE),Kyle Sanders (bass; HELLYEAH) and drummer Paul Bostaph (SLAYER, TESTAMENT, EXODUS). He said: "I've already had questions about somebody asking me, 'Is this gonna be a touring band for this album, and then the next album you put another band together?' which I thought was the oddest question I've been asked in a long time. And I'm, like, 'No, I want this to be a band from day one. I want it to be a band.' We're allnabout the same age and hopefully we all decide when time is to retire that we all agree on it. So, we can stick together for three records, four records, five records. Depends how fast we put stuff together, depends how fast touring cycles go. But my intention is for this to be the band from now until the day this band's done."

In early May, the KERRY KING band performed its first live show at Reggies in Chicago. In the days following, the band went from playing an intimate venue to performing at the huge U.S. festivals Welcome To Rockville (Florida) and Sonic Temple (Ohio).

The KERRY KING band launched a European tour on June 3 — King's 60th birthday – in Tilburg, The Netherlands. The trek combined headline shows in the U.K., The Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain but also festival appearances such as Rock Am Ring, Hellfest, Tuska, Download, Sweden Rock Festival and many more.

All material for "From Hell I Rise" was written by the 60-year-old SLAYER guitarist. Helming the sessions at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles last year was producer Josh Wilbur, who has previously worked with KORN, LAMB OF GOD, AVENGED SEVENFOLD and BAD RELIGION, among others.

KERRY KING will be special guest on the upcoming LAMB OF GOD/MASTODON North American "Ashes Of Leviathan" co-headline tour. The six-week run will launch on July 19 in Grand Prairie, Texas and will wrap on August 31 in Omaha, Nebraska.