by Sebastian Kluth
Par kluseba
"Hey, grannie, do we still have Curry King?"
"Nope but we have some Kerry King at home."
There are actually quite a few similarities between the cheap fast food meal and Kerry King's debut full length effort From Hell I Rise which sounds much more evil on paper than it actually turns out to be. Both the fast food dish and the thrash metal album offer something great to get into with a few interesting side elements. However, both don't leave lasting impressions and offer simple solutions of old date. Seasoned fans will enjoy what they get but it won't attract any new customers.
On the positive side, From Hell I Rise offers a generous result of thirteen songs with an excellent running time of forty-six minutes. The production is energetic, organic and straight as it fits thrash metal standards splendidly. The guitar play is gritty but also offers a few more melodic mid-paced and even slow-paced sections. The shining star might however be singer Mark Osegueda who chants, screams and yells his heart and soul out as he makes it obvious that it's an honour and a passion project for him to be playing in the same band as legendary guitarist Kerry King. The record includes several highlights, especially in its second half, with energetic, gripping and vivid "Two Fists'' and liberating, powerful and varied "Shrapnel" being the shining stars.
On the negative side, Kerry King's From Hell I Rise essentially picks up where Slayer's last studio output Repentless left us nine years earlier. Sure, that was to be expected but it's not secret that Slayer's most recent studio outputs have been running out of steam and could never even remotely compete with the group's genre-defining classics from the eighties. To be even more sincere, few people would even listen to and appreciate this new album here if it weren't for Kerry King's involvement. The songwriting is by the numbers as most songs rush by without leaving a lasting impression. Especially the record's first half fails to kick off on a high note. First single "Idle Hands" sounds quite idle indeed and is one of the worst songs on this output. It's hard to figure out why that filler was chosen to represent this effort. The musicianship also leaves a few things to be desired. While the guitar play and vocals are indeed excellent, the bass guitar play fails to leave its mark and the drum play is serviceable at best. This comes as a surprise because the involved musicians have been delivering the goods in past efforts but sound quite restrained in the context of this output.
As you can read, positive and negative elements are quite balanced regarding this output. What elevates this record slightly above average are a strong finish in the second half, the dedicated effort by vocalist Mark Osegueda who is one of the greatest genre vocalists of all time and the obvious passion of Kerry King himself who doesn't sit on his laurels and is still motivated to play new thrash metal music more than four decades into his career as a musician.
One element that deserves to be mentioned as an afterthought is the sudden reunion of thrash metal legends Slayer that seems to have taken Kerry King by surprise. It's regrettable that numerous genre fans focus on the temporary return of the legends now instead of giving Kerry King's From Hell I Rise the genuine attention it deserves. As Stephen King once wrote, sometimes dead is better. Slayer has played a wonderful farewell tour that has concluded just in time before the pandemic started and there is no reason whatsoever for the legends to return. Tom Araya should spend more time with his wife, his two children and his religious community and accept that he should be considered a retired musician by now at age sixty-two.
Final Rating: 60%
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