SLAYER Guitarist KERRY KING Enlists Producer JOSH WILBUR For Upcoming Debut Solo Album
January 16, 2024, 11 months ago
Slayer guitarist, Kerry King, will release the debut album from his new project this summer. Consequence of Sound is exclusively reporting that while no formal album announcement has been made as of yet, the metal legend’s outfit will release a debut album produced by Josh Wilbur, as King exclusively tells Heavy Consequence.
Says Heavy Consequence: "While we tried our best to get the names of the other band members, aside from drummer Paul Bostaph, who has readily shared his involvement in the group on social media, King did offer up Wilbur’s name as the man behind the boards. The acclaimed producer has worked with such acts as Lamb Of God, Megadeth, Gojira, Trivium, and Korn, among others. And it appears that King was very pleased with his work, already eyeing him for a second album."
“The producer is Josh Wilbur, it’s my first time working with him, and we hit it off great,” says Kerry King. “Can’t wait to work on another one with him, and he feels the same way about the project, so hopefully that gets going sooner rather than later. Super easy to work with. The guy is a wizard on the computer. I mean when we’re in there editing stuff or overdubbing anything, I’ll do my part, or the singer or whoever is doing their fix or whatever, and he’ll just go back and forth on the computer a few times, go ‘Here, how’s that?’ I’m thinking, ‘I have no fucking idea where you are dude. He’s so quick, so easy to work with. It was spectacular.”
Read more at Consequence of Sound.
King previously offered up some information to Metal Hammer, who says, "here’s what we prised out of him when we interviewed him recently for our latest issue."
An excerpt from the chat follows...
Metal Hammer: How close are you to finishing the album?
Kerry King: “Pretty close! It’s been done since June.”
Metal Hammer: Does it pick up where Slayer left off, or are you heading off in another direction?
King: “If I was ever to try anything different, I guess that would be the time. But no, I really have no desire to do anything different. If I wasn’t in Slayer, I would be a Slayer fan. So yes, I think it’s an extension of Slayer, and I think a lot of people will think it might have been the next record. I guess maybe 80% of it would have been, maybe it would have been exactly what I’m putting on this one. In my eyes, I think it’s a definite extension, a follow-up to [Slayer’s 2015 final album] Repentless for sure.”
Metal Hammer: How fast and extreme does it get, musically?
King: “There’s definitely some fast stuff on it. It’s not the fastest thing I’ve ever done, but I’ve done some pretty fast stuff. There’s definitely some Herculean speeds getting achieved on this, but there’s heavy stuff. There’s punky stuff. There’s doomy stuff. Pretty much any aspect of any kind of music we’ve done in our history, I think you’ll find on this record.”
Find out more about the upcoming release, including lyrical inspiration and if there are any guests featured, here.
Kerry King has announced a couple of live appearances for 2024, including Welcome To Rockville 2024 (May 9-12 in Daytona Beach, Florida), and Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival (May 16-19 in Columbus, Ohio).
Stay tuned for updates.