Though still keeping his cards close to his chest, Slayer guitarist Kerry King has pulled back the curtain just a bit more on the details regarding his highly-anticipated solo release due out later this year.
While there has been no formal announcement of any kind, the wheels were put in motion this year as King did confirm his first two live appearances - firming up plans to perform at both Welcome to Rockville and Sonic Temple festivals later this spring.
Additionally, King's former collaborator in Slayer, drummer Paul Bostaph, has shared his involvement in the project online via social media. Other than those two talking points, nothing else had been confirmed regarding the solo debut, until now.
In an interview with Heavy Consequence, King divulged that he worked with renowned producer Josh Wilbur, whose lengthy resume includes projects with Lamb of God, Gojira and Megadeth to name just a few.
King explained the productive working environment and said the chemsitry was conducive to working with Wilbur again, “The producer is Josh Wilbur, it’s my first time working with him, and we hit it off great. 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."
King continued, "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 fucking idea where you are dude. He’s so quick, so easy to work with. It was spectacular.”
As for the creative direction of the record, King insists his solo effort is on brand with his stylistic signature established for decades in Slayer. “My sound is what we’ve done on the last, I couldn’t tell you how many Slayer records. 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 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.”
The full feature via Heavy Consequence can be found - HERE
