For every wildly successful Metallica, there are countless metal bands that never grabbed the brass ring. In the ‘80s, extreme metal was breaking through, and there was a plethora of great bands to choose from.

While most never reached the heights of the Big Four, many of them are still slugging it out, and they’ve stuck around long enough for new generations of fans to discover them.

When the New Wave of British Heavy Metal hit in 1979, it encompassed a wide variety of bands – from Iron Maiden to Def Leppard. Raven and Venom were both three-piece outfits from Newcastle, England.

Raven’s sound was more upbeat than the Satanic darkness of Venom – and Raven singer/bassist John Gallagher jokingly described the other band’s sound as “Motörhead, on the wrong speed, in a cement mixer!”

Both bands were on the indie label Neat Records, whose owner, Dave Wood, told Gallagher that a guy with the biggest independent record store on the East Coast wanted to work with Raven. “America was a huge thing,” Gallagher recalls. “I never knew anyone who’d been there.”

The guy was the late Jonny Zazula, who signed Metallica and Anthrax to his Megaforce label, and added Raven too. “Jonny Z changed our lives,” Gallagher confirms.

“He was the next really seismic event for us. He was a larger-than-life character – one man against the world, definitely a David against Goliath. He was like a preacher, coming down from the mountain with the metal gospel and spreading it around the world.”

Metallica and Raven went on tour together. KJ Doughton, who ran Metallica’s first fan club, recalls: “Raven’s debut album, Rock Until You Drop, was the first NWOBHM album I’d ever purchased.” The band were featured on a lot of compilation albums, “and they were often the best band featured.” He went to three shows on the tour and argues: “Raven rivaled Metallica as a live band.”

Exodus came out of the legendary Bay Area thrash scene as San Francisco became a crucial area for the development of thrash metal. While it may seem odd that such violent, aggressive music could come from an area so mellow, it was a place where movements – beat poets, hippies, bikers, or the gay community – thrived.

Thrash was even new territory for the musicians who played it. Guitarist Rick Hunolt joined Exodus in 1984, not long before they recorded Bonded By Blood. He’d grown up with Zeppelin, Bad Company, and Thin Lizzy, and Exodus was the first time he’d heard thrash.

“It was all so new back then; no one was doing it,” he says. “I thought, ‘Dude, this shit is crazy – this music is insane!’” Of course, Bonded By Blood is widely considered one of the great classics of the genre. Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian said of it: “Best debut album of the Big 5? I think so.”

In the beginning, most artists didn’t think of success. “Nobody had any idea it was gonna be this huge,” says Hunolt. “It wasn’t about money for a very long time.”

Jeff Becerra, lead singer of Possessed, says: “We felt like we were part of a movement, like a revolution.” But he recalls that bands had to be unique. “If you came out as an Exodus clone band, that shit would not fly. Copying a band was instant suicide. You had to be original or you didn’t get a place in line.”

One of the most underrated bands on the SF scene was Blind Illusion, who had a trippy hippie vibe and weren’t afraid to bring new elements into their music. “Anything good we’d hear, we’d put it into the music,” says singer/guitarist Mark Biderman. “The diversity in the scene was really good. You had to stick to your guns and be what you were.”

Les Claypool was their original bassist. He first joined in 1978 as he was learning to play. “By ’80-81, he was already amazing,” Biderman says. “He was a natural, doing some really great stuff.”

When Possessed wrote the song Death Metal, Becerra says they wanted it to be, “an anthem to brand it. We wanted people to say, ‘Oh, that death metal band!’ That would make us musically different in the Bay Area underground and elsewhere.”

Still, it took time for people to catch on to what Possessed were doing – especially the deep, guttural vocals which are now common place in extreme metal. “I wanted the signing to match the music,” Becerra says.

Many thrash bands had to make do with whatever gear they could afford. While some had metal tools of the trade like BC Rich and Jackson guitars, James Hetfield famously had a cheapo Flying V copy as his main instrument for years.

Exodus’ Gary Holt had to record Bonded By Blood with a borrowed Hiwatt amp when his Marshall went down. He used a distortion pedal with the gain all the way off, and the rest of the knobs on full, turning it into a booster. That was also the key to Ian’s rhythm sound with Anthrax. (Randy Rhoads did it too.)

For Dark Angel’s Darkness Descends – one of the most brutal thrash albums ever recorded – Eric Meyer and the late Jim Durkin used the same stock 50-watt Marshall, and Meyer used a delay pedal to add more gain to his tone. In the case of Holy Terror’s massively underrated Mind Wars, the brutal tone was crafted by playing around with an EQ pedal until they got the right level of crunch.

Metallica entered the top 30 with Master Of Puppets in 1986, and went on tour opening for Ozzy Osbourne. The future of metal was pointing to them, and suddenly a very uncommercial genre looked like it had more potential than many had thought.

“When Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, and Megadeth all got big, that’s where we all went, ‘So you’re sayin’ there’s a chance?’” recalls Forbidden guitarist Craig Locicero. “Very few of us made it through the keyhole – there wasn’t a lot of room in there.”

That year marked the peak of thrash, with the arrival of Metallica’s Master, Megadeth’s Peace Sells, and Slayer’s Reign in Blood. The latter is often considered the big daddy of the genre, while Dark Angel’s Darkness would become a big influence on death metal and grindcore.

But a second wave followed in 1987 as Testament, Death Angel, and Sacred Reich stormed out of the gate with excellent debut albums. Anthrax released their masterpiece, Among the Living, while the scene started to go deranged via Death’s Scream Bloody Gore and Napalm Death’s Scum.

Sacred Reich, who took a nod from the punk scene, were one of many thrash bands with a social conscience. Vocalist/bassist Phil Rind says: “I always felt that the lyrics were the nail and the music was the hammer. If you have the opportunity to say something, you should.

“Every band has to figure out who they are, what they want to talk about. I felt if we could help turn somebody on to something, open their minds a little bit and show them how things are, there was a benefit to that.”

While Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer all did well on major labels, others weren’t so lucky. Bands tended to fall into the same traps. Some faltered because the label had no idea what to do with them. Some suffered when the A&R executive who’d signed them moved on or got fired. Many succumbed to label pressure to be more commercial, and alienated their hardcore fanbase.

“There was a lot of interference and push to be more commercial,” says Gallagher of Raven’s nightmare experience. “We went along for the ride – and got left in the middle of nowhere. It took a long, long time to rebuild the damage done by Atlantic, and by ourselves.”

By the end of the decade thrash was preparing to jump the shark, as many fans turned to much heavier music. “The thrash movement, which used to be dangerous, became safe,” Forbidden’s Locicero says. “Thrash lost it edge, but bands like Sepultura, Pantera and Death had a new edge.”

When the hair bands went down in the ‘90s, a lot of heavier outfits nearly went down with them. But metal came back the following decade, arguably bigger than ever. And for the bands that deserved another chance, a new generation of fans were ready to discover them.

Gallagher says Raven aren’t bitter about not being bigger: “There’s nothing to complain about being a cult band. We have a following where we can tour and play live pretty much anywhere. For a couple of kids from Newcastle it’s pretty amazing.”

Doughton argues: “Raven are still in the fight – kicking ass for over 40 years without the creature comforts afforded bigger bands. They’re more deserving of respect than any other band alive, in my opinion.”

“If I wanted to get big, I’d tone down Possessed’s music,” Becerra says. “I’m happy with my cult status. When people were pushing us to get bigger, I didn’t play the game as much as I should have. But I still just want to play my music the way I want to.”

Rind comments: “It’s funny to see parents bringing their kids to our shows and turning them on to Sacred Reich. I appreciate that people still show up. Metal comes from the underground and it never goes away – it just goes back underground and percolates. It always comes back. And the fans are loyal; they’re the best.

“The fans thought we should have been bigger, but I always thought, ‘We’re exactly where we’re supposed to be.’ The fact that we got as far as we did is beyond my comprehension. We’re very fortunate.”

The following feature first appeared in the November 2011 issue of Guitar World.

When Guitar World travelled to Milan, Italy, on July 6, to pull together the Big 4 cover shoot with Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax, we narrowly managed to corral everyone together for the cover photo.

But due to transportation delays, Metallica six-stringers James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett were unable to participate in the roundtable interview with Slayer's Kerry King, Megadeth's Dave Mustaine and Anthrax's Scott Ian that occurred earlier that day.

When we eventually caught up with Hetfield and Hammett after the show, they treated us to a lively discussion on the legacy of the Big 4, how drummer Lars Ulrich's nervousness helped create the fastest right hands in the business, and why Dave Mustaine should watch his back during the Yankee Stadium Big 4 show.

When I spoke earlier to Kerry King, Dave Mustaine, and Scott Ian, the consensus was clear: they never expected a "Big 4" tour to actually happen.

James Hetfield: We never expected it either!

Kirk Hammett: Definitely not. At a certain point in the Eighties, it was like we were all running neck and neck to see who could outdo each other. For me, that lasted into the Nineties. Then somehow that attitude became less important, and a certain amount of maturity set in. I think when you get older your priorities change. We started to pay more attention to the musical side of things instead of the more superficial side of things.

Hetfield: We've reached 30 years of being a band. We've hit some milestones and we're at a place where we want to celebrate those things instead of running from them. We felt that it was also important to really put this scene on the map. You always hear about the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but what about the Bay Area thrash scene and the Big 4? Hopefully these shows will help us make an even deeper mark in history.

James, when I spoke with the other guys, Scott and Kerry said Lars first suggested the Big 4 tour idea, but Dave thought you had. Can you clarify who first had the idea?

Hetfield: I believe it was me. But my memory is pretty horrible, so Lars may claim a few different things. [laughs]

But it doesn't really matter, because it's happened. It probably came out of us talking like, "Hey, let's do a Bay Area show with all the bands we grew up with." Then, "What about the Big 4?" Obviously the business and logistical side of things is Lars' deal, but it doesn't matter. It came from the Metallica camp.

Dave said he had reservations about joining the tour. Mainly, he wanted to make sure all four bands weren't scattered across different stages or interspersed with other acts. Did you feel the same way?

Hetfield: When the idea first came into our minds, we were thinking of it as just the four of us. The first European dates already had bands on them, but they were great festivals and everyone was able to play them. So it was like, "This is a great, established festival and lots of people are gonna show up. Let's get the Big 4 in there." I mean, you can't really just throw off bands that are already booked. But for the later shows, in Indio and this last European run, it was just the Big 4 and possibly one opener.

Hammett: There were certain situations where the promoter had to put more bands on the bill to break even. I understand the economics of the situation. To me it didn't matter; it was just important that all four of us were together on the same bill.

Obviously for a New York native like Scott Ian, playing at Yankee Stadium is huge. Does that venue hold any particular sentiment for you?

Hammett: Nope. [laughs] I had no idea of the significance until Scott called me and was hyperventilating. He was more hoarse than he's ever been, going – [in a rough voice] – "You don't understand! Yankee Stadium!"

Hetfield: I think the obvious connection for us is with [Yankee pitcher Mariano] Mo [Rivera]. For the past 10 years, he's used Enter Sandman as the music that's played before he comes out on the field. He's helped keep that song alive, especially in that stadium.

And even though they're in a new building now [across the street from the location of the original Yankee Stadium, which closed in 2008], it's still great to have that connection. That's actually how we first announced the Big 4 show at Yankee Stadium. During one game, right as the song started, they cut to this video I did where I said, "Stop, stop!" and then announced the show. It was pretty cool.

Dave mentioned that he's turning 50 the day before the Yankee Stadium show. Do you have anything up your sleeves?

Hetfield: [laughs] It'll be great, and Dave better beware. [laughs] I'm not releasing any ideas at this point, but it'll be fun. What better place to celebrate than Yankee Stadium?

The press first applied the Big 4 label to you guys in the Eighties. Back then, did you feel the same solidarity with the other bands as you do now?

Hetfield: No, that definitely developed over time. Back in the Eighties there were thousands and thousands of bands, but there's not too many that have survived 30 years. The Big 4 moniker didn't mean as much then as it does today.

Hammett: Back then, Scott [Ian] and [Anthrax drummer] Charlie [Benante] were the only people I had relationships with. I had no relationship with anyone from Slayer or Megadeth. But over the years that's changed. Now these guys are my peers, and I'm really proud of all our accomplishments.

I also love that, because of the Big 4, there's a bunch of little kids out there now that think Slayer is the shit. And they'll tell their friends, and the legacy will spread even farther. It doesn't start and stop with one band. Until you see all four bands together you won't get a picture about what this is really all about.

In the early days, did you look to the other bands for inspiration when it came to guitar playing?

Hetfield: Oh yeah. There's a huge competitive vein that runs through my body. Competition has always been a very healthy thing for us. At first it started out as basically pure hatred for pop music and "heavy" radio rock. From that hatred it went on to, "Ah, Slayer released that song... We're gonna do this!" And that's still happening onstage at these Big 4 gigs, too. You go out there and see how good they're doing and how well the crowd is reacting to them, and you think, Okay, "I gotta step it up."

Scott was talking about how the four of you basically invented that signature right-hand rhythmic downpicking approach. James, is that something you and Dave developed together during the early days of Metallica?

Hetfield: It's pretty interesting that someone is trying to define the origin of downpicking. It's silly. It's like, who invented music? There's plenty of punk rock bands doing that technique.

The first time I remember seeing an extremely fast right hand was Johnny Ramone, except he was doing a more acoustic-style thing and not muting and punching it like we ended up doing. That was one main inspiration, and the other one was probably the competition between Dave and I. Like, "Here's a riff... Wait, you can't play that. Hahaha!" And then he'd come back with an even faster riff. So at that time the competition was not only between bands but within them, as well.

Hammett: Actually, I'd say Scott Ian is the king of alternate-picking rhythm playing. He can do that like no one else. He's super tight and doesn't get the credit he deserves.

But as far as downpicking goes, I was always aware of it. I remember the first time I heard [Black Sabbath's] Paranoid back in 1978, I thought, "Wow, that guy is picking all downstrokes." Then I heard Symptom of the Universe and thought, "There it is, he's hitting all those downstrokes." Then I heard the Ramones, and there it was again.

When I was in Exodus with Gary Holt, we had some songs that had that early fast downpicking. Back in the early days, a lot of the Bay Area bands were doing it. It was really integrated into that style of playing. So it was nothing new to me.

You guys just kicked it up a notch.

Hammett: Well, that was because of Lars. Back then he was very energetic and way into Motörhead and Diamond Head. So his goal was always to play fast.

But I also think that during those first few years Lars was just nervous. And when he's nervous, his tempos speed up, so I think trying to keep up with Lars' nerves was as big an influence as anything on our fast downpicking technique. [laughs]

Speaking of Gary Holt, he's been sitting in with Slayer while Jeff Hanneman is recovering from his infection. Kirk, what's it like reconnecting with Gary on a tour like this?

Hammett: It is great to finally tour with Gary Holt. We totally rekindled our friendship and started hanging out a lot and speaking the old language we used to speak to each other in high school. It's very cool and one of the best things that came out of these recent Big 4 dates.

Touring back in the early days was filled with a lot of youthful, drunken troublemaking. There's the classic story of Scott Ian and Cliff Burton pissing down laundry chutes in London...

Hetfield: [laughs] Yeah, now it's shitting down laundry chutes. [laughs]. There was certainly some childish behavior that happened on the road. There was a lot of pent-up energy back then. And I can only speak for myself, but now I'm able to channel that energy a lot better and focus it on the music.

But I will say watching my kid piss off the balcony is still pretty funny. I wasn't even the instigator, but the wife still busted me. But she's supposed to. So I have to tell my son, "Hey, don't do that again!" But it was so funny. [laughs]

Hammett: For these Big 4 shows a lot of the guys have their families out with them. So you don't get that crazy debauched rock-and-roll party scene you might have gotten 15 years ago. I hate to say it but now it's all about dealing with the family and being tired from hanging with the family. But take away all the responsibility and it would be one great party scene at every show.

Kerry was saying that the party still follows him pretty closely. James, are you still not drinking?

Hetfield: Yeah, I've got over 10 years [sober], which is great. For me, there's plenty of ways to party without getting hangovers. I'm grateful to have all my days and not feel like crap.

But it doesn't stop anyone around me from doing it. They gotta do what they gotta do. I know there's also a part of me that celebrates being a loner. So when they go out hanging and partying, I'd just rather not do that. People annoy me a lot of the time. [laughs]

The Metallica machine has grown significantly over the years. Ever get nostalgic for piling in a van and hauling your own gear?

Hammett: Heck no. [laughs] I have neck, back, shoulder and knee problems. But I do get nostalgic for the old days, when things were very simple. To play a show nowadays it means you have to alert everyone and crank up the machine. I wish we were a lot more stealthy and quick on our feet. But we're an established band that's been around for a long time. What are you gonna do? We're brontosauruses.

Hetfield: [laughs] Usually we'll hop in some vehicle together, take a little ride and realize that's good enough. There's just so much other stuff in life that is fun for us and inspires us. And you know what? Heading out on tour is still one of those things. It's hard to say goodbye and leave the family, but once you get out there you realize you really crave this guy hang time, whether that's jamming and writing together or just hanging out at HQ. We're all still a bunch of guys that need the guy hang.

The circle is just a lot smaller than it used to be, and the word party means something a little different now. We do get nostalgic about the old days, and what they meant to us. But we're making "old days" right now. Ten years from now we'll look back and wonder why we were wasting our time looking back at the previous 10 years. We're making history now, and enjoying it while we do it.

James, I noticed that you were having a good time on the side of the stage watching Megadeth's set. Is that a regular part of the hang, too?

Hetfield: Oh, definitely. I love to see what's going on if I have time. It's real nice to get up there early and see what's up. It's annoying that I don't get to stand there the whole time and watch the show. But there are a lot of other parts of touring for us, with the fan club, interviews, and actually grabbing a bite of dinner.

It's nice to see how the crowd's reacting, and it's a good sign when the crowd's up for it. Because, really, we want everyone to do well and feel the vibe. And when a crowd is anti one of the Big 4, that's no fun. We're all moving forward in the same direction, so you gotta put that stuff aside. Sure, you might like one band better than the other, but hey, you're seeing some history.

What are your pre-show rituals before hitting the stage for one of these Big 4 shows?

Hammett: I usually try to see a chiropractor, then I do yoga to get centered, and then I sit and do guitar warm-ups. I have all sorts of different exercises that I do, but basically I run through different scales. The process takes a long time, mostly because of the yoga thing. I have to unwind and center myself and make sure my thoughts are grounded.

I find that when I do yoga before going onstage my show is much better, both mentally and physically. It used to be like, "Let's do a shot of vodka and go!" But after a while that stops working. Now it's like, "Let's do a shot of espresso!" [laughs]

Hetfield: The first part of getting the vibe up for me is the meet-and-greet. Such a good vibe is created from talking with people and hearing what songs they want to hear and how music's affected their lives. Whether people are introducing me to their kids, who they've turned on to our music, or I'm meeting a Make-A-Wish kid, there's always something in the meet-and-greet that's very inspirational.

Then there's the regular stuff, like grabbing some grub, stretching, and getting our warrior gear on, which is basically putting on a different black shirt than the one you already had on. Then we go into the tuning room. I'll go through my vocal warm-up tape, which helps me get prepared. Then we go in the jam room and knock some rust off. We all trickle in at different times and find out how each other is doing.

[Bassist] Rob [Trujillo] is always there first. He's a bass player's bass player. He loves to play. Sometimes I'll sit behind the drums and we'll goof around on some tunes. It's always a good vibe and we come out pretty sweaty. Then it's right to the stage.

During the Clint Eastwood tape [Ecstasy of Gold from Ennio Morricone's soundtrack to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly] we do a little huddle and someone steps up to be the inspirational speaker of the evening [laughs], whether it's telling jokes or memories of the last time we played that city. Dude, we're human and sometimes people need a little help and a push. And when someone's not feeling it, the other guys rally around them.

These Big 4 dates are clearly significant for everyone. Can you recall a specific gig in your early career that was a similar benchmark?

Hetfield: I'd say our first time playing Day on the Green [in 1985 in Oakland, California]. I can't even tell you who else was there, maybe Yngwie Malmsteen and Y&T? All I know is that we were there, [original bassist] Cliff [Burton] was in the band, and it was a big deal, especially for Kirk and Cliff, because it was their hometown show.

Hammett: Definitely. Those Day on the Green shows had been going on since the early Seventies, and I'd seen so many bands play there. One of my all-time-favorite shows that I've ever seen was Day on the Green in 1978. Listen to this bill: AC/DC, Van Halen, Pat Travers, Foreigner, and Aerosmith.

It was so amazing. I remember coming back feeling so inspired that I played my guitar for days. So going from seeing those shows to playing on that stage was amazing. After I found out we were playing it, I was walking on clouds for months. It really felt like we hit a milestone.

Hetfield: Another memorable show was opening for Ozzy [in 1986]. Also playing in Moscow with AC/DC and Pantera [in 1991] after the coup attempt [against the Soviet Union leadership] was unbelievable.

And then there's our second gig ever, which was opening for Saxon. That was definitely a "We've made it" moment... after which we got our $19 pay, hopped back into our Pacer that constantly broke down, and drove home. [laughs]

But these moments are still happening. Playing the Big 4 in Germany was the biggest show we've done in 30 years. It's crazy to think that after 30 years we're still playing before bigger crowds.

Right now, Yankee Stadium is the last scheduled Big 4 show. Are there any plans to add more dates?

Hammett: Well, there's a lot of surf spots I've yet to hit in the world. [laughs] I think we should bring the Big 4 to Indonesia, Tahiti, the Maldives, and Tavarua. [laughs]

But seriously, the vibe at these shows is genuinely good. We'll do a slew of Big 4 shows, go do our own things for a few months, and when we come back everyone is glad to see each other. It's a super-cool thing for us, and I'm sure there are a lot of fans still out there that would love to see the show. I won't say yes, but I won't say no, either.

Hetfield: We don't know what's gonna happen. We're trying to cover the U.S. coasts, at least. Then we gotta get in and start focusing on writing a new record. But more Big 4 shows? We never say never, because obviously, this was never gonna happen in the first place.

Dave Mustaine has divulged that he believes that he’s had a massive influence on his fellow Big Four of thrash metal, namely, Slayer, Metallica, and Anthrax.

In an interview with São Paulo, Brazil's 89 FM A Rádio Rock radio station [via Blabbermouth], Mustaine shares his honest thoughts on the metal community and his overarching legacy.

“I’ve been very invested in the metal community,” he says. “Kerry [King, Slayer guitarist] and I played together [during the early days of both bands], and I showed him how to play Megadeth songs, which was before [Slayer] started having all their pivotal records. Kerry and I had a really great time together.”

As for Metallica, the band he was the lead guitarist for between 1982 and 1983, he asserts, “I wrote music in Metallica, and I wrote music in Megadeth. So I’ve been very influential with the guitar with these three bands.”

He also believes he had an influence on Anthrax’s Scott Ian, stating that the band started crafting a different sound after they met Mustaine-era Metallica.

“When I met Scott and the guys in Anthrax out in New York, same thing happened. Their first record was very different from the record they made after they met me and the guys in Metallica. So I think that's great.”

Ultimately, though, Mustaine is quick to clarify that, “I love all those bands.”

Megadeth recently released their seventeenth and final album, and Mustaine gave Guitar World an exclusive track-by-track rundown of his swan song.

Some things, like Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, and burgers and fries, go together perfectly. In the world of metal guitars, brutal riffs and headbanging is a union that will never fail.

But the act of headbanging isn’t without its consequences, and Gary Holt – who pushes himself to the limit in both Slayer and Exodus – learned that in the most insane way.

The physical demands of playing a starring role in two massive metal bands were always going to take their toll, but this particular incident came after one particularly raucous show, as Holt celebrated his first gig in six months a little too feverishly.

“Physically, this kind of music isn't easy anymore. I blew my neck out headbanging at the Blue Ridge Rock Fest a few years ago. I couldn't turn my head for six months,” he says in the new issue of Guitar World.

“I had clinical-grade whiplash from the Blue Ridge show; I thought I blew a disc.”

The band had been booked for the 2023 festival at Virginia International Raceway in Alton, VA, playing the third stage behind Biohazard, Machine Head, and Rise Against. Justifiably, he was excited to get back out there.

“They gave me an MRI and said it looked like I'd been in a car crash,” he then says. “But no surgery. I dodged a bullet. The problem was, we hadn't done a show for six months, and then I went out there and acted like I always do.”

Fortunately, he has not had to undergo neck surgery like his brothers in thrash, Dave Mustaine and Tom Araya, but it was likely an eye-opener for him moving forward.

In related news, Holt recently claimed that “everybody cheats” when it comes to the furious downpicking that defines thrash metal playing, and explained the stark differences between his job roles in Exodus and Slayer.

Holt’s full interview, alongside fellow Exodus riffer, Lee Altus, features in the new issue of Guitar World. Keith Richards is this issue’s cover star.

Head to Magazines Direct to pick up a copy.

Producer Andy Wallace says he got the gig working on Nirvana’s landmark album Nevermind because of his work with Slayer – which had found a fan in Kurt Cobain.

Wallace had worked on three records with the thrash metal heavyweights – Reign in Blood, South of Heaven, and Seasons in the Abyss – before Cobain, who apparently felt Nevermind needed a more aggressive mix, came calling.

“It's interesting how that came about,” Wallace tells Rick Beato about how his collaboration with Nirvana came about. “I don't know the whole background on it, but I had heard that Butch Vig had mixed the album, and I've heard the mixes; they're good. Butch is very talented, but I guess Kurt wanted to have somebody else do a shot.”

Vig had produced the record but Cobain, it seems, wanted a little heavy metal panache to lacquer the record, and so turned to Wallace for his mixing expertise.

“I presume,” Wallace then theorizes, “it was because he wanted something a little more aggressive. I had heard that he said, ‘I want that guy that did the Slayer album.’ I never discussed it with Kurt, but I’ll bet that’s true.

“There were a couple of things that I knew I wanted in general,” Wallace explains of his approach to the mix. “I knew I wanted to have the big parts be really big and really aggressive, just in your face. Thankfully, the performers were there to do that, I mean, Dave [Grohl] played like a madman.

“The other thing was I wanted it, unlike a lot of the Slayer things, to really take advantage of the dynamics. The intro [to Smells Like Teen Spirit] works in steps: first, you get slapped in the face, then you get shoved, then you get punched.”

It's believed that, with the band looking for a fresh mix, they were offered several high-profile figures. Included in that list were R.E.M. regular Scott Litt and Ed Stasium, best known for projects with the Ramones and the Smithereens.

The fact that Cobain and co looked to heavier climes for their man shows an intentionality that belies the commercial success the album enjoyed. But it encapsulated the anger and angst of the band, without sacrificing the polish that empowered its broad appeal.

Discussing his surprising admiration for Slayer, Cobain told Guitar World during his last interview with the magazine in 1992: “I'm not into a lot of metal, but I respect the fact that [Slayer] can be so extreme and still be so successful.

“They just go for it,” he had said, “and that’s why they're so great. They don't care about anything else but their music.”

Today, two of Kurt Cobain's guitars are the two most expensive guitars sold at auction.

There is no shortage of tell-all autobiographies from pioneers of thrash metal. While none of the current members of Metallica or the founding members of Slayer have released memoirs yet, the glory days of the San Francisco-area movement and other major thrash scenes have been well documented in books by members of Megadeth (Dave Mustaine, David Ellefson, Marty Friedman, Nick Menza), two guys from Anthrax (Scott Ian, Frank Bello) and Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick.

So, why did it take thrash veteran Gary Holt so long to throw his tales in the ring when he was there from the very start? After all, Holt was hanging out with Kirk Hammett in Exodus long before the latter left to join Metallica – and he is the only SF guitarist to play on every Exodus album and perform live in Slayer from 2011 to 2019 and again at their recent reunion shows.

In other words, Holt is arguably more qualified than anyone from the Bay Area to chronicle the rise and fall of thrash metal. Initially, he had some reservations, but he eventually came around.

“I’ve been asked over the years when I was going to do a book, and at first I didn’t want to because I know where all the bodies are buried and I didn’t want to put anyone out to dry or get them in trouble,” he said before the recent release of A Fabulous Disaster: From the Garage to Madison Square Garden. The Hard Way. Holt, chuckles, then continues in an understated voice.

“But then I realized I could focus on my own stories and spill the dirt on myself without involving anyone else. That made the idea a lot more appealing.”

Holt’s initial plan was to flex his storytelling chops and write the book on his own; however, he couldn’t find time to sit down and dedicate himself fully to the project and decided he needed to find a compatible co-author. That happened when Holt was being interviewed for a cover story for Decibel magazine by Adam Tepedelen. After their conversation, Tepedelen asked Holt if he might be interested in working together on a book.

“It was the right time and right place,” Holt says. “I said, ‘Okay, let’s try it and see how it goes. If we click, we’ll make it happen.’ We started talking and it worked out really well from the start, so we kept going and I’m really happy with the end result.”

Named after Exodus’ third album, 1989’s Fabulous Disaster, the book begins with Holt looking back at his earliest days as a thrash guitarist, working with friends to create music that resonated with the sounds of various scenes, including the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (especially early Iron Maiden and Venom) and Eighties hardcore punk (Discharge, Cro-Mags).

After being Hammett’s friend and guitar tech, Holt joined Exodus when guitarist Tim Agnello left the band. Exodus played backyard parties and dreamed of making a quality demo they could exchange with other tape traders. “We just wanted to be heavy as fuck,” he writes. “And I’m pretty sure no major record label saw that as a marketable attribute.”

In addition to giving him a creative outlet, Exodus provided Holt with a community that provided a temporary escape from poverty and ostracism through the misanthropic lens of violent music, excessive drinking, drugs and juvenile delinquency.

In unflinching detail, Holt reveals how Exodus was a platform to overindulge in each of the above with some of the craziest motherfuckers in the scene, some of whom, including Exodus’ original unhinged vocalist Paul Baloff, are no longer with us.

Lucky for thrash fans, Exodus worked just as hard on their music as they did at trashing houses, torturing so-called posers and drinking everything within their reach. As Exodus released their heralded 1985 debut, Bonded by Blood, developed a strong following and became successful, Holt and his bandmates wrangled with inter-band turmoil, addiction and the collapse of metal in the Nineties.

After breaking up the band and returning to a blue-collar job to make ends meet, Holt experienced a redemptive second wave of success with a reformed Exodus and an invitation to join Slayer.

The euphoric highs and debilitating lows are vividly captured in A Fabulous Disaster, which is flavored with enticing drama, self-deprecating humor and honest, sometimes agonizing reflection.

“Half of the battle to doing the book right was feeling comfortable about opening all of these wounds,” Holt says. “You really have to feel like the person you’re working with is someone you can share this stuff with.

“We got so many good stories in there and there’s tons leftover that wouldn’t fit in the book, which are just crazy, hilarious, cringe-inducing, horrifically bad stuff and amazingly good stuff and everything in between. Hopefully, I’ll revisit some of that stuff down the road.”

In a candid conversation, Holt reveals what compelled him to roll up his sleeves and unflinchingly tell his life story, what he gained from the revising Exodus’ gritty past, and his plans for the follow-up to Exodus’ 2021 album, Persona Non Grata. He also talks about Slayer’s reunion shows, why he didn’t want to play on Kerry King’s 2024 solo album, the rigors of arthritis and how he’d be okay if he had to give up music and return to roofing for a living.”

Many autobiographies are filled with anecdotes about booze, drugs and debauchery. What makes yours different?

“These things usually follow a formula: A guy gets famous, makes lots of bad decisions, develops drug habits and eventually achieves redemption. But most of these dudes don’t fall quite as far as I did. They don’t develop a meth habit and end up shoveling dog shit for $6 an hour in between releasing an album like Bonded by Blood and playing Madison Square Garden. I’ve been through a lot, and it’s all in there.”

You illustrate that juxtaposition in the chapter “Riffing in ’83. Roofing in ’93.”

“When I quit Exodus in 1993, I needed some time to figure out what I wanted to do in music, but I also needed a job. So I got a job as a roofer, and I was out in the 100-degree weather hauling 50-lb rolls of tar paper up a 40-foot ladder. I know the meaning of work and I’ve never been ashamed to get my hands dirty.”

Was there anything in the book that you were reluctant to reveal?

“No, because I was really particular with what I wrote about. I didn’t feel it was my place to tell really dark stories about other people – other than what was already public knowledge. There’s a lot of great stories I could have told, but then I’d have been dragging down other people without their approval.

“When it comes to my own problems and my own drug use, I’ve always been an open book, but there are parts where I wanted people to cringe when they read it. So that’s why there’s all that stuff in there about sitting in a warehouse smoking meth with crackheads and prostitutes because that’s who I used to be. That’s not who I am now.”

Did you learn anything about yourself while writing this book?

“I don’t know if I learned anything I didn’t already know. But I do have a ton of regret, and I carry a ton of guilt. I’ve seen people I know doing the VH1 Behind the Music thing, and sometimes when they talk about their wild days, they smile and say, ‘Yeah, it was fun.’

“I’m different. When I look back at some of my indiscretions and the selfish things I did that hurt people, I’m not proud. I was a delinquent and a lot of the things I did were not cool. But that’s what pushes me now to be an even better father, grandfather, husband and bandmate.”

“I’m constantly striving to improve, which is something we all should do. Who wants to just be happy when there is room in your life to be better? I try to be kind to people even though I write songs about hate. Doing that is my therapy. My wife always gets on me about how many times a year I give money to random strangers on GoFundMe.

“I do it because I can, and if it’s legit, why not help people? [Our drummer] Tom [Hunting] needed money to fight cancer, and a lot of people helped him through the GoFundMe I started for him. I’m just trying to give back when I can. Karma.”

Do you believe wisdom comes with age, or do you think that the more experience you have about the world, the less you understand its complexities?

“There’s truth to both. When you’re young, you think you know everything, and when you get a bit older you realize you don’t. But if you’ve paid attention to your own failings, you’ll learn from them and hopefully improve. I guess that’s the simplest way to look at it. Just learn from your mistakes.”

Do you want readers to view A Fabulous Disaster as a cautionary tale?

“If anyone sees it like that or if it helps anyone who’s having trouble clean up their life, then that’s great. But I’m a guitar player. I’m not curing cancer. I write riffs and I’m really good at it. And I love what I’m doing, so it’s not work. I’m 100 percent constantly aware of how lucky I am that I have a career, and when I think back and realize that I threw it all away for a long-ass time, I just feel stupid.

“First, I threw it all away because I was unhappy, then later I threw it away because I was on drugs. And now, I’ve bounced back from that and I’m back with my band making music. No, I’m not selling out arenas. I’m not selling out theaters. But when you factor in that I’m able to tour, which I love, and when you couple it with merchandise sales – because we’re all traveling clothes salesmen – I’m doing just fine. And I love doing this.”

Last year, Slayer announced a handful of reunion shows. Before they were scheduled, there was bad blood between guitarist Kerry King and vocalist and bassist Tom Araya, and Kerry pulled no punches about Tom when he did press for his solo album From Hell I Rise. Was there any tension between those guys during the Slayer reunion shows?

“There was no weirdness at all. Those shows were amazing. It was a great return. I hadn’t seen anybody since I left after the last show we did. Especially on the anniversary of the show. We usually send each other texts: ‘I really appreciate you. Miss you.’ Blah, blah. But I hadn’t seen anyone. And [drummer] Paul Bostaph lives about 40 minutes north from me up in the woods. So this was a great chance to see them all again.”

Will there be any more Slayer shows?

“There won’t be any more full tours. There won’t be any albums. If we come back and do a couple shows here and there – as Kerry has alluded to – I think that’s perfect. I love Slayer, but I’m not ready to put Exodus on hold anymore. That’s my band for life. Slayer are my family, but Exodus were my first family.

“They sat on the sidelines and used a stunt double for me for a long time – just shy of 10 years. And if we do a couple more shows as Slayer, that means I get to play those songs that I’ve grown to love. But I’ve got to record and tour with Exodus full-time again. That’s my priority.”

Did you hear the Kerry King album before it came out?

“No. I knew who was in the band, which was just confirmation that it was going to be killer. And then when I heard it, I loved it. It definitely has a Slayer vibe because Kerry is one-fourth of Slayer, so of course it’s going to have that feel.

“I’m always going to sound like I do in Exodus unless I was absolutely trying my hardest not to sound like Exodus – like if I was going to issue a funk album – and even that would probably have a little Exodus in it.”

Would you want to do a funk album?

“That would be awesome. I don’t know if it’ll ever happen, but I love listening to that stuff. I don’t listen to metal at home. I like listening to the classic stuff I grew up on.

“You could drop me on a desert island with the UFO catalog, or just Rainbow’s Rainbow Rising and I’d be happy. Nowadays, my car radio is either on the local sports talk channel or it’s on the soft stuff station and I’m listening to Backstreet Boys and Adele. I love pop music – always have, though.”

Did you wish Kerry asked you to play with him on his solo album?

“No, I don’t play on nobody’s solo record. That’s not a knock on anybody who does, but I’m self-aware of who I am, and if I’m going to play on someone’s solo record your name better be Rob Halford. I mean, if James Hetfield did a solo record… I don’t know if I’d want to play for Hetfield. I’d be tempted, though.”

Nobody down-picks like Hetfield.

“Yeah, and with the tendon problems I’ve had over the years, down-picking is the first thing that’s slowed down.”

How bad are your tendon problems?

“Man, I’ve had arthritis and chronic tennis elbow. I had to fight back from them and they’ve affected me in both arms. On the last Exodus album, I had so many cortisone shots I lost count.

“I had one a couple months before recording the album and that worked wonders until we tracked The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves). I was down picking on that and I blew my right elbow out. I had to go to physical therapy to get back to playing.

“So, if I worked with James he might give me shit about keeping up on some of the down-picking stuff, but the things I do well, I do as well as anybody else. With down-picking, you learn little cheats to get through it.”

Can you make alternate picking sound like down-picking?

“I do both. I’ll go down-up-down-down-down-down-down/down-up-down-down-down-down-down… That gives me a split-second break. But everybody cheats. I’ve seen videos of James leaving out down-picks. You know?

“We’re living with 60-year-old arms now. On these reunion shows, Slayer was playing Reborn. And Kerry and I were like, ‘Man, that’s fast!’ Goddamn, that was fun to play for those two shows, but I was super-relieved when we got through it.”

How far along are you on the follow up to Exodus’ 2021 album, Persona Non Grata?

“I’ve got about 20 new songs that we’re working on. Tom Hunting and I worked out some of the stuff in advance together because as long as we go into the studio with five or six completed songs, then we’ve got a good starting point. We tend to write a lot in the studio, anyway. We like to do what I call our album summer camp, where we all live in one house together and immerse ourselves in the music.

“We did that on our last album during the pandemic and it gave us the greatest opportunity we’ve ever had. We shipped a truckload of recording material to Tom’s house in the mountains in Lake Almonor, California, along with Steve Lagudi, our engineer. And we stayed there and worked on the album. Of course, there wasn’t anywhere to go then, but I’m hoping we can have that same game plan this time around.”

How would you describe the new Exodus material?

“It’s hard to say, because every album is its own thing. Some of the record is super, super fast, and other parts are big, slow, and ominous with lots of space to breathe and build. And there are a couple moments that are, dare I say, doomy. There’s a lot of melody in there, but it’s also really heavy.

“Exodus fans are gonna dig it. [Guitarist] Lee Altus has a bunch of stuff he’s still working on, so that will add more elements to the songs. The only challenge is hitting our recording goal, otherwise it’s going to be out in 2026, and we have a bunch of tours lined up, but we’ll figure it out.”

You look like a rock star onstage and you’ve lived like a rock star, but you seem humbler than some of your peers.

“Look, I’m not out there selling out arenas. Exodus just got off our first headlining tour in the U.S. in a long time, and it was a blast. Maybe the shows weren’t as well-attended as some we’ve done in the past, but they were really good because a lot of bands on the road right now are getting hammered.

“I just have to be smarter these days, so I’m involved in all sides of the business. People don’t realize that when I’m home from tour and you buy a shirt or even a guitar pick from me, I’m the guy who puts it in the package. I don’t hire someone else to do it. And I’m lucky to do it.

“I live a good life. I have great grandkids, great kids, a great wife, and a great band. I was lucky to have two great bands for a long time. If the bottom fell out in music for me tomorrow, I’d go get a job again. I have no hangups about that. I appreciate what I have and the position I’m in. That’s something that I’ll never take for granted.”

• A Fabulous Disaster is out now via De Capo.
• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

Gary Holt may be one of the most recognizable names in thrash metal – but that doesn't mean the Exodus and Slayer pioneer doesn't appreciate or own budget effects pedals. In fact, Mooer Audio – known for its pedals' road-proof casings, small footprint, and affordability – is one of Holt's top brands when it comes to analog pedals.

“Dude, the Mooer pedals are some of the best pedals I own,” he tells Guitar World. “I’ve got the 005 Brown Sound, which is a 5150 micro pedal. I’ve plugged it into the effects return of a [Marshall] Jubilee combo and it’s so crushing.”

This mini-pedal is based on the original Peavey 5150, which was released in the early ’90s as Eddie Van Halen's official signature amp. Eventually, it became synonymous with the hard rock and metal scenes due to its revered high-gain tone. As the name suggests, Mooer's 005 Brown Sound aims to emulate EVH's so-called “Brown Sound” – and, if Holt's opinion is anything to go by, it does the job well.

“I sent a video of it to Scott Ian [Anthrax, who supported Slayer on their farewell tour], and I said, ‘Check this out, dude!’ And when we did the final Slayer show in Santiago, Chile, for 60,000 people, Scott used it as his primary tone – this little Mooer pedal!”

It's a huge endorsement for such a humble pedal, which can be picked up for only $86 from some retailers.

So, seeing that he's such a Mooer loyalist, which pedal would Holt say is his absolute favorite? “The Mooer Tender Octaver,” he replies. “And I’ve always had an octave pedal in my rig.”

Proving that you can have a penchant for both digital and analog, Holt reveals that for fly-in shows, he's using a Quad Cortex – and he loves it.

“I don’t run mine direct with in-ears,” he explains. “I’ll put it in the effects return of a head or I have one of those Seymour Duncan PowerStage 700s, and I can travel with my entire amp rig except for cabs in carry-on. It’s amazing.”

For more Gary Holt, plus new interviews with Robin Nolan and Alex Lifeson, pick up issue 592 of Guitar World at Magazines Direct.

There are metal legends and then there are metal gods: visionaries who drag their music into the deeper abyss, far beyond the point of no return. When the Los Angeles quartet Slayer formed in 1981, they did so with the purpose of pushing their new wave of British heavy metal influences to the very extremes.

Today they stand as the old gods of war, metal veterans with a near-religious cult of admirers the world over through their bludgeoning riffs, blastbeat rhythms and ominous tales of human cruelty.

Singer and bassist Tom Araya was born in Viña del Mar, Chile in 1961, where he lived before the family decided to relocate to the Californian suburbs in the mid-'60s.

His brother John introduced him to music and the pair began to jam together on a $20 Roebuck electric and a detuned acoustic with four strings. It didn't take long for the young bass player to realise his true calling in life.

“My first proper bass was a Paul McCartney Höfner rip-off that I bought in a pawnshop,” Araya told Bass Player in 2015. “I did two summers in a row in the school wood-shop making stands for money. After that I got myself a Precision.

“McCartney was my first hero. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and ZZ Top were also my favourite bands. My brother and I would buy Deep Purple music books and learn the songs together. I'd look at the scale, write the notes out and match it up on the neck, That's how I learned to play music.”

The aspiring musician spent his school years as many do, simply enjoying the freedoms of young adulthood and contemplating the person he’d like to grow up to be.

“I was a stoner that hung out with the same two guys on a bench, where we'd watch the world go by. I wasn't part of the cool clique. I always had long hair, which I only cut once to visit Chile in 1971 when Pinochet was dictator, because we were told long hair could mean problems.”

In his late teens Araya met Kerry King, who replaced the guitarist in his top 40 list covers group. First impressions weren't particularly brilliant – Araya ended up getting kicked out of the band. But a year later, King was back in touch, needing a bassist for his new metal band, with a list of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden classics to learn.

By the end of a loud and beer-fuelled weekend, the bare bones of Slayer were in place: Araya, King, Hanneman and Lombardo. They debated the idea of recruiting a singer, but the bassist assured his bandmates that he had it covered.

By 1983, they'd inked a deal with LA label Metal Blade: Slayer's debut Show No Mercy was funded by Araya's earnings as a respiratory therapist and a loan from King's father. The follow-up, Hell Awaits, saw them continue to spread the satanic gospel, tales of Lucifer's wrath reinforced by the heaviness of their frenetic discordance. By Reign In Blood, they were simply unstoppable.

Furthermore, the albums that followed – 1988's South Of Heaven and in particular, 1990's career-peaking Seasons In The Abyss – cemented Slayer's stature as heavyweight champions of their peer group.

They may never have reached the dizzying heights that Metallica did, but that was never the plan. The name Slayer stood for something more extreme and uncompromising, something deadlier than any of their thrash counterparts. And that's precisely what they delivered. It's a time Araya remembers very fondly.

“The first two albums had more of a Venom influence, but when we first heard Reign In Blood, we couldn't believe it. We had no idea how it'd sound on record. That's when I started playing with a pick, to get more clarity and attack. Actually, a lot of it came down to producer Rick Rubin, who really cleaned up our sound.

“Funnily enough, it was Jeff that liked the bass solo parts on Psychopathy Red or the original bass intro on Piece By Piece, which came out too jumbled and indistinguishable to use in the end. But even though Reign In Blood is considered our classic album and the one everyone goes to, the one I'm most proud of is Seasons..., because I had such a big hand in writing the songs.”

As Slayer's legions continued to spread across the globe, so did the world of equipment available to the band. Before settling on ESP, Araya worked his way through a number of brands, although one factor remained consistent: simplicity. Too many features meant too many distractions.

“All I need is my volume knob – that's it. I used my P-Bass for a long time, then B.C. Rich offered to make me an instrument, as Kerry was working with them. I asked for the Wave bass, which they didn't make any more, but it was the one I liked so they dug out the pattern and made me one.

“Then the guy from Hill got in touch and they made me a great bass. But that was the extent of it: I didn't wanna endorse it, he just made it for me and I paid him.

“Later ESP approached me about a line of basses. I told them I wasn't an amazing player by any means. I'm average – I can play fast sometimes.”

The majority of Araya's bass tone comes from a Precision-style bass made by ESP, who’ve been making a TA signature series since the late ’90s, going into a Marshall Lemmy Kilmister Signature 1992 LEM Super Bass stack – the extremely limited edition 2008 replicas of the Motörhead man's favoured 1976 head.

“We were rehearsing for some live shows and I couldn't believe how good those amps sounded. Kerry told me they only made so many and then stopped making them. He even called up Marshall for me – but they were all gone.

“That amp is where most of my sound comes from, rather than the bass, though what you hear on the record might sometimes be a mixture of different amps dialled in together. It has that piano-like ‘dong!’ to it. That's the sound I like: clean and crisp with that low-end piano boom.”

For one of the most lauded and recognized musicians in metal, you get the impression that Araya has done well not to let things go to his head. He's disarmingly grounded and appreciative of how his career has panned out.

Most of all, he's warm and accommodating – the kind of person that instantly cracks jokes to put people at ease. When it comes to his own talents, the Slayer man is self-deprecating, in his own signature light-hearted way.

“I really don't think of myself as a bassist extraordinaire. That’s not me. I have to sing and play, so I have to cheat, because playing and singing at the same time is not easy.

“When we play Raining Blood live, there are parts where I just play an open E instead of the riff you hear on the record. Another part that's not easy is the main Angel Of Death riff while singing. I can't do that shit! I could do it in the studio, but live... let's just say no-one asks for their money back.

“A lot of Slayer riffs aren’t really for bass players – there’s a lot of notes. I'll learn the riff and if I think it’s too much for bass, I’ll play what I think sounds better. It's about how it grooves with the drummer. That's the most important thing to me.”

Thrash metal ushered some truly incredible bass players, from Metallica’s Cliff Burton – who tragically lost his life in a tourbus crash in 1986 – and Megadeth's David Ellefson to Testament's Greg Christian. But Araya felt no competition among his fellow four-stringers, at least from a technical standpoint.

“I’m more about the band than the players in the band, you know? Cliff Burton was a great bass player but Metallica, the band, were awesome. I’m not a schooled player. I'm self-taught and I have bad practicing habits, in that I don't bother! Kerry’s the only one of us that was schooled musically.

“I don’t warm up for vocals either: I don’t even hope for the best – I just go out and do it, which is a horrible example of how you should be as a singer!

“Someone told us we played in the devil’s scale which is all sharps and flats. I don't know anything about scales, but we looked it up and it does exist! That's how we came up with the title for Diabolus In Musica.”

It makes vou wonder: for someone that has lived and breathed heavy metal thunder through the decades, keeping the idea of sonic terror well and truly alive – does Araya find much time for other forms of music? What are the chances of him getting the jazz charts out on a rainy weekday night? Or sneaking in some funk jams while the family are out on a Sunday afternoon?

“I don't know if I can play funk, but sure, I'll listen to it. I love all kinds of music, to be honest. I'll slap a bass, but I don't really have the talent for it. I wish I did, because I think it's really cool when people use it well – Funkadelic, all that stuff.

“Just the other day I was listening to Paul Simon's Graceland. The song You Can Call Me Al has some wicked bass playing – what a riff.

“I love Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive, that's one of my favourite records, as is The Dream Of The Blue Turtles by Sting. My wife got me into Elvis: I listen to a lot of old country stuff because she grew up on that and I think a lot of it is really good.

“One of our favorites is Randy Travis, who's got this amazing voice, along with guys likes George Strait and Dwight Yoakam.”

When the metal gods of old finally hang their boots up, and the world no longer has Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Slayer filling its arenas and festivals, who will be left to take charge?

“There are some good bands out there, but nothing that makes me go, ‘What the fuck is this?’ The one band that did do that for me was System of a Down.

“I remember being in the car and Rick Rubin handed me their three-track demo saying, ‘You gotta check these guys out!’ I put it in and thought, ‘Wow! This is metal – but the message and lyrics are also very cultural.’

“It really struck me and, along with the rhythms, made me think. I’ve never heard anything quite like it. But apart from that, there hasn't been much. I guess we're lucky in that sense. We’ve been around so long, we've established our sound. People instantly know when it's Slayer.”

Kerry King has revealed who he thinks is the most “overlooked” guitarist in metal. The Slayer guitarist was asked to name his top five guitarists of all time during an appearance on the Lipps Service With Scott Lipps podcast – and he took the opportunity to rave about a guitarist he believes deserves much more credit.

“Probably my favorite one [of] all time is [Judas Priest's] Glenn Tipton. And I think he's the most overlooked,” he states. “’Cause if you look at the leads he was doing and when he was doing ’em, he kind of innovated a lot of that stuff.”

As for the rest of his top five? “I would have a hard time numbering them, but I can come up with five. [Ritchie] Blackmore, Tony Iommi, Eddie Van Halen, without question. I'll go with a super-heavy hitter that's my bro and say Zakk Wylde.”

Over the years, King has spoken profusely about Judas Priest's impact on his playing. “As a young guitar player, I could tell there were two guitars on the recording, and the creativity and early uniqueness of two guitars totally inspired what Slayer became,” he told Rolling Stone in a 2022 interview.

“Judas Priest definitely inspired me and Jeff [Hanneman] and Slayer. If we were doing Priest covers in the beginning, he would always play the K.K. Downing guitar parts because he was the blond guy. I would always do the Glenn Tipton ones.”

In a recent Guitar World interview, King explained how he owes his choice of chords and rhythmic patterns to Judas Priest.

2024 Year in Review: Kerry King has certainly been forthcoming about his dissatisfaction with Slayer calling it a day since the group played their “final” show in November 2019.

The decision led to him writing and recording for his new solo band, launching in February this year, with Phil Demmel [ex-Machine Head] joining him on guitar for the May debut release.

But just a matter of days following the news, Slayer announced their “unretirement” with a handful of select festival dates scheduled for September.

When quizzed by this writer about the timing of it all, he revealed it came as a surprise for him, too.

“Everyone thinks Slayer is getting back together, but that couldn’t be further from the truth,” he reasoned.

“We’re not going to record anymore; that final tour was definitely our final tour” and describing the festival dates as “just a reason to have some fun with the guys, play a few shows and then jump back in the coffin.”

• From Hell I Rise is out now via Reigning Phoenix.

Kerry King may be one of thrash metal’s most iconic electric guitar players and hardmen, but he’s admitted there’s one particular Slayer song that still intimidates him.

Sitting down recently with Metal Hammer to answer fan-written questions, King singled out the hardest song from the band’s repertoire to play – and the song that people shouldn’t expect to grace Slayer setlists any time soon.

“I could go a number of ways with that [question],” he admits, before narrowing his choice. “I’ll say Dittohead for the sheer speed of it. That’s probably our fastest song, and it’s not one I’m looking to play live any time soon!”

He was then asked to pick his favorite riff written by his late guitar partner, Jeff Hanneman, whose wife recently gifted a rare ESP prototype to young sensation Maya Neelakantan.

“That’s difficult,” King replies. “I have to say Raining Blood [from 1986’s Reign In Blood],” he answers. “It’s not just one riff in that song, but a whole showcase. If you pushed me, I’d say the intro too, as people still sing along to that guitar line.”

King released his first solo album, From Hell I Rise, earlier this year, following 12 LPs with the hard-edged thrashers. He’s confessed to Guitar World that life without Slayer “sucks”, and that releasing a solo album was the only way he knew to keep busy.

Slayer continued for six years after Jeff Hanneman’s passing in 2013, though much of the band's fierce reputation rested upon the guitar partnership of Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, and so they called it a day in 2019.

The band reunited for three US festivals over the summer, but there are currently no plans for more shows to follow in their wake.

Across his career, Rick Rubin has had a hand in a broad array of genres, from funk with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and fully fledged electric guitar rock with Aerosmith, all the way to hip hop with Beastie Boys and LL Cool J.

He’s also been involved in the world of metal, having first embarked on an exploration of the genre when he linked up with Slayer to produce their third studio album, Reign in Blood, in 1986.

Speaking in a new interview with Rick Beato, Rubin reflected on the experience, and recalled how he singled out one of the genre’s biggest names as an example of what he thought shouldn’t be done when he set about producing his first metal album.

“The first record I made in California was Slayer's first album,” he begins [at approx. 43.18]. “I asked [engineer and regular collaborator, Andy Wallace] if he wanted to engineer the record.

“He came to where I was living, which was on Broadway in this weird loft. I remember Andy came over, and I played him a few different records – AC/DC, Metallica – and I had a theory.

“Now, this is not based on being a musician, this is based on being a fan: when I hear very fast music like Metallica – and the sounds are big – the whole thing gets blurry, and you can't really hear it.

“If the sounds are big, there's not enough space for those big sounds to live next to each other, right? There's no punctuation. It just becomes a blur. I played him a Metallica record as an example of what I thought was wrong.”

Rubin took issue with the tempo of ’Tallica’s tracks, which he believed were simply too fast. What the band gained in speed, they supposedly lost in clarity. As such, he asked Wallace whether there'd be a way to bring a similar level of intensity at differing tempos to produce a more defined metal sound.

“I said, ‘Would it be possible to record in such a way that was hard sounding, but everything was short?’ Because I didn't want it to be a blur of bass,” he admits. “I wanted it to be a pulse. He said, ‘I think we can do that.’”

The result was what has now become widely regarded as a quintessential thrash metal record, and a certified classic of the wider metal genre.

From Rubin’s perspective, his inexperience with metal actually turned out to be a benefit when it came to producing Reign in Blood, and this – paired with his decision to ignore popular metal norms – ended up shaping the overall sound of Kerry King and co's record.

“Not having the experience of the right way to do it was part of the key,” Rubin reflects. “If I was an experienced heavy metal producer, I would use the tricks that I'd used on other heavy metal records, because that's what people do.

“You learn other ways to do it. I didn't have the baggage of what the old way of doing it was.”

Visit Rick Beato’s YouTube channel to watch the full interview with Rick Rubin.

Fresh off the America's Got Talent stage, Maya Neelakantan is busy further establishing herself in the metal and hard rock scene. While the Gibson Dave Mustaine Flying V EXP was her axe of choice for her primetime TV spot, she's now adding another guitar to her arsenal. This time, it's an ESP LTD Jeff Hanneman Tribute 2014, gifted to her by Kathryn Hanneman, the wife of the late Jeff Hanneman.

“It was amazing talking with her and before we left, she said she has something special for me and brought out an ESP guitar case!” recounts Neelakantan.

“Inside was an ESP LTD Jeff Hanneman Tribute 2014 in an amazing Urban Camo color! She said that this model was made shortly after Jeff Hanneman passed away in 2013 and this was a very, very limited edition since they only made 666 of this guitar.”

However, the guitar given to Neelakantan was even more special, as it was the first prototype and the one given to Kathryn just a few months after the Slayer guitarist's passing.

“Although we have been friends for a couple of years, we met for the first time and she gave this to me – I just can’t explain what that means to me. I’m honored, grateful, overwhelmed, and very thankful for all this,” adds Neelakantan.

From going viral with her rendition of Papa Roach's Last Resort to being granted permission to use Metallica's track on America's Got Talent and having Slayer and Exodus' Gary Holt fly down to Los Angeles to meet her, the 11-year-old guitarist has had quite a year.

She recently continued ticking off her bucket list with a surprise appearance at a Testament show, where she joined the band on stage to trade solos with Alex Skolnick.

Born in Long Beach California in 1964, Jeff Hanneman was a founding member of metal band Slayer in 1981. Sadly Jeff passed away in 2013 aged just 49, but his name lives on as a pioneering guitarist of one of the big four thrash bands.

Jeff’s unique riffing and soloing style featured on 12 studio releases including classic albums such as Hell Awaits, Reign In Blood and Seasons In The Abyss to name a few. In this lesson, we will look at some riffing and soloing approaches that stem from both punk and metal genres, but are also unconventional and share certain similarities with modern classical music.

Our first example uses a fast flurry of chromatic notes to create the effect of organised chaos. Mathematically, this is a repeating five-note legato pattern phrased within septuplets, but it may be easier to think of it as four even downstrokes played across three downbeats, with the three-finger legato finger pattern squeezed evenly in between.

The riff is harmonised in perfect 5ths on the backing track, so listen intently to the accompanying guitar in order to match the phrasing.

Riff number two is another chromatic idea, this time using interval skips within one octave. The concept here is an Arnold Schoenberg-style series of 12 notes, with no repetitions until all the notes have been played (Serialism).

This angular style is emphasised by the aggressive attack of consistent palm-muted downpicking. This style of picking is notoriously tough on the forearm, but with daily practice your accuracy and stamina will become stronger and stronger.

Example 3 ventures into lead territory with a lick in E Locrian (1-b2-b3-4-b5-b6-b7). The Locrian mode is rarely used but its diminished, unresolved quality makes it perfect for Slayer solos which are often more akin to free jazz self-expression than more typical metal solos rooted in blues tradition.

Next is a tapping idea using E diminished half-whole scale (E-F-G-G#-A#-B-C#-D), which is a symmetrical pattern of alternating tones and semitones that works well over the static riffs often used by Slayer. Use the open second string and 9th fret as book-ends and move your fretting hand up and down the scale in between.

Example 5 uses the familiar minor pentatonic shape 1 to create an unsettlingly evil Locrian sound. To achieve this we superimpose the scale over a different root note. Rather than starting the shape with the first note on the root, move it down two frets and start on the b7 of the key. So although the shape may be familiar, in reality the intervals are (b2-b3-4-b6-b7).

Following this is the type of alternate picked run that Jeff played with intensity and power. Jeff’s aggressive sound is achieved by digging the pick into the strings for a heavy, loud attack and, although it may feel counter-intuitive, to maintain this level throughout a whole song we need to maintain a relaxed technique.

Play each example slowly to begin with, focusing on accuracy, timing and economy of motion before gradually increasing the tempo until you’re comfortable at speed.

Get the tone

Amp Settings: Gain 7, Bass 2, Middle 6, Treble 7, Reverb 0

Throughout his career, Jeff used BC Rich, Jackson and for the most part ESP guitars. For riffing, the EMG 81 bridge humbucker pickup provides the tight, powerful punch and the EMG 85 neck pickup provided a warmer sound for melodic parts. Amp-wise Jeff used the classic Marshall JCM800. Go for a tight, gainy, bridge pickup tone and either very little or no reverb.

Example 1

Use first, second and third fingers to hammer-on and pull-off the opening five-note phrase and shift it up and down the fretboard while picking the initial notes. On beat 4 use palm-muted downstrokes to play the open E root note. In bar 2, move the legato phrase up a 5th interval.

Example 2

Palm-mute the open sixth string and pick down-up-down in a reverse galloping rhythm. Next, use all four fretting fingers to play the chromatic, interval skipping phrase and use tight downstrokes to pick each note with a consistent attack. Although the melodic phrase in bar 2 is different, the technique remains the same.

Example 3

Start with a downstroke and use alternate picking throughout. In bar 1 the second string always starts with a downstroke and the first string with an upstroke.

In bar 2 each downbeat starts on a downstroke. Finish with a tone bend at the 20th fret, then catch the second string which is bent up a semitone.

Example 4

Tap the 9th fret with the second finger of your picking hand (m) and use first, second and third fingers to ascend the second string in a series of alternating tones and semitones, also using the open string to complete the six-note phrasing. Focus on tapping on the downbeat in order to stay in time more accurately.

Example 5

Use hammer-ons and pull-offs to ascend the opening D minor pentatonic shape, then play three-notes-per-string within E Locrian mode to ascend and descend the strings before finishing with a natural harmonic. As you play the harmonic, scoop the bar then add a wide whammy bar vibrato.

Since Slayer’s 1983 release, Show No Mercy, Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman have established a brand of sinister, frenetic thrash metal that took the world by storm.

Their fast-paced, 16th-note picking, chromatic sequences, and use of notes both inside and outside of the key make way for an energetic, adrenaline-fuelled sound laced with attitude and tension.

Despite their fair share of riffs based on unrelenting aggression, Slayer also make effective use of mid-tempo, arpeggiated chords, as in Seasons in the Abyss. This creates dynamic space while keeping the listener drenched in the mood and atmosphere of the song.

Slayer have used various tunings over the years, but for this lesson we’ll keep everything at standard pitch, as on the group’s first album.

Get the tone

Amp Settings: Gain 6, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 4

For a classic Slayer rhythm tone, use your bridge pickup and the high-gain channel of your guitar amp. To get a chunky sound while keeping things focused, Slayer use less gain than expected, so push the middle frequencies, and roll off some of the treble. The bite and presence should come from the picking-hand attack.

Example 1

The opening phrase alternates between fast flurries of E notes played on the open sixth string and diminished 5th double-stops descending chromatically along the fourth and fifth string. To tighten up the faster passages, palm mute the notes on the sixth string while all other notes remain unrestricted.

Example 2

This study features fast-paced powerchords that outline the root note of each key. This establishes a tonal centre for the ear to lock on to before the chromatic motifs step outside of the key. By bookending the chromaticism with the root chord, our ears can make sense of the harmonic tension.

After more than 35 years living on the West Coast and pouring all of his musical energy into a single band, Slayer co-founder and guitarist Kerry King is now in a different place – literally. In 2020, King and his wife Ayesha packed up their stuff and relocated to Tribeca in New York City.

“My wife is from here,” says King from the back table of the New York Tex Mex restaurant and bar Cowgirl SeaHorse in Lower Manhattan.

“She had a 20-year exile to the West Coast with me, so now it’s my turn. But I like it here, and it was good timing because we moved here during the pandemic, so I got way more for my money than I should have. I would’ve bought two places had I known that. The places in my building have gone up exponentially since then.”

Of course, moving to New York isn’t the only major change in King’s life. After wrapping up their farewell tour in 2019, Slayer, the band King co-founded in 1981, was gone. Maybe to minimize the mourning process, King formed a new band just months later and started over. And he has started over. To all intents and purposes, Slayer’s final lineup (if not their sound) is but a blip on King’s radar.

Granted, it’s a big blip, and one that will likely generate more increased valuation than his Manhattan apartment when Slayer play three scheduled festival reunion shows later this year. Even so, the band’s last-standing songwriter will spend the vast majority of the foreseeable future not with Slayer, but playing live and recording new music with his new band, entitled Kerry King.

Their debut record, From Hell I Rise, is a savage gut-punch of instantly recognizable riffs, jackhammer beats and disarmingly familiar vocals. In other words, fans of Slayer’s early classics Reign in Blood, South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss will find plenty to love in the tunes, tones and delivery of King’s new album. Though he’s switched from B.C. Rich to Dean Guitars, not much else has changed only the names of half the players.

From Hell I Rise is flush with rapid-fire thrash rhythms, chromatic guitar riffs and blazing leads, with songs that vary in tone from eerie and atmospheric to savage and torrential. Diablo/Where I Rise is driven by quick chord changes in the verse and an elongated riff for the chorus. Then it bursts into a galloping midsection that’s bound to cause havoc in the mosh pit.

Idle Hands is an off-kilter thrash-fest that cuts and chugs like a train with razor-sharp wheels. And Crucifixation sounds like hardcore-influenced Slayer songs (Jesus Saves, Disciple) crossed with the harmonized, minor-key savagery of some of the band’s slower, eerier material (Dead Skin Mask).

“I call Crucifixation the money shot ’cause it’s just so relentless,” King says with a smile. “To me, it sounds like big-time Eighties thrash. It goes from sheer fury to this big, heavy drum break, to super-groove, then back to sheer fury.”

Songs like Crucifixation and Tension, which include the type of haunting atmospheres that were part of late guitarist Jeff Hanneman’s repertoire, should silence the naysayers who still credit Hanneman with writing Slayer’s most harrowing and memorable songs.

“I kind of worried about that [in 2014], when I wrote the last Slayer album, Repentless, [after Jeff passed] because he usually did the spooky-sounding stuff,” King says.

“Then I did When the Stillness Comes for Repentless, and I’m like, ‘Okay, I’ve got spooky down.’ I wanted to show the world that whatever Jeff usually infuses into the band, I’ve got covered. So, with this new album, I don’t think I have to worry about anything sounding like Slayer. I mean, fuck! That’s what it should sound like.”

King’s not downplaying the contributions of his former bandmate. He still tells stories about the early days of meeting Hanneman when he was working as a doorman in a hotel, and how they combined their individual interests in punk (Hanneman) and traditional metal (King) to form the heaviest, most evil-sounding band of the Big 4 thrash scene.

Tragically, 32 years/11 albums later, Hanneman died on May 2, 2013, from alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver. King believes his bandmate’s excessive drinking increased after 2011, when he contracted a flesh-eating disease necrotizing fasciitis from a suspected spider bite and was unable to continue playing in the band.

Slayer hired Exodus main man Gary Holt to replace Hanneman, and the lineup change widened the already existing gulf between King and vocalist/bassist Tom Araya.

“If Jeff was still here, would there be another Slayer record?,” rhetorically asks King, picking at the tortilla chips on his plate.

“Who knows? I mean, Jeff weighed on Tom a lot, and I think Jeff not being around had a lot to do with Tom leaving Slayer. But, you know, if that fucking dumb-ass Jeff was still here, he’d be wanting us to play. I know he would. And if I played this album for Jeff, he would fuckin’ love it.”

Without Hanneman around, King became Slayer’s only songwriter and remains the band’s voice and mouthpiece. The second guitarist on From Hell I Rise is ex-Machine Head and former Vio-Lence guitarist Phil Demmel (who has also filled in on tour for Overkill, Lamb of God and, yes, Slayer). Demmel’s leads are melodic and less frantic than those of King or Holt, yet his tone is all Slayer.

At the risk of being redundant, From Hell I Rise is nothing short of Slayer reborn. And that’s hardly a crime, since it’s exactly what King wanted; and it explains why he originally wanted to call the band King’s Reign or Blood Rain (references to Slayer’s most heralded album, 1986’s Reign in Blood). Both names were already trademarked. With From Hell I Rise, King pulls no punches. Neither does he provide any strikingly new combinations.

“I can only write the way I write,” he says with a shrug, then takes a pull from his glass of tequila. “That’s all I know how to do. That’s all I want to do. I mean, me not being in Slayer sucks. I want Slayer to exist, so this is the only way I know how to do that.

“To me, it would be weird to do anything else. Everybody knows how I write. This is my comfort zone. I’m a big metal guy. I don’t want to make rock ’n’ roll. I don’t want to make anything else. If people say this album sounds like Slayer, I take that as a huge compliment.”

King started working on From Hell I Rise in February 2020, after the Super Bowl (he has always been a huge football fan). He finished writing the album long before he knew about any Slayer reunion shows (the band’s final full tour ran through 2019). And because he wrote them, King used leftover Slayer songs on the record.

Then, when Kerry King finished tracking From Hell I Rise, King and ex-Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph kept working on new songs for their second album, which is mostly written.

King was so laser-focused on his new project that he hasn’t spoken with Araya or texted his former bandmate since the Slayer’s farewell tour ended at the LA Forum on November 30, 2019. To be fair, Araya didn’t try to contact King either… Then came February 21, 2024.

That morning, just 16 days after Rolling Stone posted an interview with King in which he stated that he didn’t see eye to eye with Araya, and how there would never be a Slayer reunion, the band issued a press release confirming that Slayer would reunite to headline a pair of festivals, Riot Fest in Chicago on September 22 and Louder Than Life in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 27.

A week after the news broke, Slayer announced they would also headline the Aftershock Festival on October 10 in Sacramento, California. All three shows would feature the lineup from Slayer’s final album, Repentless Araya, King, Bostaph and Holt. King says shows were put together by Slayer’s management and Araya’s wife, and for him, it was like Hell freezing over.

“I was very surprised,” King says in an exclusive statement to Guitar World about a week after his interview for our cover story.

“I made my comments [about Slayer being finished] based on [Tom] not wanting to play anymore. As far as I was concerned, we were done and never going to play again. To be honest, I don’t know what switched.

“We’ve been turning down offers to play shows for at least three years. So, one came up that, I guess, enticed Tom to the point where he wanted to roll the dice and try a couple. I don’t know, but that’s all it is.”

Now, with Pandora’s box reopened, King is looking forward to playing three more stadium shows with Slayer, with huge crowds and requisite pyro. “I’ve really missed fire!” he says, and adds that he’d be open to, maybe, an additional Slayer gig.

“There could be an instance where there’s another one-off,” he says. “It just has to be the right offer at the right time, maybe someplace everybody loves to go. But touring, no, I don’t see touring. But, you know, who’s to say a one-off can’t happen again?”

As excited as he is to feel the flames of a giant burning Slayer logo on his back again, King is more stoked about the combustive excitement building around his new album and the tour to support it. The band will play two warm-up shows in May, and then seven cities in Europe in June.

The proper tour launches on July 19 in Grand Prairie, Texas. In between runs, King and Bostaph may work on more new songs for the follow-up to From Hell I Rise. One thing’s certain: none of the songs King has completed since his first Kerry King album, nor anything he writes in the future will be used for a future Slayer album. King’s days of recording with Araya are in the past, and the guitarist has both eyes focused on the road ahead.

“I’m not looking to do any more music with Slayer at all,” he reiterates, “Not because of any dislike, but because we made that statement that we’re not going to tour anymore. And since we’re not touring, I don’t see any point in putting out a record especially since I’ve already got my own new avenue to do that, and I love it. I’m just getting started, and it’s going to be a super-fun time for hopefully 10, 15 years to come.”

Slayer have always been associated with the West Coast. Do you prefer being in New York, or are all big cities the same?

“I’ve always liked New York, and I’ve probably been here more than any other city in the world. The silly thing about ‘West Coast Kerry’ was I never paid attention to anything going on around me. I didn’t know what was right down the street. I’d heard of places, but I couldn’t tell you where they were.

“Now I’ve got a handle on where everything is in my Manhattan kingdom, so I get out a lot, whereas before I hardly ever went out. Our place is six blocks from the Freedom Tower, so we’re next to almost every subway line, and it’s easy to get around. We do a lot of walking now, too. But I got a system. Every time you gotta hit the bathroom, you just go into a bar, have a shot, use the bathroom and move on.”

Do you go out more in New York than you went out in California?

“I live out. In LA, when you’re in the suburbs you don’t get out that much because five restaurants only go so far before you start doubling up and your wife gets tired of it. My wife’s a foodie, so New York is great.”

You can only eat for so many hours of the day. That must leave lots of time to write music.

“I worked really hard on this record, but we recorded it really quickly. We did it in two weeks at Henson Studios in Hollywood. Josh Wilbur produced, so when we wanted to go in and fix a vocal here or there or do some tinkering, we did it at his studio at his house.

“So, 90 to 95 percent was done in the studio and the rest was done with Josh in his garage. We were done on my anniversary last year, April 29, so I flew home. After that, it became a waiting game.”

Were any full songs on From Hell I Rise left over from Slayer?

“From Hell I Rise and Rage were left over from Repentless. That said, some other riffs from those days ended up on this. I wrote the intro for Toxic five minutes before a Slayer show. We were getting ready to go onstage, and I came up with this riff and I didn’t want to forget it. I went and got my phone, recorded the part and then played the show.

“Another four songs for my next album are left over from Repentless, plus there’s a bunch of stuff that I had left over from this album that will go on it. Me and Paul are already rehearsing stuff for that record, too. So we’re still working.”

Did you write the songs using an amp modeler and a home-studio DAW with a drum program before you sent them to Paul?

“Dude, I don’t understand any of that shit. It’s like you’re talking alien to me. I hit record on my iPhone and stick it in front of my little speaker. My amp is about as big as my boot, and it sounds great.

“I put it maybe six feet away, play my song and then hit stop. And that’s what Paul gets. I send him a drum chart with time signatures for where the changes go, and what the drums are gonna do. So he already knows what I want before we get together. Nine times out of 10 we can play it within five minutes.”

Many fans assumed Gary Holt would be in your new band.

“For a long time, I considered Gary. I love Gary. The reason I didn’t ask Gary is because the more elements I have from Slayer, the more detractors are going to say, ‘Oh, it’s Baby Slayer’ or ‘Slayer Jr.’ So, the only piece of Slayer I took is Paul.

“I was gonna use Terry Date to produce. But, again, it’s the same situation, so I asked Josh Wilbur, who was great. I had to take all the Slayer pieces away, so when people say what they say, I can say, ‘No man, this is just me. I wrote everything myself, and if that is not a testament to how I sound, then nothing is.’”

Why did you handpick Phil?

“I think Phil handpicked me. He filled in for Gary in Europe when Gary had to drop off the tour when his dad was dying. I didn’t even think of Phil. When I’m in a given location I’ll think of players from the area. I was in Europe, and everybody I was coming up with didn’t want to do it or couldn’t do it. And then Paul says, ‘What about Demmel?’ And I’m like, ‘You know, that never even occurred to me.’ And I love Machine Head.

“The timing was great because I contacted him two days after he quit Machine Head, so he was available, and he was able to come out early and watch our tour before Gary flew home. So Phil got the tempo of the show and played along on the sidelines, and then he played our last four shows. When he was out there, he made sure I knew he wanted to be part of my future. I kept that in the back of my mind. When it was time to get a second guitarist, I called him up.”

Did you play all the rhythms on the album?

“I recorded everything since I wrote all the songs. It was easier that way. I recorded one track on the left and one on the right, but I used different guitars for different tracks so they would sound slightly different.

“In Slayer, when Jeff was still in the band and I did [the second track of guitar rhythms] on songs he wrote, I would use Jeff’s guitar. So, any nuances from his rig or his guitar would still come through, even though I was playing it.”

Jeff’s eerie, minor-key, tritone-filled licks and blinding chromatic riffs were Slayer trademarks. Did you try to write any parts in the style of Jeff to make From Hell I Rise sound more like Slayer, or is that overthinking the process?

“That’s overthinking things. It didn’t occur to me once to write like Jeff. This is me. But I played Jeff’s songs and he played my songs for so long that our styles became kind of integrated. A lot of people don’t realize that in the early days of Slayer, Jeff and I wrote a lot together.

“It was only after he moved a distance away that we each wrote our own stuff because the commute sucked and that made it harder to get together. The last song we wrote together was Disciple.”

Are you going to play any of Jeff’s songs on tour?

“Well, I’m going to play some Slayer songs, of course. Our set is gonna be over 45 minutes, and that’s all the material I got. So, I’m gonna concentrate on doing songs I wrote completely in Slayer, and songs I had a part in writing. I really don’t want people to say, ‘Oh, he was playing Jeff’s songs.’ If you give anybody a chance to complain about something, they will.”

Was there a point in the creative process when everything came together?

“I think it started really feeling like an album when I started getting vocals on it, ‘cause then you’ve got these full songs. The first time you play the riffs with drums, it starts to take shape. You get goosebumps and say, ‘Oh, I know what this is gonna sound like!’ And then whether I put Mark Osegueda’s vocals on it or mine which I did for a long time before we had Mark the song really starts to take shape.”

Phil Demmel has a different lead style from Gary Holt. Did you want Phil’s leads to sound like Gary’s or even Jeff’s?

“I wanted Phil to do his own leads, but he was very conscientious about what he played. A couple times, he said, ‘If that’s too melodic, I can change it.’ I’m like, ‘Dude, it’s your lead. I want you to be happy with it. You may not have been able to contribute to the songs, but I want you to be able to be proud of what you did and what you made up.’ And he killed it when he came in and played.”

Do you and Phil play together differently than you and Gary? What’s the chemistry like between you two?

“We play a little different, but it works. We did this harmony guitar part [for Crucifixation], which was fun. He said, ‘I may have just the part for a double lead, if you’re into it?’ He wasn’t sure I’d want to hear it because he didn’t know how totalitarian I wanted to be about it. But I’m like, ‘Dude, I’m into hearing anything.’

“I firmly believe that if there are ideas out there and you don’t hear them you might be missing out on the best song ever. So he showed me what he was doing, and I’m like, ‘Fuck, yeah. Show me how to do it and I’ll play it.’ And that’s what you hear.

“I plan on doing more stuff like that with him. I wanted us to do a really fast back-and-forth Slayer-style thing like on Angel of Death. ‘You make noise, I’ll make noise, then vice-versa.’ It didn’t happen, but maybe next time.”

Did you pre-write your leads or improvise them like you often did with Slayer?

“I went out of my way for my leads, and I actually had time to construct them. I wasn’t finishing up lyrics and coaching Tom [Araya], like in the past [with Slayer]. I’d say at least 80 percent of my leads and fills were thought out. A lot of them are structured, but I still had my whammy sections where I fuck off and do what I do.

“When we finished the record, I realized I had so many more leads than Phil. I wanted it to be more 50/50, but I counted mine and I did 18. The last one was for Tension, and I actually made that up in my hotel room while we were recording, but it’s one of my favorites. It’s super complete. It fits that section and matches the mood of the song. Phil really complimented me. He said these are the best leads I’ve ever done.”

As a lead guitarist, are you well-versed in scales?

“[Laughs] I know major and minor. That’s about it. And whatever I do in between is usually minor because that’s what sounds wickedest. Then there’s, ‘Fuck the scales. Let’s just make crazy-ass whammy noises on this one’ ’cause that’s part of the Slayer sound.”

There were rumors your new band was going to be called KFK. You mentioned you considered Blood Rain and King’s Reign, but there were trademark issues. Why didn’t you want to put this out as a solo album from the get-go?

“I never wanted to reference my name at all. I’m not a vain person. And anybody that knows me knows that. I wanted this to be a band, not a solo project. At the end of the day, could I have bought the trademark for Blood Reign or King’s Rain? Yeah, probably.

“But the festivals I was booked for in May were getting announced, and we had to go with something. So we used my name. The logo with the two “K”s (one forward, one backward) worked with the [inverted] cross that I wanted in the logo.

“I’m still thinking about changing it, but if we get too much further down the road, that window’s gonna shut. I don’t know. My wife always tells me to use KFK. Somebody else will say, ‘Kerry King is cool!’ And I love the logo. So, it’s being seen right now as Kerry King with the logo. I would like to keep the logo, but with a band name. But every time I come up with something, no matter how obscure I think it is, it’s taken. That goes for the album title, too.”

What other record names were you considering?

“Originally, I thought of From Hell I Rise. Then I wrote Idle Hands, and I’m like, ‘Oh, Idle Hands. That’s a good name for the record.’ Then I wrote Crucifixation. I’m like, ‘Dude, this song’s fucked up. I love it. Let’s call it Crucifixation. I looked online and there’s eight other uses of Crucifixation. And I went, ‘Son of a bitch, man!’ I thought for sure. I made that one up. So we went back to From Hell I Rise.”

It’s clear that you wanted Slayer to continue making records and touring, but Tom wanted to spend more time with his family. So Slayer broke up pretty near the top of its game. The last New York show at Madison Square Garden was skull-rattling, and other gigs were equally powerful. How were you able to continue generating such ferocious energy, knowing that the band was about to break up?

“I always loved doing Slayer, so I cherished it up until the end. During the last 18 months, we hit every place that wanted us to come, so we could go there at least once. We were killing it in those last rounds, even Tom. He sounded so great. I went in and told him he sounded great. And he was polite and all. And, you know, there’s something to be said for going out on top. It’s like we were in the Super Bowl. I felt kind of like Peyton Manning. We went out on such a high note and then said, ‘Hey, we’re done.’”

Were you the first to find out Tom was leaving?

He told me about two years before the end, which was months before he told the other guys. We were at a photo session, and I turned to Tom and said, ‘Listen, dude. If you don’t tell these guys, I’m not gonna do the photo session because they deserve to know.’ That’s how they found out.

“I told both Paul and Gary, I said, ‘I got a spot for both of you in my next project.’ And then from that point on, it just kind of evolved into where it is now. Me and Gary never discussed him playing. We never discussed him not playing. It just kind of happened this way.”

When you saw how great the farewell shows were going, did you ever try to convince Tom to stay in the band? Or did he ever think about changing his mind along the way?

“I don’t think he thought of changing his mind along the way. I don’t know, because we didn’t talk much, and we never talked about that. I don’t think it would have been a bad idea because every day we’ve been away, I’ve missed Slayer.

“But if somebody’s come to a point where they don’t want to do something anymore, and you’re trying to talk ’em into it, it seems to me that there’s a really big chance you’re gonna get to the point where they’re just mailing it in. And I don’t want to be perceived as somebody that mailed it in.”

Did Tom ever get to that point?

“Not at the end. I remember, a long time ago I read a review where the writer said me and somebody else were on fire, but the other two mailed it in, and it bummed me out. I never wanted Slayer to be that. Tom just came to the point where he was done, and if we tried to keep going with no endpoint, we would have been setting ourselves up for failure. Even if we succeed in talking that guy into staying, to me, it just doesn’t have the chance to be as good.”

As bittersweet as it was to end Slayer, doing this solo album and having complete control of everything must be rewarding in its own way. You don’t have to negotiate with bandmates or play band politics.

“It’s refreshing. I never wanted it. It’s not something I needed musically. It’s not something I needed personally. Having it was super cool and super fun, and working with new people was super fun. This is the first record I haven’t played bass on, probably, since the Nineties.”

Why did he stop playing bass guitar on the albums?

“We would always let Tom play bass until he got tired of not being good at it. In Tom’s defense, up to that point, he had never played the songs. It was always just me and Paul going through ’em. And then we get in the studio, it’s time to record. I think Tom’s got it in his head that he’s gonna be able to pull it off. But for anybody that’s never played a song before, to come in without knowing the music and get it up to recording level is not realistic.

“So, if I’ve already done my guitar tracks, Jeff’s done his guitar tracks, And Tom doesn’t know the bass parts, I can pick up a bass and get it done in less than a day ’cause I already know the songs. It got to where he’d mess around and play one song for eight hours before he got frustrated and just said, ‘Here, you do it!’ I don’t want anybody to think for a second that he couldn’t do it if he had the time to learn it.”

Hellyeah bassist Kyle Sanders played bass on the album. How did you know him, and was it a relief to have someone else playing bass in the studio for your songs?

“I was good friends with Dime and Vinnie. We played with Hellyeah in 2015, then we hung out with Kyle, and he was cool. I didn’t know I was gonna need a band then, but he’s the only bassist that came to mind. Had he been busy or couldn’t have done it, I could have come up with number two, but it never got that far.

“I sent Kyle four songs, and he sent them back two days later with his bass parts. I went, ‘Hmm, that’s never happened in my life.’ And he’s a real bassist so he came up with stuff I probably wouldn’t have thought of. So, it was cool.”

Some people mellow with age. You’re not trashing hotels anymore, but it doesn’t seem like the fire within has cooled. Are you still as angry as you were in the Nineties?

“Man, I don’t feel any different than when I was 18. I’ve always had music to cope with anger. But I just think being alive in this stupid world we’re living in that gives you enough fury for 10 lifetimes. I’m not gonna talk politics because I’m not into that. But there’s so much that’s fucked up about the world today.”

Slayer were a gateway to death metal for tons of bands. Were you a fan of Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse? And did you ever think of taking a toe-dip into the murky swamp of extreme metal?

“Do I feel like we were a stepping stone to that? Absolutely. Fuck, yeah! But it’s not my forte. I think where we teeter is on the fine line between thrash and death metal. And that’s as far as we want to go. I mean, are they edgier? Maybe. Are they doomier? Probably.

“A lot of bands have been influenced by our music and taken it to where they want to be, and that’s fine. I don’t want to be heavier. I don’t want to be faster. I don’t want to have more growly vocals. I love what we’ve done. And I want to keep doing it with my new band.”

• From Hell I Rise is out now via Reigning Phoenix.

It might have been a coincidence, or maybe an evil act of fate. But a major volatile career move put Phil Demmel in the front of the line to be the second guitarist for Kerry King, a gig Demmel now proudly holds.

In September 2018, following a 15-year tenure with Machine Head, Demmel quit the band – and lost the paycheck it provided – due to personal differences with frontman Robb Flynn.

Two days later, he got a call from Kerry King, who told him that guitarist Gary Holt had to drop off the Slayer tour due to a family emergency and asked Demmel if he could fly to Europe on short notice to play some shows.

“The timing happened to be good, and I think me stepping into the Slayer situation and learning 19 songs on the flight over to Europe made a good impression on Kerry and helped me when it came time for him to bring on a second guitarist in his new band,” Demmel says.

Demmel didn’t track any of the rhythm parts with King for From Hell I Rise, but he worked hard on leads; when it was time for him to record, he popped into the studio with King and producer Josh Wilbur and recorded around 10 solos and transition licks in three hours.

That’s not much of a time expenditure, for sure, but he was so well prepared that he didn’t need any longer. Demmel wrote all of his leads at home and ensured they complimented King’s songs before entering the studio.

“I wanted to make the string bends sound good with the rhythms, so I’ve been working a lot on my left-hand technique to make sure the bends and tremolo parts are in key,” Demmel says.

“With this record, I wanted to make my signature sound a part of the songs and have that go hand-in-hand with the vibe of the music. I wanted my playing to stand out but also blend in well with what Kerry did.”

Kerry said you were persistent about playing in his new band.

“Let’s just say I made myself available. In 2018, I was poking around – ‘Hey, what are you doing next? What’ve you got going on after this?’ And he told me that he and Paul were gonna continue, probably with Gary [Holt], but he hadn’t made much of it. So, when I announced that I quit Machine Head, he texted me that day or the next day and said, ‘Ah, that’s why you were asking.’ And I told him, ‘Yeah, I’m available and would be up for whatever you want to do next.’”

Did he get back to you right away with an offer?

“No. I filled in [live] for Gary in September for a few dates. Kerry got back to me in December and still kind of thought he was going to go forward with Gary. But then things changed. I don’t think he and Gary had any sort of fight or anything, I just think that Exodus is Gary’s baby and this would be Kerry’s thing.”

When did Kerry ask you to join him for the album and tour?

“I was in limbo for a good eight months after we talked. Then, on the opening night of football for the Raiders, we were at the Monday-night game. We went to celebrate afterwards, and that’s when he said, ‘So, this is what I’m thinking.’ He let me know that night.”

Are you looking forward to playing Slayer songs on tour?

“Fuck, yeah. I love Slayer. I went to the last show at the Forum in California. By then, I knew I was gonna be playing in his band. I had this crazy, surreal moment of watching Slayer from the front of house with [actor] Jason Momoa and Scott Ian and his family, and all these other celebrities.

“I was talking with Scott, and Slayer were going into Angel of Death. And I said, ‘Oh, my God. This is my last chance to pit for Slayer!’ Scotty says, ‘You gotta do it!’ So I went in and made some rounds in the pit with my reading glasses on my head the whole time. Such an old man thing to do!”

What were the first new songs you heard from Kerry?

“I heard some of the demos. Crucifixation was one of them – and I also heard “From Hell I Rise.” This was before [Death Angel singer] Mark [Osegueda] did vocals, so it was Kerry singing on the songs. And I could really tell from his vocal inflections that he was really instrumental in the vocal approach for a lot of the Slayer stuff and even with Tom’s vocals.

“For obvious reasons, Kerry didn’t want to send any of the songs out and was pretty tight-lipped about sharing stuff. So he played a lot of the songs to me over his phone. By the time I got the music to record on, the rhythms were all done.”

How did you approach your leads for From Hell I Rise?

“I recorded stuff at my home studio and sent it back to him. My solo style is obviously different from Jeff Hanneman and from what Gary had been doing. So I wanted to make sure he was gonna be okay with that.

“What I’m doing is a little more melodic than what you’re used to hearing from Kerry’s music, but he was totally on board with it. I was glad about that because I wanted to stray away from all the brutal music and add a little dynamic to it with these more melodic lines.”

Did you pre-write your leads or improvise them in the studio and then string them together?

“My leads were all planned out. I played through them and pieced them together at home. A lot of my stuff in Machine Head was thrown together in the studio. I wanted this to be a lot more structured.

“I wanted to get to the point where I could play my leads in one pass to make all the feelings and all the transitions natural. So I played my leads for months. We tried a couple things spontaneously, but for the most part, they were ready to go.”

Did you cater your playing style to fit into the Kerry King mold?

“No, but I wasn’t confident about it right away because in Machine Head, I couldn’t write riffs that sounded like Machine Head until I was in the band. But I quickly found that with Kerry, I can write in my style and it works with the songs.”

You finished the album a year ago. Was it frustrating to wait this long for it to finally come out? And have you contributed to any of the songs for the next Kerry King album?

“It’s funny because the album is almost out and we did a photo shoot for it a little while ago, and that was only the second time all five of us had been in the same room together. We haven’t jammed as a five-piece yet. But I have new material. When I was writing for Vio-Lence, Kerry said, 'Well, save some of your good stuff for me,' so he’s open to hearing material from me.”

Do you think you’ll be more involved in the songwriting process for the next Kerry King album?

“I’d like to be, but he’s pretty prolific and he gets his stuff done fast. So we’ll see what happens. We’ve yet to play a show together, and the second album will probably already be done by the time we do so, which is fine. I have outlets for my music to go. We’ll see how much I can be involved when the next record comes around.”

What’s the hardest thing about learning the rhythm guitar parts for Kerry King?

“There’s a lot of triplet picking, and some gallops that I want to make sure I’m playing exactly like Kerry does. I’ve had to dissect a couple little tricky things. Tension is in 6/8, so there’s a lot of counting going on, but it’s really a matter of learning to speak that language again. When I was learning those 19 Slayer songs on the plane to Germany, I had to do the same thing.

“It’s kind of the Rosetta Stone language-learning immersion that I’ve adapted to learn all this stuff. That’s how it’s been with a lot of the bands I’ve played with. They have their language, and once you start to understand where they go with certain things – I call them conjunctions, how they put them together and how the transition segues work – then you’re that much closer to getting it down.”

• From Hell I Rise is out now via Raging Phoenix Music America.

Over the decades, Kerry King has been endorsed by B.C. Rich, ESP and now Dean. As much as he has always loved the company’s guitars, he wasn’t ready to work with them when they first approached him shortly after the death of former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell.

“I was friends with a lot of the Dean people, even though I didn’t use their guitars ’cause Dime was there, and he and I were good friends,” King says.

“When Dime unfortunately left us, Dean wanted me the next day. They needed a new guy. I had a great deal with B.C. Rich, and Dean didn’t want to match it. I’m like, ‘Why am I leaving if you’re not gonna match my deal?’ So I stayed with B.C. Rich until almost the end of the Slayer run.”

That’s when Dean made King an offer he couldn’t refuse, and, just in time for his musical rebirth as Kerry King, he was adopted by a new guitar company.

“That’s my new family now,” he says. “I’ve only used Dean onstage for about a month, so it’s still very new to me. But I did the new album with Dean guitars. I knew the owner’s dad [Elliott Rubinson] before he passed away, and now I’m really tight with everyone over there. And I’m super loyal. If you don’t give me a reason to leave, I won’t.”

To date, Dean has created two signature guitars for King, the USA Kerry King V (limited edition 50 PC) and the USA Kerry King Overlord Battalion Grey, and there’s more to come. Below, King discusses the particulars of his Dean guitars and how he landed his past endorsement deals.

Your first B.C. Rich was a Mockingbird. Was that before you were endorsed?

“Yeah, we certainly weren’t made of money back then. My dad was my sponsor for a while. He would live vicariously through me. He played a little bit of guitar, so he would scour the free newspaper, The Recycler, ’cause everyone would put guitars, amps, all kinds of shit in there.

“He found a B.C. Rich Mockingbird. I didn’t even know what a B.C. Rich was. He took me to see it, and I didn’t have any idea what all the switches were for, but I’m like, ‘If I can’t make a cool sound with all these switches, there’s gotta be something fucking wrong with me.’”

You’re playing the Mockingbird on the back of Slayer’s first album, 1983’s Show No Mercy.

“That guitar belonged to the Hard Rock Japan for a while. I donated it. And then when I got together with my wife of 21 years almost, she was like, ‘You should get that back.’ And I went, ‘Yeah, you’re kind of right.’ So I traded them another one for it. I got in contact with the manager of that Hard Rock, and he understood the situation. I offered him something else and he said, ‘Fine – it means more to you than it needs to be here.’”

That guitar led to your relationship with B.C. Rich. Didn’t they paint it red for you?

“That was back in the day when I didn’t know what strap locks were. We were at rehearsal, and I got underneath my strap with my thumb. The guitar undid itself, the head came down on the ground like a fucking guillotine and the headstock broke off.

“That was not a nice day, but it gave me my first introduction to the people at B.C. Rich, the Rico family. They put a truss rod and two other rods in it so it would never happen again – just in case I dropped it. I had them paint it red ’cause it was Koa. It still is Koa, but it’s a red Koa. Call me a dick now, but I didn’t think I wanted a natural guitar.”

Did that lead to your first endorsement?

“The second B.C. Rich I got, or that anyone saw, was the black Warlock I played in the early days. I think the Mockingbird sounded better, but the Warlock looked cool for what I was trying to portray. The B.C. Rich factory was only about 20 minutes from my parents’ house, so I would go to the factory five days a week, just drooling and checking shit out. One day the public-relations guy said, ‘Hey, we want to give you this guitar.’ It might have been a Bich.

“I was maybe 20. I looked at him and said, “Why?” It didn’t occur to me that companies endorse players and give them guitars. The guy showed me a stack of letters from people that wanted to play the guitars that I had, and I went, “Oh, wow.” So that’s how I got my first B.C. Rich deal.”

You stayed with B.C. Rich for a long time, endorsing guitars with various design elements and price points. They did a signature V for you when South of Heaven came out (1988), and you played the Bich, Ironbird and the Beast V. What brought you to ESP?

“That was right after we did Seasons in the Abyss [1990]. B.C. Rich leased their company to Class Axe, and Class Axe couldn’t make a neck-through-body guitar. I’m like, ‘Well, call me when you can.’ And they never did, so I went to ESP for about a decade. I was a fixture for them at NAMM during the ’90s.”

What brought you back to B.C. Rich?

“I was always friends with the Rico family, and when they got their lease back from Class Axe, they kept wanting me to come back to B.C. Rich. I was wary ’cause the way we broke up was not good. I had ordered a Mockingbird Supreme back then, which had cloud inlays and all the electronics.

“I had them make some sexy natural ones. They called me and said, ‘Hey, this guitar’s done, but we’re selling the company, so if you want it, you need to come buy it.’ And I said, ‘Fine, gimme ’til tomorrow.’ That guitar was gorgeous. They didn’t wait. They sold it to someone else, which was a bullshit move.”

How did they get you back?

“I was happy with ESP. They treated me well for a long time, and I’m still friends with the owner. And then one day, I finally decided to give B.C. Rich another chance. I said, ‘Alright; just so we’re sure, build me a guitar and if I like it, we’ll roll.’ I think that might have been the first V with the tribal paint job. So I went back over, and we went on that tribal offshoot for 20 years, with the fire backgrounds and the marble backgrounds. We got a lot of mileage out of that artwork.”

Did you feel like you got all that you could out of your relationship with B.C. Rich when you struck a deal with Dean?

“The Rico family was out of B.C. Rich again. They belonged to HHI. So it was corporate, and I have very strong times with family businesses. I was friends with the Marshall family. I was friends with the Rico family. And I was friends with a lot of Dean people, but I needed some shit changed because Dean was Dime’s label and me and Dime were tight – but I don’t like the guitars Dime played. A fucking headstock that looks like a baby guitar? I don’t need all that fucking real estate up there.

“So we made the headstock look like it’s got devil horns. I took what was reminiscent of my B.C. Rich headstock and combined them into something new that neither one can claim so nobody can say, ‘Oh, it looks like your B.C. Rich.” And that’s how I got my ‘V’ with the points at the edges – and the Overlord, which I put out last year.”

What other guitars are you working on with Dean?

“I’ve got a new A&R guy there. I said, ‘Okay, for the purists, let’s make – and nobody has seen this – a couple of classic ‘V’s for people that don’t like the points on my first Dean V. I had one made trans-black with a really classy inlay. It’s a conservative ‘V’ with teeth. It’s got an edge to it. The other new one I’ve got has this beautiful inlay on it that people will just have to see. I’ll have both of those when I go on tour.’”

• From Hell I Rise is out now via Reigning Phoenix Music America.

Kerry King’s no-nonsense approach to creating razor-sharp, life-affirming heavy metal has made him one of the world’s most influential players. His work in Slayer with co-guitarist the late Jeff Hanneman set the benchmark for a new kind of murderous noise – sounding thicker and angrier than anything before it.

As pioneers of thrash metal in the early ’80s alongside Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and a host of other speed-fuelled bands, Slayer would lay the groundwork for the varying waves of metal that followed.

When Slayer announced their retirement and played their final show in 2019, Kerry was certainly vocal about not being happy with the decision. “We quit too early,” he reflected. “I hate not playing.” But now he’s back on the horse and doing what he does best, writing riffs heavy enough to knock the earth off-axis to create From Hell I Rise – the debut offering from a new band under his own name. 

Before we get to the music, however, we need to address the elephant in the room. Only weeks after Kerry officially announced his comeback, Slayer were confirmed to be headlining US festivals later in the year. Few could have predicted things turning out like this, including the guitarist himself...

“It caught me off-guard, too!” he admits. “Do I wish the timing was different? Absolutely, but that’s completely out of my hands.”

Either way, don’t get your hopes up about a full-scale Slayer reunion. Kerry leaves no room for doubt in his explanation of where the band see themselves in 2024.

“Everyone thinks Slayer are getting back together but that couldn’t be further from the truth,” he says. “We’ve been turning down gigs ever since we stopped. This one came and I thought, ‘If we’re ever going to do one, this could be cool because it’s the five-year anniversary of our final tour.’

“We’re not going to record anymore. That final tour was definitely our final tour. This is just a reason to have some fun the guys, play a few shows and then jump back in the coffin…”

The other big news is your new partnership with Dean. It came as a surprise, given how loyal you’ve been to B.C. Rich since Slayer’s earliest days…

“With any of the companies I’m with, I’m super-loyal, and I’d become friends with all my B.C. reps. But the company got sold to people who didn’t have the same agenda. It was time for me to get out.”

Do you still favour a Sustainiac in the neck and an EMG 81, with a PA2 Preamp Booster, in the bridge?

“The boost is a carryover from the way I’ve been playing for the last 20 years or so. It’s just comfortable for me to have it there. If there’s a funny-sounding stage or a situation where I need an extra kick, I’ll use that preamp boost. I was using it for my leads but now I’ll kick in my MXR Zakk Wylde Overdrive.”

You’ve been a Marshall diehard over the years. Is that what we’re hearing on the new album?

“Yeah, I used my signature ‘Beast’ Marshall heads which come with a built-in thing called the Assault, based on my signature MXR 10-band Graphic EQ parameters. They just put it into a knob where you could get more or less of it, working like an overdrive. And for serious gain, it has a noise gate.

“I like the way they sound going through Marshall Mode Four cabinets – there’s a lot of low-end girth. The heads sound different going through a regular 1960 cab. When I was doubling, I would change guitars and heads, just for variety.”

Digital gear, particularly plugins, has really taken off since you last released an album. We can’t imagine you plugging into a laptop because of the lack of air moving, but have you ever tried it?

“When we did the last Slayer album, Gary Holt was using his Kemper for the solos. Phil Demmel, who is playing with me in this new band, used something digital on this album.

“I don’t know what it was. I haven’t been pushed to the point of trying that stuff. Like you said, I want air moving. Is it more difficult towing real amps from country to country? Abso-fucking-lutely. But I haven’t found anything to match that. And if it ain’t broke…”

What do you look for in a riff? Is there anything you tend to rely on?

“One thing that sticks out is my choice of chords and rhythmic patterns. I attribute a lot of that to Judas Priest, because they would write riffs that went from A to F and C, with icing here and there. And I think my go-to is more like E to F and G, or maybe G#. That idea turns up in most of my riffs. I don’t try to change that, it’s just where I end up.

“I probably base too many songs on that kind of progression, but most people probably don’t notice! There are no shocks on this album. I like bands to stay true to the sound that works. I’m happy that AC/DC have been making the same record for 50 years. That’s why I like them!”

Crucifixation is one of the faster tracks. How did that come about?

“Yeah, it’s pretty quick. The one that gave me the most trouble, which has actually been around since the last Slayer album, is the title track. If you’re not warmed up, you’re not getting anywhere near that opening riff.”

How exactly does one master the skill, though?

“It’s like anything. If you want to bench press 200lbs, you start at 80. If you don’t like practising, get a song that’s in the BPM range of where you need to start off, play along and then bump it in increments of 10 until you get to there. You should concentrate on performing with articulation at whatever speed it is – full notes played clean.”

Crucifixation also has a harmonised riff using 5th intervals. You’ve done this a lot in the past to exaggerate the eerie quality to your riffs…

“I always forget what the intervals are. I never talk shop. I always say, ‘This is four frets up, the next is five and the final one is seven!’ There are so many things we’ve harmonised in the past. I try to present it in ways that are familiar to fans, and ways that aren’t as familiar. There are tons of ways to go about it. Find the harmony you like and stick with it!”

Idle Hands was the first single. Kirk Hammett referred to Phil Demmel’s lead as the best solo he’s heard this year – high praise, indeed!

“Anytime Kirk’s got something to say, you should listen. He doesn’t have praise for a lot of things – that’s not to say he doesn’t like them, he just doesn’t freak out about them. He texted me after Idle Hands came out and was raving about the leads. Phil is very well-rehearsed. He comes from a killer pedigree. I think he knew that would be the first single, so he attacked it in a way that would stand out.”

It’s an interesting balance – you’ve described your sound to us as archaic and atonal, while Phil has more melodic influences. Together that creates a really wide sonic picture…

“I remember him sending back lead ideas saying, ‘I don’t know if this is too melodic?’ and I’d say, ‘This is your record, if this is what you are happy with – unless it makes me throw up – I don’t care!’ I wanted him to be proud.

“This band wasn’t called Kerry King originally, and even though that’s what we’re called now, I still don’t look at it like a solo project. Other people might, but whatever. Phil brought a far more melodic approach and I think we play off each other well.”

Even the slower leads, like Trophies Of The Tyrant, seem to follow their own rules. They can be hard to predict, almost like jazz!

“I’m very good at not following rules, especially as I don’t know what all the rules are! That song definitely has some wide-open notes that cascade down the neck. I was picking out notes that worked with the chords behind them.”

But do you ever find yourself listening to jazz?

“I hit a jazz bar in the city once and want to go more. I was bummed they didn’t have a guitarist that day, as that’s what I was hoping to check out. So I’ll definitely be back. So yeah, I like that stuff, I like classical. Me and my wife hit the opera six or seven times a season and take it all in.”

Two Fists has some almost classic rock-sounding moments.

“I know the part you mean – it sounds like me trying to write a KISS riff! I wanted it to sound like a song from an ’80s punk band. Musically and lyrically, I wanted to convey punk thoughts.

“Punk was a big influence on Slayer. We had the doom from Sabbath, the angst from punk, the polish of Priest and Maiden… take that, throw it into a cocktail shaker and it would spew out Slayer!

“On the song Shrapnel I actually wanted to have the wide-openness of Scorpions’ Animal Magnetism crossed with the beginning of [Slayer classic] Hell Awaits.”

Jeff Hanneman was known for being more on the punk side in Slayer while you were the card-carrying metal maniac. Together you birthed a new sound that would go on to rule the world…

“He’d been listening to metal for so long, he became tired of it. When he played punk to us, I didn’t understand it. After years, it started to click. I realised it was cool in a different way. Things didn’t have to be polished to sound angry and raunchy. As time wore on, I became more of a punk guy than Jeff! It helped lay the groundwork for what we’d go on to become.”

You learned on your dad’s Gibson ES-175. It’s hard to picture you with a jazz box like that!

“I’d forgotten about that! It was a fat Ted Nugent guitar. It was a big guitar for me as a teenager, but looking back now after playing guitar for so many years, it was fun. My dad also had a couple of ES-335s. There was a Tobacco Sunburst one that was nice.

“The ES-175 was in a Blonde finish. It had the f-holes and worked nicely as an acoustic when not plugged in. It was a quality instrument to learn on. Without my dad, who knows what kind of tree trunk I would’ve had.”

Given the amount of gain you use, there’s no chance of you stepping on stage with one of those…

“And that picture would break the internet!”

You also played a Strat in those formative years…

“Yeah, my dad had a 1963 L-Series Strat, which apparently is a big deal. I’m not a big collector, but from what I understand that would be an expensive guitar these days. I played that enough for me realise I was definitely not a single-coil guy. I immediately knew I preferred humbuckers. Even though I love Ritchie Blackmore, single-coils are not for me.

“After that is when I got introduced to the B.C. Rich Mockingbird. Jeff had the B.C. Rich Bich, though he played a black Les Paul on the debut.”

What are the most valuable instruments we’d find in your house, then?

“I’ve still got the Mockingbird in my house. I don’t know if I’ll ever part ways with it, but I do find myself looking at my gear wondering, ‘Why do I have all this stuff?’ Maybe it would be good to make these things available for proper collectors.

“I’ve still got my first V from B.C. Rich and the one-of-a-kind doubleneck V that I used on Spill The Blood [from 1988’s South Of Heaven]. I keep about 10 guitars at home, another 25 in storage and then another 20 in the band storage. And there are more in Hard Rock Cafes and Hotels around the world…”

So you’ve never thought about becoming a serious vintage collector like Joe Bonamassa?

“Knowing me, I’d have too many and spend too much doing it! If there was one special guitar I’d consider, maybe it would be something Ritchie Blackmore played or Judas Priest used. I’d love something like that.”

Well, no-one is expecting to see you with a Tele anytime soon.

“I’ll leave that to John 5. He plays them well!”

• From Hell I Rise is out now on Reigning Phoenix.

The old adage “never meet your heroes” usually rings true. However, for Mastodon's Bill Kelliher, meeting guitar heroes like Metallica's James Hetfield and Slayer's Kerry King were key moments in his career that pushed him to improve his guitar playing. 

“It was funny when I first met Hetfield, who's been an idol of mine. It was in Portugal or some big festival we were doing, and I shook his hand,” Kelliher says on The Rockman Power Hour podcast. “I was like, ‘Thank you for teaching me how to play guitar.’ And he was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘Like, you know what I'm talking about. You paved the way for me.’”

Meeting Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo was another surreal moment for Kelliher. “When I met Kirk and Robert, they were walking around together and they saw me, and they came running over and they're like, ‘Hey, man, what's up? Can we get a picture with you?’ I was like, this is a joke. Like, I should get pictures. Yeah, you guys are Metallica. I'm just fucking Bill from Mastodon. That's awesome. It was wild.”

Rubbing shoulders with his heroes was also important for Kelliher to realize that he needed to take his instrument more seriously. One incident, in particular, served as a true wake-up call. 

“Watching Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman warm up before a show and I'm walking around drinking a beer. ‘What are you guys warming up for? Know your fucking songs,’” he recalls. 

“And then I realized there's something to this. I started practicing guitar way, way fucking more. I was like 'You're a guitar player. You're in this really big fucking band. You should be better, like you should spend your time not drinking and playing more guitar. Get better at your craft.’”

Kelliher has previously spoken about his experiences meeting Metallica and their diligent practice routine. In a 2021 interview with Guitar World, he recalled, “Metallica practiced for three hours a night before playing onstage for another two. Meanwhile, we were sitting around drinking beer and picking our noses!”

Mastodon will be heading out on a co-headline tour with Lamb of God this July. The co-headline tour celebrates the 20th anniversary of the two band's 2004 albums Leviathan and Ashes of The Wake respectively. The tour kicks off on July 19 at Grand Prairie, Texas, with Kerry King supporting on select shows. 

Kerry King is perhaps best associated with the Dean and B.C. Rich electric guitars he has brandished throughout his career. However, this wasn't always the case. He actually kickstarted his guitar journey by playing his dad's Gibson ES-175, a hollow body guitar known as the workhorse of jazz guitars.

“It was a fat Ted Nugent guitar,” King reveals in an interview with Total Guitar. “It was a big guitar for me as a teenager, but looking back now after playing guitar for so many years, it was fun.

“My dad also had a couple of ES-335s. There was a Tobacco Sunburst one that was nice. The ES-175 was in a Blonde finish. It had the f-holes and worked nicely as an acoustic when not plugged in. It was a quality instrument to learn on. Without my dad, who knows what kind of tree trunk I would’ve had.”

In addition to these Gibson ES guitars, King also used a Strat during these formative years. "My dad had a 1963 L-Series Strat, which apparently is a big deal. I’m not a big collector, but from what I understand that would be an expensive guitar these days. I played that enough for me realise I was definitely not a single-coil guy. I immediately knew I preferred humbuckers."

His upcoming album takes a page out of his jazz guitar roots, with tracks like Trophies Of The Tyrant seemingly following their own rules in an almost jazz-like manner. “I’m very good at not following rules, especially as I don’t know what all the rules are! That song definitely has some wide-open notes that cascade down the neck. I was picking out notes that worked with the chords behind them.”

From Hell I Rise, Kerry King's newest album, drops on May 17. It comes amid Slayer's announcement of their upcoming reunion shows, just five years after the band played the last concert of what was supposed to be their farewell tour.

Elsewhere in this interview, King clarifies where he and the band stand, “We’ve been turning down gigs ever since we stopped. This one came and I thought, ‘If we’re ever going to do one, this could be cool because it’s the five-year anniversary of our final tour.’ We’re not going to record anymore.”

Slayer's Kerry King is certainly no stranger to light-speed trash metal riffing. It's undoubtedly one of the signifying features of his guitar playing. So how does the king of speed manage to play that fast?

In the latest issue of Total Guitar, King imparts his speed riffing wisdom: “It’s like anything. If you want to bench press 200lbs, you start at 80. If you don’t like practicing, get a song that’s in the BPM range of where you need to start off, play along and then bump it in increments of 10 until you get to there. You should concentrate on performing with articulation at whatever speed it is – full notes played clean.”

King also talks about the elements he looks out for when he's writing a new riff: “One thing that sticks out is my choice of chords and rhythmic patterns. I attribute a lot of that to Judas Priest, because they would write riffs that went from A to F and C, with icing here and there. And I think my go-to is more like E to F and G, or maybe G#. 

“That idea turns up in most of my riffs. I don’t try to change that, it’s just where I end up. I probably base too many songs on that kind of progression, but most people probably don’t notice!”

Kerry King is set to release his debut solo album, From Hell I Rise, on May 17. Alongside King, the album features Death Angel's Mark Osegueda on vocals, Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph, Hellyeah bassist Kyle Sanders, and ex-Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel. 

“There are no shocks on this album,” reveals King. “I like bands to stay true to the sound that works. I’m happy that AC/DC have been making the same record for 50 years. That’s why I like them!”

For more Kerry King, plus new interviews with Slash and St.Vincent, pick up issue 384 of Total Guitar at Magazines Direct.

NAMM 2023: Dean USA’s Custom Shop has been busy in the metal mines crafting a new signature guitar for thrash legend Kerry King. The Overlord is the brand’s second collaboration with the Slayer guitarist and features a wealth of high-end components and custom appointments. 

The electric guitar build is based around a viciously carved mahogany body and maple top, complete with set-thru neck of three-piece maple. It has a 24 3/4” scale-length, C-shaped neck profile that has been developed to King’s personal specifications.

On it you’ll find an ebony fingerboard, 24 jumbo frets and LED fret markers, which offer a little light in the darkness. The fretboard is also inlaid with custom pearl inlays, featuring the Slayer crucifix logo.

The custom features don’t end with the carves and decoration, though. The electronics on the Overlord are also pretty unique, with an idiosyncratic pairing of a Sustainiac neck pickup and, at the bridge, an EMG 81, paired with a PA2 preamp booster.

Many guitarists will be familiar with concept of the Sustainiac – a pickup system that uses a toggle switch to kick in near-infinite sustain. However, the PA2 Booster is less well known. An EMG invention, the PA2 adds a tiny preamp to the circuit (concealed underneath a toggleswitch) that adds up to 20dB of boost to the signal. 

This means the Overlord features no fewer than four toggle switches – two for the Sustainiac, one for the PA2 and the fourth being a relatively simple three-position pickup selector. These are augmented by single volume and tone pots.

On the hardware front, King has spec’d his own Kahler KFK Tremolo system, which makes sense given it’s his signature model (yes, people have signature tremolos nowadays), and there are Grover 18:1 ratio locking tuners. It even comes loaded with King’s signature Dunlop string set.

The price for all this high-end hijink-ery is $6,499 and that includes a hardcase, which is probably a good thing, because those spikes would be murder on your gigbag.

For more information on the USA Custom Shop Kerry King Signature Overlord, head to Dean.

In a sprawling new interview with Metal Hammer, Slayer guitarist Kerry King dives deep on his illustrious career, touching on his early days in the California thrash metal scene, and even the time he contributed a guitar solo to a song by Canadian punk rock vets Sum 41.

In the conversation, King piles praise upon Dave Mustaine, frontman of another quarter of the Big Four, Megadeth, calling him a “fucking great guitar player”.

Recalling Mustaine’s time with Metallica in the early ‘80s, King says: “They were great at that point. They were ahead of us by at least 16 months to a year. They were doing originals and we were still doing covers. 

“I think we opened for Metallica with Mustaine, I can’t recall, but I know me and Dave [Lombardo, Slayer drummer] definitely saw them in a club and we were blown away by Mustaine.”

Now, Mustaine has offered a wholesome response to King’s comments on social media. “It’s not every day one of the most fearsome guitarists in the world gives you a compliment like this,” he says. “Thank you Kerry, I look forward to hearing your new stuff and we should definitely go out together.”

It’s pleasant to see the pair of metal guitar legends getting along once again. For a time, the duo had an acrimonious relationship following their 1991 Clash of the Titans co-headline tour, primarily over who came up with the idea for the trek.

In a 2005 interview with Metal Edge magazine, King responded to negative comments Mustaine made in the press about him, saying: “Somebody asked me recently, ‘What do you have to say about Mustaine ragging on you?’ You know, it don’t matter, because if you let Mustaine talk long enough, he’ll bury himself.

“It has nothing to do with me – ask anybody in the biz about Dave Mustaine. If they have an opinion, he’s a cocksucker. I take it for what it is. I have no vendetta against him.”

Things between the pair have sweetened over the years, though. In the August 2022 issue of Guitar World, Mustaine detailed how he’d like the Big Four to work together again someday.

“I sometimes think how much better things would have been if we would’ve all tried a little bit more within The Big Four,” he said.

“The four of us still have so much authority and power and we could do so many great things. It would be great if we could get together and have a meeting of the minds as these four figureheads – the metal Mount Rushmore – and think of something special we could do to really benefit young bands and musicians and artists.”

Read the full Kerry King interview in the new issue of Metal Hammer, available via Magazines Direct.

Responsible for some of the most vicious guitar riffs ever conceived, you’d be forgiven for thinking Kerry King exclusively channels his six-string prowess into the metal genre.

You might be surprised, then, to find out that the hulking Slayer man once contributed a solo to a song by Ontario, Canada punk rockers, Sum 41. That song was the upbeat, powerchord-driven What We’re All About, the group’s 2002 single for the soundtrack of Spider-Man, released in the same year.

As King explains in a new interview with Metal Hammer, he had turned down the opportunity to play electric guitar on the track “10 times”, but ultimately agreed to do it at the request of his record label at the time.

“A friend of mine at the label came to me at an angle that I just couldn’t argue with,” the guitarist recalls. “He was like, ‘Well, you know you played on the Beastie Boys record [1987’s No Sleep Till Brooklyn].’ Fuck! Haha, he’s got a point! That was my epiphany. That was before we put ourselves back on the map – those dudes were fun and they were popping.

“So, yeah, I played on the Beastie Boys record and I played on the Sum 41 record. I mean, those weren’t choices for me, those were just career choices I made. Some people may agree with them and some people may not.”

Elsewhere in the interview, King recalls his anger when the idea to call Slayer quits first surfaced.

“It was premature,” he says. “The reason I say ‘premature’ is because my heroes from my childhood are still playing! I can still play, I still want to play, but that livelihood got taken away from me. But anyway, on to the next chapter, I guess. 

“We were on top of the world, it’s a good way to go out. So, bravo for that. But do I miss playing? Yeah, absolutely.”

He adds that “every one of those shows” on Slayer’s farewell tour was a “bummer”.

“We were going to all these places and all these cities where we have all this history. We probably have as much history in London as we do LA… well, not LA, but you know what I mean. It’s a bummer to think, ‘I’m not gonna see my friends there again.’

“You’d get to that country and know you were going to see these people, and you’d see them yearly. I haven’t seen them now in three years! That sucks! And the fans, too. Slayer means a lot to our fans, and they mean a lot to us. I know I will see these people again, but no Slayer leaves a big hole for a lot of people.”

Read the full interview with Kerry King in the new issue of Metal Hammer.

Hardcore band and supergroup Dead Cross will auction off two custom Fender guitars in aid of suicide prevention and reproductive rights charities. 

The two Fender Player Lead III instruments come in black and beige and feature custom Dead Cross decals, courtesy of The Black Moon Design (who’s previous clients include Dead Cross’ label Ipecac Records, alongside Bad Religion and The Locust). 

The Fender Player Lead III is a 2020 reissue of a 1982 model that is often mistaken for a Strat, but features a more compact body shape, HH pickup configuration and coil-split toggle-switch.

Dead Cross – consisting of Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton, guitarist Michael Crain (Retox), bassist Justin Pearson (the Locust, Head Wound City and Retox) and drummer Dave Lombardo (Slayer, Mr. Bungle and Fantômas) – say they were motivated to create the auction after their friend and one-time bandmate Gabe Serbian passed away back in April. 

“In light of the recent loss of our ex-bandmate, comrade, brother, and all around amazing person Gabe Serbian, Ipecac Recordings and Three One G will donate all proceeds from the beige guitar to help suicide prevention awareness,” Dead Cross explain. 

“All proceeds from the black guitar will go to help fight laws that do not promote the health and safety of individuals in relation to bodily autonomy.”

As such, funds raised from the sales will go towards the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (San Diego chapter) and The Satanic Temple’s Religious Reproductive Rights Campaign, respectively. Fans can make bids on the instruments by heading to the Dead Cross guitars Rally Up auction page. 

Dead Cross have recently released a new single, Christian Missile Crisis. The third taster of forthcoming album II (due October 28), the song sets it sights on US gun laws, among other themes, as bassist Pearson, explains: 

“Christian Missile Crisis takes an obvious jab at organized religion, NRA-holes who clearly compensate for their lack of masculinity by fixating on gun ownership and gun ‘rights,’” says Pearson. 

“And the fact that a large enough amount of Americans have the inability to negotiate peace and prefer oppressing others.”

You can check out the full tracklist and artwork for II below.

II tracklist

1. Love Without Love
2. Animal Espionage
3. Heart Reformer
4. Strong and Wrong
5. Ants and Dragons
6. Nightclub Canary
7. Christian Missile Crisis
8. Reign of Error
9. Imposter Syndrome

Pre-order and pre-save Dead Cross II

During the last part of Gary Holt’s tenure as Slayer’s second guitarist, he sometimes felt like he was neglecting his main band, Exodus. 

As honored as he was to be in Slayer, a group he had loved since their first album, 1983’s Show No Mercy, he wished he had more time to spend with Exodus, the group he had played with since high school and for which he assumed the primary songwriter role after Kirk Hammett left in 1983 to join Metallica.

While Holt wrote and played on all of Exodus’ 2014 studio album Blood In, Blood Out, he couldn’t completely dedicate himself to the group. He missed shows that coincided with Slayer gigs (Heathen’s Kragen Lum filled in on those tours). 

And, if Holt hadn’t been in Slayer for nearly nine years, Exodus likely would have released another album between Blood In, Blood Out and their new release, Persona Non Grata. 

There’s no question that Holt was a major asset to Slayer when they needed someone to fill in for the late Jeff Hanneman. But some fans and former members of Exodus argue that his years with Slayer jeopardized his main band.

“Slayer were great. They treated me like family from day one,” says Holt from his home in Northern California. “But, yeah, every day there were moments when I missed doing Exodus. The saving grace was that I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and then it would be all Exodus, all the time.

“Plus, I had the support of all my guys. And they had my support to do shows without me and tour regularly. But they’re my brothers and I couldn’t wait to be back. Two months after the Slayer tour ended, I was back on tour with Exodus. I barely even took a break.”

Holt’s hunger to return to Exodus shines through the jagged riff shards and crushing rhythms of Persona Non Grata. Rarely has he sounded as joyously entrenched in the band’s visceral mix of aggressive thrash, old-school metal, and deft, fluid leads. In Slayer, he was a hired hand.

In Exodus, his hands define every palm-muted chug, crystalline arpeggio, and tactical rhythm shift. With the exception of Slipping into Madness, which was written by second guitarist Lee Altus, Holt wrote the framework for every song on Persona Non Grata.

“I was so stoked to be doing another Exodus record,” Holt says. “I had no intention of doing anything that wasn’t 100 percent killer. We worked really hard on this album and I think it shows. There’s not one track I’m not totally happy with.”

Unlike the many bands halted in their tracks by the Covid epidemic, Exodus used their time in lockdown to tighten riffs, maximize dynamics and nail the solos. Holt was especially obsessive with his leads.

“When it’s time for me to do solos, I sometimes feel super-pressured, and like I’m running out of time because I’m doing so much,” he says from past album experience.

“I’m writing the music, finishing lyrics. I’m there for the drum tracking and then I’m laying down my guitars. I’m there to help Jack [Gibson] work on the bass, I’m working with [Steve] Zetro [Souza] on vocals. So when it comes time for me to do my leads, I feel like I haven’t had any time to work anything out, so I just improvise. This time I had the extra time to really work on my shit so I was super happy with all the solos.”

From a musical perspective, Holt has plenty of reasons to be thrilled with Persona Non Grata, an unrelenting barrage of fire, fury, shock and awe coupled with burrowing guitar earworms. 

Holt is even happier that Exodus overcame some harrowing health scares and personal issues some of the members faced between the time Persona Non Grata was finished and the day it came out. 

In an in-depth conversation, he discussed the creative process for Persona Non Grata, the one advantage of the Covid lockdown, drummer Tom Hunting’s battle with stomach cancer, his own struggle with alcohol, and how the new album marks a new beginning.

Exodus released Blood In, Blood Out in 2014, which was more than seven years ago. Did you write much of Persona Non Grata between then and the end of the Slayer tour?

“I’m always writing riffs, but I don’t get serious about it until it starts getting close to the time to start working on the next album. Toward the end of the Slayer run, I got more into writing mode. And then when Slayer ended their tour and [drummer] Tom [Hunting] and I got together in July 2020 things started taking shape.”

Did you and Tom work on songs on the fly or did you bring pre-written material into the writing sessions?

“Before we got together, I sent Tom a bunch of recordings of me riffing out on the voice recorder on my iPhone. Some of the songs were pretty much done, some were nearly done, and some were just riff ideas. Then, there were others I thought were done but they ended up completely different. Those kinds of changes happen when you start jamming. So, for a long time it was Tom and me and a half stack and a drum kit in a room just like the way we used to do it back in the day.”

Was locking yourself away with Tom, some electric guitars, amps and a drum kit the way you stayed productive during the lockdown?

“That was one of the beautiful things about Covid. There aren’t many, but it gave us time to work on the sound we wanted, and without interruption, because we didn’t have any summer touring plans.

“At first, we didn’t think we were going to have time to work on the album at all because inevitably something gets offered to you and you have to take it. You can’t always prepare for it because there are occasions when an artist drops out of a festival, so even if you’re not booked for anything you fill in because the money’s good.

“Or, you have to split the record up into different sessions between tours, which I don’t like to do. We didn’t have any of that. We shipped an entire Pro Tools studio with unlimited inputs to the place we were working up in the mountains and it was awesome. We were uninterrupted for the whole year and we had one sole focus – Exodus.”

Do you delete a bunch of stuff from your iPhone riff bank before you start piecing songs together?

“I keep everything. I always like to have a ton of stuff in there so if I’m working on a new song I don’t even bother looking for particular parts because I get kinda ADD. I’ll write a new riff and completely forget about something else that I wrote that fits right in with what I’m doing. 

“I need someone like Tom to hear it and say, ‘Whoa, let’s revisit that.’ I’m like, ‘No, I got other stuff now.’ But he’ll convince me to dig back into my phone and it ends up being some of the best stuff on the record.”

Do you use any recording software or just hold the phone right up to the amp?

“I wrote the whole song Prescribing Horror on my GarageBand program – drums and everything with Toontrack EZDrummer. I’d forgotten all about it. And Tom said, ‘Hey, we should check that one out again’ so we imported everything into ProTools and re-edited it without re-recording it. 

“Then we listened to it on real speakers and retracked everything except the clean guitar and the melody solo, which came straight off my GarageBand laptop demo. They sounded fine so we didn’t see any reason to redo them. It wound up being fucking dark and super-scary, which we really liked.”

Was there a point where you were struggling to find your footing and then the wheels clicked and it was all-systems-go?

“Sometimes that happens. Tom watched me struggle with finishing The Fires of Division for weeks. I just wasn’t happy with it. And then I wake up one morning and start playing, and Tom walks out with a cup of coffee, hears me and goes, ‘That’s it!’ Once I stopped fighting myself and changed the key, it opened the whole song up and I wrote all the other stuff around it. I said, ‘Let’s go out there right now!’ We fired up a click track for it and I just plowed through the whole song, including the ending.

“The whole harmony section was improvised on the spot with a click. I hadn’t written that yet. [Our engineer] Steve Lagudi was about to hit stop, and I said, ‘Don’t hit that button! I’m just rolling with it and I wanna see what happens.’ And I just wrote it on the spot.”

Did you write any of the riffs on Persona Non Grata with the intention of using them for Slayer?

“Not one. This is all 100 percent Exodus. [Slayer guitarist] Kerry [King] wrote all the music on [their final album] Repentless, anyway. None of these riffs were ever submitted or planned for that. I don’t think any of it would really fit in a Slayer song.”

Did it take a little while to get the Exodus machine up and running after prioritizing Slayer for so long?

“It was easy – and we were so into it. Tom [Hunting] and I played music together for 40 years. We have a language that can’t be replicated. So, I was right back at home when we started jamming, and shit started happening right away.”

How did your revamped ProTools setup allow you to be more creative and get better sounds?

“A lot of people work with your home-based ProTools interface, and even the really good ones only allow two simultaneous tracks. There’s always one dedicated to the emergency DPI. And that means I’ve only got one mic to work with. 

“This time, we were able to try out a million mikes. We ended up going with the most old-school combination of a [Sennheiser MD] 421 and a [Shure] SM57 with a 1980s combo. But we had a dozen mikes up on the two cabs, trying them all out and we could record them all at once and just mute channels and listen to them in the context of the track. It was awesome.”

Did you have “A” and “B” studios going at the same time so Zetro could work on vocals without interruption?

“We had three studios going. We had a home base studio where Tom and I were tracking drums. And then I’d drive to the rental house which is where Jack’s portable rig was. 

“He and I would work out bass parts and I would record horrible versions of the songs just for timing and phrasing cues. Then we’d do the same with Zetro for vocals before we all went to the third studio, where we finished everything. So we were recording in two locations with three studios.”

Was there much experimentation with amps and guitars?

“We were up in the Mountains at Thompson, which was a three-hour drive from my house. So, I had to really narrow down what I was taking. I took three of my favorite ESPs and a Gibson Flying V tuned to drop C that I used just for rehearsals. 

“My main guitar was a 1983 Yamaha SG 3000, and it sounds so amazing. I used it on every rhythm track on the album. It just made these crushing, super huge, heavy, thick sounds. More importantly, it stayed in tune! It was like a bell. It was just so perfectly intonated.”

What guitar amps and cabs did you use?

“I used the Marshall Jubilee reissues and boosted the input. To me, that’s half the joy. I think of recording guitars as achieving a tone and chasing it. There’s a lot of great modern, high-gain amps out there right now. But most people who use them all sound the same. 

“There’s not a lot of individuality out there. I put tubes on super overdrive with the drive on zero and the level on 10 and my signature Pro-Tune Mid Boost pedal in the front of it. 

“We bought a couple of vintage BBE Sonic Maximizers on eBay that we put in the loop just to bump up the low end until it was just right. That amp is so good. From Tom and I rehearsing to tracking guitars in the studio, I didn’t touch a knob. It was done. The tone was exactly how we wanted it.”

You have a couple guest solos on the record.

“[Former Exodus guitarist] Rick Hunolt and [Heathen’s] Kragen Lum both did a guest solo on Lunatic-Liar-Lord. There were two long solos so we split them each in half. Rick did the first, I did the second and Kragen took the third and fourth, which worked really well.”

Was it a reunification of sorts to have Rick recording with Exodus for the first time since 2004’s Tempo of the Damned?

“Rick’s always a part of this family. He’s one of my closest friends on earth and we talk all the time. When he left the band, it was because we got to the point where you’re out on tour and you’re making no money and you have young kids at home. 

“He wanted to be home for his family and we respected that. We recently flew him in for two shows, and [drummer] John Tempesta filled in for Tom [Hunting]. We all had the best time. So we asked him to contribute a solo on the record and he killed it.”

Any chance Rick will play with you on tour this year?

“Probably only for hometown shows. We like to bring Rick out to jam and it’s fun. But Lee [Altus] has been the other guitarist of Exodus [since 2005]. There’s no replacing him. But all the other ex-members are always welcome to jam. We’ve done whole shows based around it before and it’s a lot of fun. I want to do that again.”

On April 13, Tom announced on Facebook that he had squamous cell carcinoma of the stomach, an often deadly form of cancer. Was there any indication that he was sick when you worked on Persona Non Grata?

“Not from the way he was playing. He put on the performance of a lifetime. He just dominated. He was seeing doctors during the recording because he was experiencing unexplained weight loss. He knew something was weird because he was eating normal. Tom’s a big guy and he was weighing in at less than me. He’s four inches taller than me, probably. So he knew something was up, but he didn’t feel sick.”

Did he start cancer treatment while he was finishing up the album?

“We were done with the record and then he got some tests. He called me up and gave me the news. I had a total emotional breakdown. He’s my best friend and the prognosis was very grim. 

“He went through chemo and he had a gastrectomy [a procedure in which part or all of the stomach is removed]. He was scheduled to do another round of chemo a few months ago and then his doctors told him he didn’t need it. He’s a strong guy and he kicked cancer’s ass and hopefully he stays that way.”

That’s great news. Is he in remission?

“I guess you’d call it remission. He doesn’t need chemo, but they’re giving them immunotherapy because the chemo can break down your immune system.”

He rejoined you onstage at the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento on October 7, 2021.

“He completely destroyed the place. It was dominant, it was emotional and the crowd was insane. We played one of the best 40-minute sets we’ve ever done in our lives.”

About four months before that show you posted on social media that you were giving up alcohol. Why did you decide to quit and has it been a battle to stay on the wagon?

“Here’s the deal. I’m the most positive, upbeat kitten-loving dude you’ll ever find. If you listen to Exodus, it sounds like I need therapy. But the music is my therapy. At first, that’s how I dealt with all the madness of the world. The only thing we had any control over was our creativity. We couldn’t control how bad Covid was or when we could go back on tour or even go to a restaurant. But we could control Exodus and that’s the way I coped at first.”

Then what happened?

“During the summer, I started coping with alcohol and I saw a potential problem coming. I didn’t drink every day, but when I did, I’d get depressed. Before that, I was always a happy drunk. I’d been drinking since I was 16, and in the ’80s we were all way out of control. But in my later years, I chilled out a lot. I never drank much at home. I didn’t even drink that much on tour. 

“But during Covid, there I was at home sitting outside in a dark place drinking 12 10-percent alcohol beers – strong shit – and just pounding them. Eventually, my wife helped me realize I needed to stop ’cause I was getting depressed, bitter and angry, and that wasn’t me. And now I’ve never felt better.”

Congratulations. Do you ever get tempted to grab a drink?

“Yeah, but fortunately I’ve found that there’s really excellent alcohol-free beer out there and I found a company that makes a great oatmeal stout. They’ve got other flavors, too. So, if it’s hot outside and I’m craving a beer I’ll just drink that. 

“I do not miss getting drunk. I do not miss getting buzzed. I don’t miss the taste of beer because I’m perfectly happy drinking my buzz-free beer. And I didn’t need rehab or anything.”

Is there anything you miss now about Slayer’s demise?

“Yeah, man. I’ve been friends with those guys since we were kids. And, I had one job in Slayer and one job only. Go out, play killer, bang your head and play a little bit of a guitar hero role. One thing I was shocked with was how many Slayer solos there are. 

“There are songs that I played three solos in and at one point I’d be like, ‘Alright, I’m just going to go shred and play this one behind my head ’cause I’m out of ideas.’ [Laughs] But yeah, it was fun and relatively easy. I wear a lot more hats in Exodus and have a lot more responsibility. Fortunately, I love it – but it’s not always easy.”

For years, Slayer were stone-faced and ruthless onstage. As their career drew to a close, it looked like you all started getting emotional.

“Oh, man. During that last performance of Angel of Death, when I raised my guitar over my head during the solo, I was fighting off tears. That was emotional because I knew that was the last time I was ever going to do it. There were people in the crowd with tears in their eyes at the end of the show, too. And then Kerry does the chain drop at the end of the show. It was the end of an era right then and there.”

Kerry King has said in interviews that he thinks the band stopped too soon.

“Did the band stop too soon? That’s for them to decide. I know that’s how Kerry feels. Maybe [bassist and vocalist] Tom [Araya] doesn’t agree. I think the band had a lot more music in them, but you know what they say. It’s better to go out too soon than too late. 

“The band went out firing on four cylinders. Better to do that than milk it for a few more years when everybody knows you’re milking it. That would tarnish the legacy of the band. This way they went out in peak form. Maybe that’s best.”

• Persona Non Grata is out now via Nuclear Blast.

Kerry King has told Metal Hammer that he won’t be “dragging my feet much longer” when it comes to his new post-Slayer project, adding that fans of the now-defunct thrash metal juggernaut won’t be disappointed with his new material.

The guitarist revealed back in 2020 that he has “more than two records’ worth of new music” for the yet-to-be-named project.

“You know me, so you know what it’s going to sound like,” King says. “I played this new song for a buddy, and I said to him, ‘If there’s anything I’ve written in the last few years that sounds like Slayer, it’s this.’ And he said, ‘That sounds like you could have pulled it off of any Slayer record.’ I actually made that riff up backstage at a Slayer show. We were walking to the stage and I got my phone out and recorded it so I wouldn’t forget it.”

He continues: “That actually ended up being one of the last songs that I finished for the sessions, so when that hits the air, or stores, or Apple, or wherever it is that people buy music from these days, you can all play the guessing game discussion about which one it is.”

The rest of the personnel for King’s new project remains a mystery, expect for the drummer, who the guitarist now reveals to be former Slayer sticksman Paul Bostaph.

“We just started rehearsing and the only person I can give away is Paul because I took him from Slayer and we work very well together,” King explains. “We didn’t start rehearsing until the end of March, and that was the first time since that last Slayer show at the end of 2019 that me and Paul finally got into a room together.”

King goes on to say how he’s been waiting for the pandemic to “run its course” before thinking about touring with the new outfit, and now that – knock on wood – live music is back, he’s eyeing up “much smaller” venues than he was paying toward the tail end of Slayer’s career.

“Had it been up to me then I’d have been out in 2020,” he continues. “But that thing called the pandemic fucked everything up for everyone. You know, I waited on that, because it had to run its course. I didn’t want to be the guinea pig; I didn’t want to learn how to tour again. I already did my dues; I don’t want to have to prove myself again.

“Have I been dragging my feet? Yeah, because I wanted this [pandemic] shit to get sorted. I won’t be dragging my feet much longer.”

Slayer played their final show in November 2019 at the Forum in LA. A day later, King’s wife Ayesha said that there was “not a chance in hell” that the band would reunite for more live appearances in the future. But last year, Kerry King said that he feels the thrash metallers “quit too early”.

King hinted at post-Slayer music back in a March 2020 interview with Guitar World, shortly after the announcement that he’d signed with Dean Guitars. “Let’s just say Dean didn’t sign me for nothing!” he said, before waxing lyrical on his departure from B.C. Rich.

It's unlikely that anyone would describe the music Scott Ian makes with his band, Anthrax, as "heartwarming," but the Instagram videos he shoots with his 10-year-old son, Revel, certainly are.

In recent months, Scott and Revel, an aspiring musician himself, have gone viral with father-son covers of Sepultura, System of a Down and – in tribute to the late Taylor Hawkins – Foo Fighters classics.

Now, Scott Ian and Son have taken on one of the great thrashers of all time (the elder Ian cites it as the "greatest"), Slayer's Raining Blood. You can check out their take on the metal classic above.

For the cover, the elder Ian notably uses a custom mirror Jackson V electric guitar that he first revealed in another Instagram post earlier this month. Not to be outdone, Revel wields a different custom Jackson – a Soloist that features his name engraved on the fretboard. Not a bad starter guitar, eh?

Back in April, Scott Ian teamed up with Jackson – with whom he has long been associated – to give a tour of his wildest and most beloved custom Jackson guitars.

Aside from the Soloist adorned with his son's name, Ian proudly showed off his first custom Jackson, a 1982 Rhoads model that was originally sent to the thrash/hardcore pioneer with a very not-hardcore/thrash yellow-and-black leopard print finish.

Also of note in the collection was a single-pickup NOT Soloist model that features the New York Yankees' logo and is fretless beyond the 14th fret, and a triple-pickup Adrian Smith San Dimas model that Ian used on the Big Four tour in 2010, and is signed by all members of Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax.

“What's so great about the Jackson Custom Shop,” Ian says in the video, “[is that] they really love when you come in with ridiculous ideas and then they actually get to make them real.”

It’s been seven long years since thrash metal veterans Exodus (singer Steve “Zetro” Souza, guitarists Gary Holt and Lee Altus, bassist Jack Gibson, and drummer Tom Hunting) issued a new album. 

But the delay was understandable – Holt lending a hand with Slayer on their highly successful The Final World Tour, Hunting battling squamous cell carcinoma, and of course, Covid halting most band’s plans. 

But this month, Exodus will finally unleash their 11th studio album, Persona Non Grata. The long layoff has not dulled the California group’s knack for providing truly vicious metal – especially heard on the singles The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves) and Clickbait. 

Holt spoke with Guitar World in the weeks before the arrival of Persona Non Grata. 

Let’s start by discussing the new Exodus album, Persona Non Grata.

“The big difference on this album is we built a full-on recording studio up at Tom Hunting’s – up in the mountains. And I literally had the ability to mic up as many speakers as I wanted, and really go crazy – and really do it the way we did back in the glory days of spending a ton of money on recording studios. But we did it on our own, and it was super awesome to play with sound like that.”

Which songs are you most proud of from a guitar standpoint? 

“My favorite solo on the album is on The Fires of Division. That one came out really, really good. Some of them are not easy to play – the title track. That main riff is just completely weird, and it’s a ‘left wrist killer.’ It’s just one of those where the process of playing that riff is really hard on the left hand.” 

When it comes to solos, do you like to work out something beforehand, or come up with it on the spot?

“I usually might have an idea of where I want to go, and then I just work on it from there – until I get it to where I’m happy, and get it worked out. On this album, we had the time to work as long as we wanted on anything – which was awesome. We were under no time constraints. It was a perfect breeding ground for creativity.”

What is your current guitar set-up?

“In terms of amplifiers, I use Marshall Jubilee reissues. It’s what I’ve been using for a long time – even through the farewell tours with Slayer, carried over to Exodus. On the album I use that, and on the front end of it, I ran a Boss Super Overdrive and my signature Pro Tone Mid Boost – which allowed me to tailor those mids just the way I want them, for maximum crunch.

“And we actually got on eBay and bought some vintage BBE Sonic Maximizers. We went really old school – we used to use those in the late ‘80s to the early-mid ‘90s. It just added that little bit of thump on the bottom and it was totally killer.

“Guitar-wise, I used a couple of my different ESPs, and I used a 1983 Yamaha SBG-3000 on all the rhythms. That thing was just crushing – it was a super heavy, big, thick guitar.

“I used a gold pearl ESP – it’s one of my signatures, but it’s like a gold top, with a little pearlescent gold in it. I used a bolt-on Strat ESP that I have – it’s actually just an LTD, scalloped from the twelfth down. And I took my blood guitar – the one painted in my blood. Those were the primary ones – the ESPs and the Yamaha.

“Where we recorded, we were limited on what we had, because it was three hours from home and driving up in my Jeep. I couldn’t bring 20 guitars… so I brought like, five. I couldn’t bring every amp I’ve got, so I brought the ones I knew I wanted around.”

How would you compare your current set-up to your set-up back in the ‘80s, circa Bonded by Blood?

“Well, Bonded by Blood, that was a weird album there – because my Marshall crapped out, and I used John Marshall’s Hiwatt head with two Boss Super Overdrives on it, and both of them with the level on ten, and the drive on zero. And it just worked with that amp. It was kind of weird.

“But from there on through the ‘80s, I used Marshall [JCM]800s usually with a Super Overdrive, and then later, adding parametric EQ’s into it – which is what I used the mid boost for. I only use that mid band anyway, so now I have a pedal that is just a mid band. 

“The same thing with my KHDK signature pedal – which is basically like a Tube Screamer and a mid band parametric all in one pedal, and it’s just amazing.”

And what were your main guitars back then?

“Mostly Jackson. In the early ‘80s, we would take three cheap Strats, take them apart, and build one good guitar out of them. We ‘Frankensteined’ stuff all the time. And I played some Ibanez.” 

Do you think there could ever be another movement as far-reaching as thrash metal was in the ‘80s?

“I don’t know. I guess in its own way, the nu metal wave took off, and there were a million bands that came out of it. And some rose to the top. So, I guess you’ve got to give them credit for having a movement of their own.

“But going forward, I don’t know. I don’t know if there will be another genuine movement like that. The club scenes aren’t what they were.”

Also back then, tape trading was an important part of it.

“Exactly.”

Today, I guess you can say that the whole online thing would be similar to tape trading. 

“Yeah, but the end result isn’t as good. We traded tapes and then people bought the albums. Now, they trade illegal downloads.” [Laughs]

Do you agree that if “The Big Four” was expanded to “The Big Five,” Exodus would be included? 

“I don’t waste time thinking about that kind of stuff. I just tell people, ‘I know where I was when thrash metal was born,’ and a lot of other bands that lay claim to that spot didn’t exist yet. So, that spot belongs to us – fuck everybody else!” [Laughs] 

Are you still in touch with the members of Slayer? 

“Yeah, I was just texting Kerry [King] a little while ago. I haven’t seen anybody since the band ended and the pandemic struck. It’s not like I was out on the road where I could run into people at shows and such. I’ve got nothing but love for those guys.” 

Would you ever work with Slayer or its individual members again? 

“If I had time, sure. But right now, I’m fully busy and committed with my Exodus duties.”

What are your thoughts on the current state of metal guitar?

“I think it’s awesome. There are kids I follow on Instagram that are just shredding – young kids, like 15-year-old girls, that are riffing out Meshuggah riffs. I think that’s awesome that there’s a whole generation of guitar players coming up – rather than DJs. It gives me hope for the future.” 

Who are your favorite modern day metal guitarists?

“Michael Amott. He’s the modern day Michael Schenker. But he’s his own man – his vibrato, his tone, everything. Zakk Wylde is one of my heroes. But he’s been around a long time – he’s an old guy like me. There are a ton of guys out there that are all so good now. It’s crazy.” 

You just mentioned Michael Schenker. It seems like all the thrash guitarists of the ‘80s list him as a major influence. 

“It’s our age. In our heyday, UFO were huge – and still are one of my all-time favorite bands. And Schenker is number two on my guitar list…sometimes number 1 – it depends on how I’m feeling between him and [Ritchie] Blackmore on any given day.

“But I think all of us thrash guys grew up on the same music. And Michael is a phenomenal guitar player and just as good of a songwriter. His catalog of hits is phenomenal – it’s crazy what it is.”

What are your future plans with Exodus?

“To get out on the road eventually, I hope. I’ve been sitting around for a long time. Just get out there and tour and take this album to the masses, and then do another one. I’m ready to start writing now. 

“We’ve got tours coming up – hopefully the pandemic doesn’t get in the way. Most of it is for next year – hit the European festival circuit, which is long overdue for us. And just tour. Play everywhere and anywhere.”

How is Tom doing health-wise?

“He’s doing great. His recovery is going perfectly. He’s getting behind the drums again lately and working on his stamina and getting back there. But he’s doing amazing. We couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.

“Him and I are going to get together and jam within the next couple of weeks. So, we’re excited.”

• Exodus's new album Persona Non Grata is available for preorder now.

Kerry King has revealed that he thinks Slayer’s 2019 farewell was premature, saying that he feels they “quit too early”.

The guitarist for the thrash icons shared his thoughts as part of a video montage celebrating Machine Head’s 30th anniversary.

“So, I hear congratulations are in order for my friends in Machine Head,” says King. "Apparently, it's 30 years, which is quite an achievement. Not a lot of bands get there. We did… and then we quit too early. Fuck us. Fuck me. I hate fucking not playing!

“But that’s besides the point. This is a Machine Head celebration. I’m not sure Rob knows this, I think Rob [Flynn] knows this, but if he don’t… The only band I ever demanded to open for Slayer was Machine Head. 1994, Burn My Eyes... Greatest thing I ever did. Cheers to my friends, you guys deserve it.”

Slayer split following their farewell tour in 2019 but King has not left his guitar hanging on the wall during the past few years. 

As he told his endorsers Dean Guitars last year, “I’ve been very lucky with riffs in 2020,” said King in a video interview. “I’ve got more than two records’ worth of music, but to be able to go through that and pick the best 11 or 12? That first record should be smoking.”

We’re still not yet sure just what form that material is going to appear in, but we do know former bandmate Paul Bostaph is involved and has heard much of the material. 

“Kerry's on fire right now,” Bostaph told Riff Crew back in August. “So, all I can say is if you like heavy music and you like Slayer, you'll like this. Is it gonna be Slayer? It's not gonna be Slayer – Slayer is done; they retired…”

Anthrax’s Scott Ian and former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo have teamed up with Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor and Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale, along with cellist Tina Guo and composer Fil Eisler, for a new song, Thunder Force.

The track is the lead single from the soundtrack to the forthcoming Netflix comedy-action film of the same name. Thunder Force stars Melissa McCarthy, Octavia Spencer, Jason Bateman and Bobby Cannavale, and is written and directed by Ben Falcone. 

According to the film’s Wikipedia page, the plots reads: “In a world terrorized by supervillains, one woman has developed the process to give superpowers to regular people. But when scientist Emily Stanton (Spencer) accidentally imbues her estranged best-friend Lydia (McCarthy) with incredible abilities, the two women must become the first superhero team. 

"Now, it is up to Thunder Force to battle the super-powered Miscreants and save Chicago from the clutches of The King (Cannavale).”

In addition to the Thunder Force theme song, Ian and Lombardo contributed guitar and drums, respectively, to the score. Explained Ian in an interview with Loudwire, “[Fil] would send us all the cues with explanations about the ins and outs. It's like you're just learning a whole bunch of really short songs. 

"And then we got together and we were going over stuff in the studio, because I was just making sure I was playing all the parts right. It was Fil who mentioned, ‘What would you think about trying to write a Thunder Force theme song that they would roll over the end credits?’ 

"And he said, ‘I can't promise they're ever gonna use anything.’ But I was like, ‘Why not? What do we got to lose? Let's make music.’ ”

Regarding the Thunder Force song, he continued, “The three of us recorded [a demo], and then I sent it to Corey, saying, ‘Hey, what do you think of this? You want to write to this? Would you want to sing on this and write the lyrics?’ And he was all over it. So, we made a demo, and then Fil had to submit it to Ben and Melissa.”

Thunder Force is out April 9. Head over to Netflix for more information.

Children of Bodom electric guitar player and singer Alexi Laiho passed away unexpectedly at the age of 41 in December, 2020, and since then we’ve seen tributes roll in from around the rock and metal worlds, including from guitarists like Steve Vai and Nita Strauss.

Now Slayer axman Kerry King has offered his thoughts on Laiho, telling Metal Hammer, “Are You Dead Yet? was probably my favorite album by them. Even back then I was like, ‘This is the next dude, this is the next guitar hero.’ He’s one of those effortless guys that you watch and you’re like, ‘Fuck! I’ve been working all day and I can’t do that shit?’ ”

King also recalled touring with Children of Bodom, and how the band was able to handle Slayer’s notoriously devoted fanbase.

“They went down okay; I’ve seen people go out there and just fail miserably,” he said. 

“Their setlist was on the heavier side, which is a smart thing to do when you’re opening for us. I was up there almost every night watching them. They’re fun to watch play and Alexi was a guitar god.”

The new issue of Metal Hammer, which serves as a tribute to Laiho, is available for purchase from Magazines Direct.

We recently got a glimpse of My Chemical Romance electric guitar player Frank Iero’s rather impressive collection during an interview with Ernie Ball’s String Theory series.

Now it seems that collection might be one guitar lighter. Iero recently unloaded an Ampeg Dan Armstrong, and the recipient was none other than Slayer and Exodus shredder Gary Holt.

“Did a little guitar swap with my friend @frankieromustdie for this cool as fuck Ampeg Dan Armstrong, totally love it!,” Holt wrote on Instagram.

“Has this crazy slide in pickup mount that is just nuts! Frank called it the DeLorean of guitars and I think he’s right! Thanks bro! Gonna do a quick set up on it and take it for a spin.”

Holt, of course, has gone on record as a major My Chemical Romance fan, once calling their 2006 album The Black Parade “a masterpiece.”

He told Loudwire, “I think every song is amazing, it’s super ambitious, and I hear shades of Queen, Pink Floyd and Cheap Trick all over it.”

Regarding My Iero and his My Chem co-guitarist Ray Toro, he continued, “Love their guitar work, killer tones and great chops. Too much great stuff on The Black Parade to single out, but my favorite song is The Sharpest Lives.”

NAMM 2021 isn't taking place in the physical realm this year, but you'll find all the hottest January gear launches in our guide to the biggest guitar, amp and pedal releases of 2021 so far.

Back in April, Dean guitars teased a more affordable version of its USA Kerry King V Limited Edition model, which came with a whopping $8,666 price tag.

Now that new electric guitar, the Dean Kerry King Signature V, is here. Like its older, more expensive brother, the V model boasts a mahogany body and maple top, but in place of neck-through construction the new KK sports a three-piece maple set neck.

There’s also an EMG 85 pickup at the neck in place of a Sustainiac, while the bridge pickup remains an EMG 81 with a PA2 Preamp Booster. The guitar also swaps in a Kahler Hybrid system in place of a Kahler KFK Kerry King signature tremolo.

Other features on the Kerry King Signature V include an ebony fretboard with a flat 12″ radius, 24 jumbo frets and custom “crossed nail” inlays, a 24.75″ scale length and a Black Satin finish (sorry – no Gloss Red Cross graphic this time around).

It’s still, of course, a more-than-impressive metal beast of a guitar, and it now comes with a much-less aggressive price tag: just $1,399.

For more information, head to Dean Guitars.

Slayer may have parted ways at the end of 2019, but Kerry King has certainly been busy during the 2020 lockdown, revealing he already has enough material for two albums.

King shared the news in a new interview with Dean Guitars, while discussing his approach to riff-writing.

“I’ve been very lucky with riffs in 2020 – maybe because I can't go anywhere,” King says. “But riffs have not been a problem. And looking forward, what that means for me is I’m going to be able to pick the best stuff – and it's good stuff.

“I’ve got more than two records’ worth of music, but to be able to go through that and pick the best 11 or 12? That first record should be smoking.”

That said, King hasn’t quite determined who will be performing those songs with him, so it’s unclear at this stage whether this will be a solo project or an entirely new band.

“I’m the only lyricist, because I’m the only one writing music,” he says. “I’m not positive who everybody is that's going to be playing with me. I’ve got to pick those songs and start trying to put lyrics on them to move the process forward.”

The Slayer icon was also quizzed on how he comes up with his trademark solos – and his response was typically good-humored.

“Throughout my career, unfortunately, being not only a songwriter but a lyricist too, by the time I get to leads – I don’t want to say an afterthought, because it’s never an afterthought, but it’s at the end of the process.

“I’ve got to make sure the lyrics are up to speed with the rest of the music, so you’ve got an entirely great product. Then is usually when I get to have time to make up or work on leads.

“You know, I’ve had some historically good ones, and I’ve had some historically shitty ones! [laughs] But sometimes it’s just a matter of time, and time is not on my side in that way.”

The longtime B.C. Rich endorsee made the surprise announcement that he was switching to Dean Guitars in October last year.

In an interview with Guitar World about his collaboration with Dean, King teased a new post-Slayer project, stating, “Dean didn’t sign me for nothing!”

Editor's note: this interview was conducted prior to the coronavirus pandemic. The Metal Tour of the Year is now the Metal Tour of Next Year, beginning July 9, 2021.

It's been 20 years since Megadeth teamed up with Anthrax and Slayer to headline the Clash of the Titans tour, arguably the first time a truly metal multi-headlining bill played to arenas of fans here in the States. 

That outing helped pave the way for bands at the heavier end of the spectrum to storm hockey-rink-sized rooms of metalheads. But that said, it’s been a minute since we’ve enjoyed a good ol’ thrash-ioned, arena-slaying, metal package tour. 

Thankfully, Dave Mustaine and Megadeth have once again come to our rescue, pairing up with Virginia thrash masters Lamb of God for a massive globetrotting jaunt, with support from two of metal’s other leading acts, Trivium and In Flames.

As for why these four bands decided to join forces for what will undoubtedly be the heaviest tour of 2021? “I think this is what metal needs right now,” Mustaine says simply. And if you ask why, well, Dave’ll tell ya.

“There’s so many different tours that go out where it’s just six or seven of the same band,” he continues. “That doesn’t do anything to promote the individuality of the acts, and it also doesn’t broaden the fan base.”

He acknowledges Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton, Trivium frontman Matt Heafy and In Flames axe-man Björn Gelotte, who are gathered together with him on a Skype video call with Guitar World. “What’s really unique and special and great about this lineup is we’re all heavy as fuck, but we all have our thing going on, too.”

While the bands do all have their own “thing,” as it were, they also share deep musical connections. “Without the gentlemen I’m talking to right now, Trivium wouldn’t exist,” Heafy says. Gelotte, for his part, adds that “all you guys have been an influence on my guitar playing.”

Morton concurs, and also points out, “To put us all together, it’s exciting. Because every one of these bands is a headliner in their own right.” Indeed they are. But make no mistake – even though the four acts combined have something like a century of music-making under their belts, they’re also all rooted firmly in the present. 

Lamb of God and Trivium are touring behind new records – Lamb of God and What the Dead Men Say, respectively – and In Flames are out supporting their excellent 2019 release, I, the Mask.

Mustaine, meanwhile, recently got the all-clear after a battle with throat cancer, and in addition to the upcoming tour, he and Megadeth have been in the studio working on the follow-up to their 2016 release, Dystopia – arguably the band’s strongest effort in decades.

As for what the new Megadeth full-length, their 16th overall, will sound like? Megadeth, of course. “I’ve kept my thought processes pure,” Mustaine says. “Because if I go out on this tour with Matt and Mark and Björn and then all of a sudden the next Megadeth record sounds like a soup of all of us, it’s like, ‘Who are you?’ You do have to have your own identity.”

Mustaine, Morton, Heafy and Gelotte (with some input from Lamb of God’s Willie Adler, Megadeth’s Kiko Loureiro and Trivium’s Corey Beaulieu) got together with GW to have a chat about those distinct identities. 

They also took some time to talk touring and compare notes on gear, songwriting and how they continue to progress as players – as well as brainstorm a possible song for a suggested end-of-show all-star jam (you’ll be surprised at the answer).

Mostly, of course, they just talked about guitars.

“I’m in really good guitar company on this tour,” Gelotte says. “I’m going to play so much guitar, and I’m going to watch so many great players and hear so many great solos. I couldn’t be more excited about that.”

Nor could we, Björn. Nor could we.

What are each of you most excited about when it comes to this bill?

MATT HEAFY: “I’ll start. For us, these are three bands we grew up listening to at different stages of our career. In Flames, they taught us what it is to mix melodicism and heaviness together in one band. When I heard The Jester Race [1996], Whoracle [1997] and Colony [1999], if I didn’t get into those, I wouldn’t be here right now. 

“I could say the same for listening to Lamb of God. And Megadeth was one of the first metal bands I was ever into – I covered “Tornado of Souls” when I was 12 and a half. My voice was a little rough, but everything else was okay. [Laughs] I need to show you that, by the way, Dave!”

MARK MORTON: “To echo what Matt was saying, Megadeth was my favorite band when I was coming up playing guitar. I dreamed of being in a band like that. So to share a stage now… I mean, I’m still influenced by them. I still learn from them. 

“And it’s a similar thing with In Flames – I remember trying to wrap my head around just the depth of the guitar melodies they incorporated into their music, and how it was still so heavy and powerful. And Trivium are peers and friends and such great songwriters.

“We use the same producer [Josh Wilbur], so there’s kind of a family there. And you know, I think one of the best things about the tour is that it really showcases the strength of the genre as a whole. It’s the type of bill where, top to bottom, you want to be there before the show starts. I think that’s important for the fans, and it’s exciting for me, too.”

DAVE MUSTAINE: “It’s what America needs – some really talented tours with diversity. I think that a lot of the promoters over here, they’re stuck in that, 'Let’s get five of the same band' thing. Where, and you guys know this, our promoters that we use overseas they’ll put together a multitude of different bands. So you go to a concert and you see the B-52’s and then you see Saxon. And it’s like, “Whoa!”

How about you, Björn?

BJÖRN GELOTTE: “You guys have said it all, man. [Laughs] But this is a really exciting tour for us to jump on. Because Dave and Megadeth, the way they would weave melodies into the actual riffs, and the way the guitars would harmonize, that was something I’d never really heard before. 

“And the thrash sounds from Lamb of God and the clean vocals from Trivium, these are all things we have incorporated into our songwriting as well. Plus, I consider all you guys friends. As soon as we heard about this tour, we said, 'This is the tour we need to do!'”

In terms of sonics, playing fast and intricate metal in large, cavernous rooms is no easy task. You have to deal with muddiness, and with sound reverberating around the venue in unusual ways. Do you think about your musical approach differently in an arena than you would in a club or theater?

MUSTAINE: “If you care about your sound, yeah. Some people don’t really care about their sound that much – there’s a lot of the younger set that believes that volume makes up for tone.

“But when I played with the San Diego Symphony [in 2014], one of the things I said to them was, 'Don’t worry, I don’t play really loud. I’m more concerned with tone than I am with volume.' And the guy that was the head of the symphony, he told me, “Great, that’s all I needed to hear. Interview’s over!” Because he thought I was going to come in there and… boom!”

HEAFY: “When it comes to sound, I can imagine the guitar tone of any one of our bands, of any one of the eras of our bands, and it’s so unique. That’s because we all care so much about every single aspect of what our band is. So I feel like we know how to handle bringing that sound into big rooms, because we all have so much experience playing giant shows all around the planet.”

MUSTAINE: “Matt, are you using Fractals?”

HEAFY: “We’re actually now going back to old-school rigs. We were using Kempers for a while, and now we’re going to run through heads with this thing called the Box of Doom.”

GELOTTE: “The Box of Doom – we’ve had that for years!”

HEAFY: “Dude, the thing is insane! We did use the [Fractal] Axe-Fx II for a while, but now we’re going back to real heads. I have a block [letter] 5150 that I found used, although I’m not bringing it out on this tour. But I’ve been collecting tons of heads, cabs, speakers and pedals, and I feel like I’ve got my favorite tone for myself right now.”

What rigs are the rest of you bringing on the road this time?

MUSTAINE: “Well, clearly I’m using uncool Fractals! [Laughs]”

MORTON: “I’m using my [signature] Jackson Dominion with my Boogies, and I sort of alternate between Mark IVs and Mark Vs. But what I do is I’ll split my signal into two heads, and my front-of-house engineer gets his head, because he needs different things out there, different tones, different things to add to the mix. 

“And then I have my own signal because I need a certain kind of response. And I’ve got my speakers onstage and there’s really not a whole lot of processing for me – I have a gate and a compressor and then I use a few pedals, mainly for solos.”

WILLIE ADLER: “My rig will consist of my signature ESP Warbird guitars, coupled with a combination of Mesa Boogie amps and cabinets – specifically, the Mesa Triple Crown and the Mark IV. I’ll also be running a series of Mesa pedals along with a couple of Fortin pedals.”

KIKO LOUREIRO: “For this run I’ll be using my Ibanez signature models [the KIKO200, KIKO100 and KIKO10p] as well as Marshall cabs, Fractal, DV Mark and D’Addario NYXL strings.”

GELOTTE: “I have a Marshall prototype that sounds really good – it’s based off the [JCM]800 models. It has a built-in little gate in there and it works pretty good because it’s really active. But besides that I do pretty much what Mark’s doing. I split the signal so I get my own speaker onstage – not very loud, but just to be able to control feedback and stuff like that. 

“And then the other signal goes to the Box of Doom that Matt was talking about, which is basically an iso cab. And our front-of-house guy can do whatever he needs with that one. Then I have a [Dunlop] 95Q wah in there somewhere that I use all the time for all my leads, and an [Ibanez] Tube Screamer.

“And for the clean stuff I use a Marshall JVM amp. My rig looks insane when you see it, but it’s really a very pure signal. And my guitar is my own Epiphone Les Paul signature model; It’s based on my first Les Paul Custom, only there’s EMGs in there. For me it’s a trusty go-to pickup that always works. And they make them in gold now for me as well, so I’m happy.”

COREY BEAULIEU: “I’m really excited about going back to tube amps, but I’m not locked into what exactly that will be yet. I have my signature Jackson guitars, and my new Winterstorm model will definitely be on all touring for the foreseeable future. And Matt and I have always been huge Peavey fans and we’ve been experimenting with a variety of pedals.”

Dave, what do you have going on besides your Fractals?

MUSTAINE: “I’m using square Marshall cabinets with Celestion Greenback speakers. I’ve always liked the square cabinets for some weird reason. I think it’s because the slanted ones remind me of when I was with Metallica and we played with Vandenberg at this place out in New Jersey. Adrian Vandenberg was a great guitar player, but he used these slanted red-and-white Marshall cabinets. 

“I looked at that and I swore to myself, 'Never, ever, ever will I have red-and-white Marshalls. And I’m not going to use slant cabinets either, unless they’re rentals.' [Laughs] And the Celestion Greenbacks – guys that use low tunings and lower-gauge strings would probably prefer a higher wattage, but they work great for me. 

“Then within my Fractal there’s tons of effects and stuff – I could list through all of them, but it would just be like reading an index card. But we’re just trying to get as close to what the records sounded like when we recorded them. And the Fractals can get you in the ballpark.”

Each of you has carved out a sound and style that you’ve become closely associated with. With that in mind, how do you also continue to progress at what you do, and remain open to new ideas and techniques?

GELOTTE: “For me, one thing is that I’ve played with a bunch of different guitarists recently, just due to different lineup changes and whatnot. And they all have very distinct and different sounds and disciplines and ways of playing the guitar. So it’s been awesome to be able to jam with these guys and pick things up and get all their influences.

“That even comes down to things like learning new ways of practicing before a show. We always try to play guitar an hour-and-a-half, maybe two hours before we go on. It drives other bands nuts because it’s constantly noisy, but it’s good for us and it’s been very good for me.”

HEAFY: “One of the biggest things for me was getting into Brazilian jujitsu, which taught me what it is to build something from the ground up. I’ve only ever played guitar and sang in Trivium, so I’ve never known what it was to learn something new – basically I was always just doing what I enjoyed. 

“But getting my butt kicked for three, four, five years in jujitsu and gradually having to realize that you have to put in so much time and practice to get good at something was really instructional…

“Another thing is about two-and-a-half years ago I started regimentally live streaming on Twitch, five days a week, two streams a day. That’s three to six hours a day of me playing Trivium songs to our fans all around the world. That much intensive extra practice helped my guitar playing and singing so much. Because I used to always be worried every night – 'Am I going to hit this note?'

“But you know, when it comes to practice, my dad’s a Marine, my mom’s Japanese and those two cultures are so regimented. When I was a kid trying to emulate my heroes I saw how many hours it took. Now I just keep those hours going, even at this point in my career.”

LOUREIRO: “I’m constantly learning and changing. I’ve been focusing a lot on rhythm guitars since I joined Megadeth [in 2015], and I’m trying to expand my symmetric and intervallic phrasing. 

“Regarding songwriting, I have my way of doing things; when I compose it usually starts with an acoustic guitar or piano – but it’s also been a great experience to see how Dave writes. Very inspiring!”

ADLER: “Other than simply continuously playing and writing, I’m always looking for new ways to be inspired. Currently, I’m obsessed with Toontrack’s EZkeys – not only does it aid in crafting interesting melodies, it’s brought me right back to a bit of my piano-focused roots.”

MORTON: “Now that we’re all at home and not working [due to the Coronavirus shutdown], the other night I learned Larry Carlton’s solo from [Steely Dan’s] Kid Charlemagne. I’ve always loved that solo, so I just sat down with it. 

“It’s not so wicked technically, but it’s just different shapes and different kinds of stops and note choices that are outside of my kind of ingrained comfort-zone patterns. So it helps to push the lane out a little bit. It’s been 35 years and I still feel like I’m learning how to play guitar. But it’s fun, man. I still have fun doing it.”

Mark, I would imagine that one thing that has been different for you is doing solo music, including an acoustic EP.

MORTON: “Yeah. In early 2019 I put out a solo record that I’d been working on for a long time.”

MUSTAINE: “Kickass, by the way.”

MORTON: “Thank you. And then I did an acoustic EP earlier this year. And you know, I’d say probably the last seven or eight years I’ve really focused more on songwriting than playing guitar.

“I’m a guitar player, so I write songs on guitar, but I’m definitely more interested in structure and how all the components work together and support each other and that kind of thing. So the solo record, just by virtue of the fact that it was so diverse stylistically, it kind of pushed me to play in different ways. 

“I’ve always been into blues and classic rock – my favorite guitar players are Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Billy Gibbons, and that’s always been the case pretty much since I picked up the instrument. But developing that in a songwriting context and being able to put that album out, that helped push my playing a little bit.”

How about you, Dave?

MUSTAINE: “Well, I always have a great opportunity to go out and play with different people because I’m an asshole and they all quit! [Laughter all around] I’m just kidding, but Mark, I’ll tell you, my favorite guitar players growing up too were both of the Jimmys. 

“Although not so much Billy Gibbons. For me it was probably more Michael Schenker, which is why I gravitated toward the V so much. Also, as far as the songwriting and stuff is concerned, it’s so interesting what Mark was saying about how he’s a guitar player but he’s also a songwriter.

“Because you try telling that to most normal people that aren’t musicians and they’ll look at you like you’re trying to teach a pig how to sing. They just won’t get it. But I would imagine all you guys have written lyrics down on a shred of paper, or sung a melody into your cell phone.

“Me, it’s coming up on 40 years I’ve been doing this, so I’ve also used those old cassette decks where you push the two buttons down and you carry it around like a really lame robotic purse kind of a thing.

“So how I get the ideas down has maybe changed and progressed over time. But writing and recording and all that stuff, for the true musician, it doesn’t matter how you do it – it just matters that you get it out.”

Finally, here’s the million-dollar question: With tours like this, the idea of a big onstage jam at the end of the night is a thing that is often talked about, even if it’s easier said than done. But let’s assume it was going to happen at each stop on this tour. What would be the song you guys would jam on?

MORTON: “Dave’s choice, man!”

MUSTAINE: “Okay – Gimme Shelter. And Randy [Blythe] has to sing. [Laughter all around]”

MORTON: “I love the first part of your suggestion!”

Does Randy also have to do the background vocal part?

MUSTAINE: “Of course!”

MORTON: “[Laughs] I believe in him. He can do it. He’ll figure it out, man!”

The Metal Tour of the Year begins on July 9, 2021 in Detroit, and ends September 10 in Las Vegas.

Back in November we introduced you to Dean’s first electric guitar collaboration with Kerry King, the USA Kerry King V Limited Edition.

Now Dean has released a new Pat’s Picks video detailing the guitar’s specs, as well as offering a demo of the V in action, including the tones available via its EMG 81 and Sustainiac pickups.

And while the Limited Edition V is priced at a rather hefty $8,666, Dean Guitars CEO Evan Rubinson recently told Stay Metal Ray that the company is planning a range of King models at lower price points.

"My idea is good, better and best," Rubinson said. “So we have the USA, of course, it's kind of on its own. We have the limited run that we're starting with, but then we're also going to have regular-production USA guitars.

“But the good, better and best will all be imports. The best will be about probably a $1,399 guitar, and that will have Kerry King's signature Kahler on it. It'll have the Sustainiac. It'll have exactly, almost an identical replica of what he plays. it'll just be an import model. And that's going to be the highest end that we make that's going to come from overseas."

He continued, “Then we're going to do kind of a middle tier, probably around $699 or so, and that will still come with a Sustainiac. It will come with a Kahler, but not a Kerry King signature, and it'll have a few downgrades, so to speak. And then we're also going to do probably a $399 or a $499 that may be a fixed bridge Kahler instead of a tremolo system. And that, of course, is going to cater to the intro guys and maybe people that are saving up for that $1,399."

Rubinson also hinted at a possible mega-metal Dean guitar package featuring King, Dave Mustaine and Dimebag Darrell.

“To have Dave Mustaine, Dimebag, as well as Kerry King under one roof, it's incredible," Rubinson said. "And hopefully we're going to do something really cool with a three-guitar package, one with each artist that is super iconic, and it'll be a limited series. 

"This is in the works right now, no guarantees, but something where we'd have one exclusive guitar for each of our iconic artists and we'd sell it as a package as kind of an exclusive thing - hand-signed, artist appearances and the whole deal."

For more info on the USA Kerry King V Limited Edition, head to Dean Guitars.

As gig schedules worldwide are wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic, one enterprising - and self-isolating - Italian guitarist generously took to his balcony to deliver a one-man metal show to his nearby residents.

Enrico Monti, guitarist for Italian death-metal band Skulld, lugged his 1x12 combo and ESP electric out on to his balcony to blast the first few riffs from Slayer’s thrash anthem Raining Blood.

Although Monti can be seen merrily chugging away, his neighbors look less enthusiastic, judging by the bemused expression on an elderly bystander’s face.

Italy remains under lockdown in an attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19, with residents nationwide flocking to their balconies to sing patriotic songs or play instruments - but it’s fair to say none of the performances thus far have been quite as heavy as this.

After a nearly 40-year reign as thrash metal’s most uncompromising band, Slayer have called it quits. The game-changing Los Angeles crew concluded their Final Campaign farewell tour November 30, 2019, at the Forum in Inglewood, California - a fiery, furious show with blistering versions of fan favorites and genre classics like Angel of Death, South of Heaven, Raining Blood and more.

While the Big 4 road dogs may have reached the end of their live actions (management has clarified that while Slayer is finished touring, they haven’t officially broken up), founding guitarist Kerry King isn’t quite ready to hang up his axe. In fact, he recently signed on with Dean Guitars and unveiled the first fruits of their partnership: the USA Kerry King V Limited Edition signature guitar.

The striking six-string, prototypes of which King sported during the last tour leg, boasts a custom V-shaped mahogany body, EMG and Sustainiac pickups, Kahler KFK bridge, three-piece maple neck, 24 jumbo-fret ebony fingerboard, pearl, stone and ebony inverted-cross inlays, fiber optic LED side dots, Black Satin with Gloss Red Cross finish and more.

Only 50 of the USA Kerry King V models are being made, and, as such, each arrives with the appropriately hefty price tag of $8,666 - the number of the beast, plus.

“We really went out of our way to make something unique - and not so crazy that it would turn people off. I, for one, am very proud of it,” explains King, who, along with late founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman, was the architect behind the sinister themes, vicious rhythms and hell-raising, squealing solos that always defined Slayer’s unparalleled attack.

Throughout the final world tour, King and his bandmates - founding bassist/ singer Tom Araya, guitarist Gary Holt and drummer Paul Bostaph - were uncharacteristically silent offstage. They eschewed the typical press rounds and public goodbyes and were tight-lipped about what new musical projects might be on the horizon. 

But the week before King hit the Forum for Slayer’s finale, the guitarist agreed to open up to Guitar World about the details behind his new Dean - including why the signature six-string is a good sign that we’ll be hearing some new solo music from King in the not-too-distant future.

Why was Dean the right company to partner with for your new signature guitar?

"Well, it’s no secret that I’ve always liked pointy guitars. I’ve been friends with the Dean people for at least 15 years, so it was really a no-brainer. And Dean has given me the opportunity to create things no one has seen before."

Dimebag was obviously a Dean guy for years, and you two were tight. Did you ever test out any of his guitars back in the day?

"I have one of the Razorback Vs numbered to 333, so yes!"

You were with B.C. Rich for a lot of years, a partnership that resulted in a bunch of iconic signature guitars. What were your requirements when you first sat down with Dean to brainstorm a brand-new guitar? From first glance the black finish is a big departure from some of your previous tribal-inspired designs.

"Well, nothing against the tribal paint - that’s been my thing for 20 years. But it was more about making something fresh - first new company in 20 years, gotta have fresh ideas.

"So I had them make a couple guitars made from different woods. It was all about having to make sure what was right for Kerry now, not 20 years ago. And that also meant new paint ideas."

Dean is touting the new USA Kerry King V Limited Edition model as having a “never before seen guitar design.” Can you share some details about the inspiration behind the new V guitar body and headstock shape?

"For me, Dean has its own iconic headstock shape. It was just a little too big for my taste. So I suggested that if we were going to join forces, how about if we made a headstock more my style? And this is what we came up with. 

"Then we basically had the body mimic the headstock. Funny story. The first body they cut for me off a drawing I sent them was way too big. We had to downsize it twice! Dean guitars for giants!"

Did you start with one of their existing guitars as a template and then tweak the design? Did you test a lot of different prototypes before you landed on something you liked?

"Actually, the only thing I wanted the same or similar was my neck dimensions, of course. The only other parameter I was focused on was doing something with a V. In the beginning that’s all, because that’s what I play 90 percent of the time. And I certainly wasn’t going to ask Dean to do anything resembling a [B.C. Rich] Warlock! 

"We really started nailing the design down when I was able to go to the Dean factory on a day off in Tampa on whatever tour I was on at the time. We did a lot of streamlining in those 36 hours."

You mentioned neck dimensions. The neck shape is listed as “Kerry King Spec C.” Is it closer to an oval C shape or more of a modern, shallower flat oval shape?

"I really don’t know! It’s my fuckin’ shape!"

The custom fretboard inlays are rad. What inspired that design?

"To tell you the truth, I think it was my friend Josh [Maloney] at Dean. Early on he was shooting me ideas that I believe he was predominantly responsible for. It’s two crossed stakes with an upside-down cross in the middle of them. [He] definitely stepped it up for this one."

You’ve been playing a prototype of the Dean during this last leg of the final tour. How’s it holding up? Has the live trial by fire brought to light any aspects of the guitar that needed to be tweaked?

"I play the Dean guitars for 12 of the 20 songs we play live. And, I know, everyone talks great things about new products, but I also know that my reputation is being a straight shooter. I am super pleased with the new guitars. The only thing I’ve changed from the first two Deans is I’ve finally come up with graphics."

Dean will be kicking off the line with a limited run of 50 US-made, signed models. Are there talks yet of a larger factory run?

"I’m sure there will be a larger factory run. I’ve been so busy with the final [tour] that we haven’t really discussed it, unfortunately."

Speaking of the final Slayer tour, now that you’re at the end of the run, fans are anxious to learn what you’ll be up to next. You’ve been clear in the past that you’re not retiring. Is it safe to say fans can expect to hear some new music from Kerry King and the new signature Dean guitar in the future?

"Let’s just say… Dean didn’t sign me for nothing!"

Gary Holt has conceived some unique electric guitar designs over the years, including one painted in his own blood.

Now, the Slayer and Exodus guitarist has teamed with Hutchinson Guitar Concepts to craft a medieval woodcut design on one of his ESP Holt Eclipse models.

Explains Hutchinson owner James Hutchinson, “Gary contacted me over a year ago, after seeing some of my Viking and medieval concepts. He had the great idea of doing a medieval woodcut carved on the guitar. I came up with some designs, but it was put on hold until he had the right guitar from the ESP Custom shop made.

“October comes ‘round again and I receive the bare wood guitar; a super heavy custom Holt Eclipse! So I set to work to create a medieval satanic scene, satirically referencing the Ascension, and taking ideas from old historical occult woodcuts. I even included a levitating cat!

“The fretboard was left plain, except for a 12th fret inlay of 666 in Roman numerals, and the ESP logo was translated into an Old English font, carved into the headstock.

It’s the most intricate guitar carving I’ve done to date. It was a balance between too much fine detail and making the Baphomet image stand out enough to be visible on stage. I think it works! The guitar is being used on the current Exodus tour."

For more information, head over to Hutchinson Guitar Concepts.

Dean recently announced the addition of Kerry King to its artist roster, and now the company has unveiled its first electric guitar collaboration with the Slayer guitarist, the USA Kerry King V Limited Edition.

Dean is only making 50 models of the new V, and getting your hands on one will cost you $8,666 to be exact.

As for what you get for that (somewhat) evil-sounding price?

For starters, there’s a 'Kerry King V'-shaped mahogany body with a beveled maple top, Kerry King spec C-shape three-piece maple neck and a 24 jumbo-fret ebony fingerboard with pearl, stone and ebony Kerry King custom inlays and fiber optic LED side dots.

There’s also a Kahler KFK signature bridge, Floyd Rose R2 nut and Grover tuners.

Pickups are a Sustainiac at the neck and an EMG 81 with PA2 Preamp Booster at the bridge.

Finally, the rather Flying V-shaped body is finished in a Black Satin with Gloss Red Cross design, with matching headstock.

For more information on the USA Kerry King V Limited Edition - or, if you happen to have nine grand laying around to purchase one - head to Dean Guitars.

Dean Guitars has announced that Slayer's Kerry King has come onboard the company’s artist roster, and that a new, never-before-seen signature electric guitar design is in the works.

King, who until recently was a signature artist with B.C. Rich, said of the new partnership, “I'm super-stoked to be part of the Dean Guitars family. This has been an insane[ly] long time coming! 

"Together we're going to create some amazing guitars that Dean, Slayer and Kerry King fans will be as excited as I am to play. It's gonna be a wild ride for years to come!"

Dean will kick off the Kerry King line with a limited run of 50 handcrafted USA models signed by the Slayer guitarist. 

Additional product information outlining King's Signature Dean Guitars USA and import models will be revealed over the coming months.

In the meantime, keep your eye on Dean Guitars for updates. Hell awaits...

Slayer have announced the seventh and final leg of their farewell world tour, scheduled to kick off November 2 in Asheville, North Carolina and wrap November 30 in Los Angeles. 

Dubbed “The Final Campaign,” the shows will feature support from Primus and Ministry, as well as Philip H.  Anselmo & the Illegals, who will perform sets featuring a “vulgar display of Pantera.”  

Tickets go on sale July 12 at 10 A.M. local; limited VIP packages will be available. Head to Slayer.net for all ticketing and package details.

All confirmed tour dates can be viewed below.

Slayer “The Final Campaign” tour dates: 

11/02 - Explore Asheville Arena, Asheville, NC

11/03 - PNC Arena, Raleigh, NC

11/05 - Salem Civic Center, Salem, VA

11/06 - Giant Center, Hershey, PA

11/08 - Mass Mutual Center, Springfield, MA

11/09 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

11/11 - KFC Yum Center, Louisville, KY

11/12 - Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH

11/14 - TaxSlayer Arena, Moline, IL

11/15 - Denny Sanford Center, Sioux Falls, SD

11/17 - Fargodome, Fargo, ND

11/18 - CHI Health Center, Omaha, NE

11/20 - Broadmore Arena, Colorado Springs, CO

11/22 - Rimrock Arena, Billings, MT

11/24 - Spokane Arena, Spokane, WA

11/26 - Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA

11/27 - MGM Arena, Las Vegas, NV

11/30 - The Forum, Los Angeles, CA

Kirk Hammett's pedal company, KHDK Electronics, has unveiled the limited-edition Gary Holt Paranormal pedal, which the brand says captures “the essence” of the Slayer and Exodus guitarist’s sound: “distinct, thick, precise with absolute clarity in the mix.”

Commented Holt: "I had been searching for this tone for decades. When you hear what this pedal does to a stock Marshall head, you're gonna shit your pants."

The new pedal, which has been a staple of Holt’s live rigs with Exodus and Slayer, boasts a full-studio parametric EQ as well as an overdrive circuit. There are also controls for Bass, Tone, Drive and Bandwidth, as well as Volume and Mid sliders.

Additionally, the silkscreened art boasts a satanic cat with glowing eyes, inspired by Holt’s own cat, Buffy.

The Paranormal is being offered in a limited run of 250 units and is available for pre-order for $249.99 on Reverb.com.

Slayer have announced new North American dates for their Final World Tour. The fifth leg of the ongoing outing kicks off May 2 at the Ak-Chin Amphitheatre in Phoenix and wraps at the Xfinity Center Amphitheatre in Mansfield, MA on May 25.

The band will be supported by Lamb of God, Amon Amarth and Cannibal Corpse on all dates. Details on Slayer VIP Packages are available here.

The band have also shared Episode 3 of the "Slayer Looks Back on 37 Years" video interview series. In the clip below, Tom Araya and Kerry King talk about getting their first record deal and the release of Show No Mercy; and Tom, Kerry and Paul Bostaph remember Paul's first meeting with the band and his subsequent audition to be Slayer's drummer.

Check out the full 2019 North American itinerary below, and for more information, head over to slayer.net.

Slayer Leg Five North American tour dates:

5/02   Ak-Chin Amphitheatre, Phoenix, AZ

5/03   Isleta Amphitheatre, Albuquerque, NM

5/05   UTEP/Don Haskins Center, El Paso, TX

5/07   Bert Ogden Arena, Edinburg, TX

5/08   The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, Dallas, TX

5/10  MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa, FL

5/11  Coral Sky Amphitheatre, West Palm Beach, Florida

5/13  Big Sandy Superstore Arena, Huntington, WV

5/14  Merriweasther Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD

5/16  Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center, Noblesville, IN

5/17  Providence Medical Center Amphitheatre, Bonner Springs, KS

5/19  DTE Energy Music Center, Clarkston, MI

5/20  Covel Centre, Youngstown, OH

5/22  Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa, ON  CANADA

5/24  BB&T Pavilion, Camden, NJ

5/25  Xfinity Center, Mansfield, MA

Former Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel made his live debut with Slayer yesterday, December 3, at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark. Demmel is filling in for guitarist Gary Holt on the band’s current European run, after Holt bowed out to return home to be with his dying father. You can check out footage of Demmel and the band playing several songs, including "South of Heaven" and "Raining Blood," above.

Just 24 hours earlier, Demmel had played his final show with Machine Head after 15 years with the group, after announcing in October that it was time for him “to step away and do something else musically."

Prior to his first show with Slayer, Demmell posted on his official Instagram profile:

"Full circle. Karma. It's so crazy how things work out. I got a text less than 24 hours after I played my last Machine Head note. 11 years ago (almost to the day), I had to leave a tour to fly home and be with my family when my father passes away. Some amazing dudes stepped in to cover for me and to help the band out. I am filling in for a legend who has replaced a legend in a legendary band on their farewell tour.”

“Despite the fact that Slayer is the reason I wanted to play heavy music, it's beyond my utmost honor to [be] asked to do this. Learning 19 songs (Not just songs, SLAYER songs) has been a daunting task and I have worked very hard to do Gary and the entire camp proud. As we all here send our love and support to @garyholt_official as he goes through a life-altering time, the rallying this camp has done is amazing. Thank you all for your support as I grab the baton for a few shows and fly the Bay Area flag high on stage right.”

"And lastly, the biggest hero is [wife] @martarino for being so selfless after having her partner home for two days, sends him off to follow this crazy dream. All hail the Queen."

Following the performance, Demmel posted the following: “Never has 90 minutes gone by faster. Made a few mistakes but I feel really good about this 1st one. Much love to all of you for the ongoing support.”

For all upcoming Slayer tour dates, head to Slayer.net.

Jeremy Wagner, noted horror author and main riffer for death metal band Broken Hope, has been busily completing a gallery he’s aptly dubbed “Wagner World.” The 4,000-square-foot, music-studio/horror-and-rock memorabilia museum is a tribute to his favorite guitarists and includes rare instruments from the late Jeff Hanneman (Slayer) and Paul Gray (Slipknot), as well as Metallica’s Kirk Hammett. 

In this exclusive interview, Wagner offers Guitar World a peek at his latest acquisitions. He also discusses his admiration for Hanneman, his latest novel and much, much more.

What was it about Jeff Hanneman and Slayer that first appealed to you?

I still remember the moment I decided I wanted to be metal guitar player. It was when I heard Metallica’s Ride the Lightning. I was floored and couldn’t stop listening to it. I immediately went on a mission to find the heaviest music and that’s when I found Slayer’s Hell Awaits. But it wasn’t until Reign in Blood came out that I discovered Jeff Hanneman had written all my favorite songs and riffs and was an awesome lyricist. It was another turning point. The thing that drew me was the extreme nature of his writing. He had this incredible talent to take aggression and extreme guitar playing and mix it with the catchiest riffs you’ve ever heard. He was a big source of inspiration to me on all levels.

When did you start collecting Hanneman gear?

I’ve been collecting gear and different instrument for years, especially vintage Marshall heads and ESP guitars from the Eighties. During this time, I developed a close relationship with Matt Masciandaro, the president of ESP, and became aware of an auction Jeff’s widow, Kathryn, was going to have. I had the unique opportunity to buy direct from her.

Where do you keep your acquisitions?

I’ve got a renovated property near my house that sits on six acres of land. The first floor is where Broken Hope rehearses and where I have a bunch of memorabilia that I like to call the “Jeff Hanneman Museum.” It has a number of Jeff’s awards and prints of live shots of Jeff rehearsing. In that same room is a vault where I have many of Jeff’s original guitars and Eighties-era ESPs hanging on the racks. There’s also a “Paul Gray Museum.” Paul was a friend who always loved Broken Hope and the two of us would talk frequently. I’m also a fanatic about 1984-86 Metallica and have an impressive collection of horror memorabilia. 

I’d really like to display it publicly someday. But I don’t collect just to acquire famous gear or to flip it for profit somewhere down the line. I’m on a mission to respect, honor and carry on the legacy of these guys. That’s why the things I have, especially with Jeff Hanneman, I feel a deep emotional connection to them. Jeff’s widow told me that Jeff would have wanted to have these things played and used. That’s why I used two of Jeff’s guitars on the last Broken Hope album, Mutilated and Assimilated. We also dedicated the entire album to him.

Out of everything you’ve accumulated, what’s your favorite piece?

The number one thing is Jeff’s iconic, punk-rock Jackson Soloist that he acquired around 1987. This guitar is hands-down the most famous guitar in metal. The story was Jackson wouldn’t give Jeff an endorsement. At the time, they were big into only giving free and custom guitars to hair metal bands. Jeff paid about $2,000 for it at the time, stickered it up and used it from the South of Heaven era all the way up until he retired it in 2011. 

Can you give us an update on Broken Hope?

This year marked the 30th anniversary of the band and we just came off a month-long tour of Europe. It was a celebration. Right now, I’m in writing mode for the next album and hope to hit the studio again in 2019.

In addition to being a guitarist, you’re also a novelist. What can you tell us about your latest book, Rabid Heart?

I’ve always been a dark-fiction writer. My first book, The Armageddon Chord, was about a guitar player who transcribed songs from different pieces of music. He winds up transcribing one from hieroglyphics that unleashes the apocalypse. My new book, Rabid Heart, is like the movie 28 Days Later meets Cormac McCarthy’s novel, The Road. There are rabid zombies called cujos, which are the result of a virus the government was using for military purposes. But these aren’t the dead rising from the graves. These are humans that have been transformed into violent, aggressive zombies. The main character discovers her fiancé has the virus and believes she can save him by driving them both to Florida. Along the way, she drives through this hell world of undead and human predators who believe the world is up for grabs. The reviews for it have been great.

What are you most looking forward to about this next phase of your career?

My two biggest passions are guitar and writing. So, I’m looking forward to putting out more Broken Hope albums and new books, including another novel and an authorized bio.

You can check out some of the most noteworthy items in Wagner's collection in the gallery below, with notes from Wagner himself.

We’ve seen Slayer’s "Raining Blood" performed on children’s instruments, and also Slayer’s Tom Araya interviewed by children. The newest entries in the "Slayer for Kiddies" category are Audrey and Kate, who perform a killer guitar-bass-and vocal cover of “Raining Blood,” as can be seen above.

Slayer isn’t the first metal band the two young girls have tackled. Check out their version of Judas Priest’s “Painkiller” and Pantera’s “Mouth For War” below.

You can check out more of the duo's videos here.

• Great guitars for kids: top electrics and acoustics for children

Slayer and Exodus guitarist Gary Holt recently sat down with Loudwire's Gear Factor to talk about some of his favorite guitar riffs, as well as what he loves about his ESP guitars.

To listen to Holt talk riffs and gear, as well as crank out some Ted Nugent and Ritchie Blackmore licks, check out the video below: