When Slayer played the last date of their final tour on November 30, 2019, it brought the landmark thrash band’s career to a close. Although lead singer, bassist, and founding member Tom Araya never fully explained why he choose to end the band, the prevailing narrative—confirmed in part by a 2019 interview with founding drummer Dave Lombardo—is that Araya wanted to spend more time with his family, and the neck issues that he had surgery for in 2010 continued to bother him. In a February 5, 2024 interview with Rolling Stone, founding guitarist Kerry King speculates that “I think just the wear and tear of the road. I think he wanted to be home. We’re just different people. The further on in years we got, it just became more.” One has to wonder if the death of founding co-guitarist Jeff Hanneman death—who wrote much of the music and many of the lyrics—in 2013 was another factor. Slayer released just one more studio album after that.
The recording lineup for Kerry King’s new project includes drummer Paul Bostaph (Slayer), co-guitarist Phil Demmel (Machine Head, and briefly a part of Slayer’s touring lineup in 2018), bassist Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah) and vocalist Mark Osegueda (Death Angel), though King also considered Phil Anselmo (“My management, my promoter, my record label all wanted Phil. It ended when the Pantera thing came up.”—Revolver February 5, 2024.) and even himself (“I did scratch vocals on everything,” “but I have no range. There was always, ‘I got this if whatever we’re looking for doesn’t work.’ Luckily, we didn’t have to go that route.” From “Hell I Rise Biography,” provided by PR).
In a January 9, 2024 Metal Hammer interview, King explains that From Hell I Rise is “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.” Two songs from Hell I Rise came from writing sessions for Slayer. The title track “Hell I Rise” was originally written for final Slayer album Repentless and “Rage” is also from that time.
Unsurprisingly, all-instrumental opening track “Diablo” sounds like it came straight from the depths of what would have been the next Slayer album. “Diablo” does not so much say, “I’m back” as it does, “I never left.” Whereas “Diablo” is midtempo, second track “Where I Reign” storms the yard and is our introduction to all of King’s band. Osegueda sounds very close to Araya. He sings lines like “Let fire set you free / it burns in me” with a vendetta. While this is a headbanger, we get some tempo shifts. King puts on a guitar showcase. Second single “Residue” follows that same structure. Demmel complements King’s guitar lines. It’s easy to imagine an entire crowd in unison with Osegueda when he screams, “I relied on this outdated system / I defied; I won’t become a victim.” The next track, which is also the first single, “Idle Hands” shifts between galloping thrash and punk. The final twenty or so seconds of lead guitar work brings in a different tone. King always adds details or introduces small twists into the songs. “Trophies of the Tyrant” marches over the familiar—but not tired—Slayer/King territory of tyrants, government, and war. After Osegueda finishes screaming intensify, the track rides out on forty-three seconds of guitar. While the guitars do not overstay their welcome, they last longer than the track absolutely requires.
“Trophies of the Tyrant” is not the only track like this. From Hell I Rise is something of a hybrid solo album. Calling any album “solo” is something of a misnomer unless a single person writes, sings, and plays all the music (to say nothing of creating the artwork, engineering, producing, marketing, promoting, and distributing). However, traditional solo albums often feature or focus on a single person pursuing a vision they may not have previously been able to fully express within the framework of a band. In King’s case, by including other players and, especially, a vocalist, the project leans more towards a band than a solo project. However, the extended guitar sections lend a solo/instrumental feel and highlight the guitar shredding. At the same time, King really isn’t so much exploring a new artistic vision as he is giving us his take on Slayer with some different musicians. This is neither positive nor negative; it’s simply an observation.
The blistering “Crucifixion” deliver us to the record’s midpoint. “Tension” is a slower, moodier track. The difference in tempo between “Tension” and “Crucifixion” heightens the sense of tension. “Violence is everything,” sings Osegueda. Clocking in at just one minute and twenty-one seconds, “Everything I Hate About You” is a frantic punk rant in which Osegueda declares, “I can visualize / a million ways to die.” “Toxic” dials the tempo down, but it’s still a headbanger. Unfortunately, we can all probably relate to the lines “Too many people / Spend too much time / Forcing their opinions / On other people’s lives.” Whether it’s the phrasing of the words, the word themselves, and/or the tone of Osegueda’s voice, “Toxic” is the song I can most imagine Anselmo singing. As we move to the backend of the album, the remaining songs continue to hold familiar ground. “Two Fists” is a punkish take on the subjects of anger and the world gone down the drain, but it contains what might be King’s manifesto for his post-Slayer output: “It all comes down to this / My will and these two fists.” “Rage” sounds like the title track to a riot. “Shrapnel” is a fast and furious sprint.
Title track “From Hell I Rise” satisfactorily concludes the record. Records sometimes finish with a weaker or more experimental track. “From Hell I Rise” is more of what we’ve heard in the preceding twelve tracks. Though there are no late surprises, remember that anchors are designed to hold things in place and they are heavy. As King says, “If I was ever to try anything different, I guess [this] would be the time. But no, I really have no desire to do anything different.” If you aren’t already a Slayer fan, this probably won’t convert you. But if you like Slayer, you’ll like this. We’ll see if a handful of festival live dates for Slayer later in 2024—their first since 2019—lead to anything more on the stage or in the studio, but for now From Hell I Rise is as close as we’re getting to a new Slayer album.
