Kerry King - Idle Hands [Single] (2024)

★★★★

Beginning in classic Kerry King fashion, the song has an open-E galloping riff a-la SLAYER. Very predictable, but that’s not a bad thing! It then kicks into a simple yet sinister riff by King and Demmel... then BOOM! Mark Osegueda’s powerful vocals jump to the front of the mix, with a nice blend of growliness and his signature higher fried vocal style. The delivery is sharp his vocals on this song just sound massive. After the chorus, we get... a real solo? From KING? Yes, folks, Kerry and Phil play some REAL SOLOS on this song. SLAYER fans might not be used to King’s genuine soloing abilities, but they’ve now come to light! After the first solo, we’re treated to some more verses and another chorus before another slow section and a final solo that leads us out of the song. The rhythm work from Bostaph and Sanders is killer as well, holding it all down and adding lots of thickness to the sound. Overall, it’s a great choice for a debut single and if all the new material sounds like this, we think fans are gonna be in for a good time with FROM HELL I RISE.

Encyclopædia Metallum (no entry)

Listen

Originally published in February '24 (Issue No. 1)