In just a couple short weeks, the iconic Kerry King will be bringing his solo project to the House of Blues here in Las Vegas.
If you don’t know who Kerry King is, well.. There isn’t that much I can do to help you other than to hand you a Slayer record and tell you to get to learning.
Slayer has long been a staple in my life. I couldn’t tell you exactly how many times my husband and I have seen Slayer… individually or otherwise. We made it a pretty regular date night whenever they came to town, and both of us had seen them many, many times before it became a date night tradition. I also can’t recall if King has a residence here in Vegas, but I did occasionally see him in my local Target store shopping among the normies from time to time.
Anyway, Slayer’s final tour ended in 2019, we were fortunate to have been able to cover the Las Vegas date of ‘The Final Campaign’. Casual conversation in my household about this was generally normal, I didn’t think this would be the last we saw of these guys. I understood Tom was pretty done, and I knew I’d get to see Gary again with Exodus. But what did Mr. Kerry King have up his sleeve? There’s no way he was anywhere near done playing music- live or otherwise.
This brings us to the present day. Outside of himself and all his powerhouse goodness, Kerry King’s current contributors consist of Mark Osegueda of Death Angel on vocals, former Vio-lence and Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel, Hellyeah bassist Kyle Sanders, and Slayer and former Testament, Forbidden and Exodus drummer Paul Bostaph.
This is a grade A superstar powerhouse of a line up if I ever did see one. All bias aside, since I’m a pretty big fan of literally all of the bands that these guys come from/have played in, all together they bring this fresh yet familiar take on thrash that any old school fan can appreciate and you know I’m never going to complain about that. I love that shit.
This tour is the first headliner for Kerry King as a solo project, in promotion of From Hell I Rise, which was released in May of 2024. This record is brutal in all respects, and I’m betting on it being the beginning of a brilliant new era.
Kerry King with special guests Alien Weaponry and Municipal Waste will be in Las Vegas on February 22, and it will be the final day of this run. I have some high expectations for this show, but I also don’t think I’ll walk away disappointed.
See you in the pit, Vegas!
PHOTO CREDIT: Header and press kit promotional photos by Jim Louvau.