In a new feature at Classic Rock, Slayer guitarist Kerry King discusses his old band, his new band, his new solo album, humanity’s failure, and the pressure of going solo. An excerpt follows...

Classic Rock: Was there any grand plan behind the solo album, or is this just what comes out every time you pick up a guitar?

Kerry King: "Every time you go in with an agenda, nine times out of ten you’re not going to achieve it. For me it’s just sitting down with a guitar and a phone to record it on."

Classic Rock: It’s instantly recognizable as an album by the guitarist from Slayer. Was it tempting to step out of that comfort zone and make, say, a prog-metal record or pull a Load/Reload-style left turn?

King: "No. I’m a fan of metal, and luckily I get to write my own. And it just so happens that I’m good at this. If there was ever a point in time to try that, this would have been it, but I don’t have that desire."

Classic Rock: Did you get people you hadn’t heard from in years saying: "Hey, I hear there’s a vacancy in your band…”

King: "Surprisingly, very few. I think people figured I had a masterplan from day one. Which I kind of did, but it wasn’t chipped in stone. And I thought there’d be offers to fill in [with other bands], but that phone never rang, so I worked on my stuff. "

Classic Rock: You could have had your pick of pretty much any modern metal singer. Why did you go with Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda?

King: "We’ve been friends for decades, but we got tighter in the last five or six years. He was the only one we tried out. I didn’t want Death Angel Mark, I wanted to build him up in a way that no one’s ever heard him. Everybody I picked was good friends. Paul [Bostaph, drummer] was in Slayer, Phil [Demmell, guitarist] had left Machine Head, Hellyeah [bassist Kyle Sanders’s former band] had broken up. Everybody needed work, so it was out of necessity."

Read the full interview at Classic Rock.

King's debut solo album, From Hell I Rise, is out now via Reigning Phoenix Music. Stream / purchase From Hell I Rise here.

From Hell I Rise tracklisting:

"Diablo"
"Where I Reign"
"Residue"
"Idle Hands"
"Trophies Of The Tyrant"
"Crucifixation"
"Tension"
"Everything I Hate About You"
"Toxic"
"Two Fists"
"Rage"
"Shrapnel"
"From Hell I Rise"

"Toxic" video:

"Residue" video:

"Idle Hands" visualizer:

Find Kerry King's live itinerary here.

(Photo - Jim Louvau)