Slayer guitarist, Kerry King, is gearing up to release his debut solo album, From Hell I Rise, on May 17 via Reigning Phoenix Music. The album will feature King backed up by vocalist Mark Osegueda (Death Angel), guitarist Phil Demmel (Vio-Lence), bassist Kyle Sanders (ex- Hellyeah) and drummer Paul Bostaph (Slayer).

Check out the first single, "Idle Hands", below.

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.