In a recent interview with Consequence, Kerry King disclosed that his solo project’s debut album was produced by Josh Wilbur, known for his work with bands like LAMB OF GOD, MEGADETH, GOJIRA, TRIVIUM, and KORN.
“It’s my first time working with [Josh], and we hit it off great,”King said. “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 f**king idea where you are dude. He’s so quick, so easy to work with. It was spectacular.”
Regarding the recording approach for his new album, King stated: “It was very similar [to the way we worked in SLAYER]. First and foremost, I wrote most of the last SLAYER record, so people know what I sound like, people know how I write. This one I did one hundred percent of, so if you’ve ever liked anything I’ve done in the past, there’s going to be something you’re going to like on this one, if not the whole thing. I love the whole thing.”
“My sound is what we’ve done on the last, I couldn’t tell you how many SLAYER records,” he continued. “And one thing I feel is that Josh really captured probably the closest to my live sound, because my live sound is very hard to get to tape. I think this is the closest it’s ever been. So that’s very exciting for me. And the rest of it, Paul‘s [Bostaph, drums] playing, so hell yeah, it’s going to sound like SLAYER because he’s got his own style. You know, screamy vocals — new guy — but you know, it’s still definitely got the vibe.”
During a recent interview with Metal Hammer, Kerry shared that his solo project’s debut album was completed in June 2023.
When discussing the musical style of his solo work, guitarist said: “If I was ever to try anything different [from SLAYER], 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.”
“There’s definitely some fast stuff on it,” King continued. “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.”
“For me, the slowest [song] is similar in vibe to [Repentless track] ‘When The Stillness Comes’. That one came out really cool and spooky. And then there was one where my entire intention was to write something like the SCORPIONS‘ ‘Animal Magnetism’ crossed with the ‘chug’ of ‘Hell Awaits’. That one came together pretty early. I like that song a lot. I mean, I like all of them a lot, but that one, that one’s got a different vibe for sure.”
King kept the identities of the other artists on his new LP a secret, but he expressed that it is “my intention that everybody that’s on the record is going to be in the band, hopefully for its entirety.”
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