Slayer guitarist Kerry King brings new band to San Francisco
Co-founding guitarist of legendary thrash-metal group Slayer, Kerry King brings his new all-star band that shares his name to San Francisco for the first time Wednesday, playing songs from their debut album From Hell I Rise at the Regency Ballroom
They may have never achieved the mainstream popularity of fellow thrash pioneers Metallica and Megadeth, but Slayer's dedication to creating relentlessly ferocious metal without compromise has earned the group something far greater: iconic status as one of the heaviest bands in the world and a fierce loyalty from a rabid fan base.
Anchored by the tandem guitar attack of co-founders King and the late Jeff Hanneman, the blood-curdling bellow of singer/bassist Tom Araya, and the furious propulsion of monster drummer Dave Lombardo, Slayer pushed metal into more brutal and blasphemous territory starting with its 1983 debut Show No Mercy. From the raw, punk-influenced beginnings of the band's early albums through seminal recordings like the landmark efforts Reign In Blood and South of Heaven, Slayer laid the blueprint for countless extreme metal bands that followed in their wake.
Over the course of a nearly 30-year career, Slayer's dark vision and largely unchanged line-up has remained remarkably intact. Lombardo left in the early '90s, only to return in 2002 when his replacement, Paul Bostaph, was forced to temporarily retire due to a chronic injury. In 2009, the band issued its second album since Lombardo's return, the blisteringly powerful World Painted Blood. Hailed by some as the band's greatest achievement since 1990's Seasons in the Abyss, the effort proved that the passage of time hadn't mellowed the brutal quartet one bit.
Slayer had already been dealing with guitarist Hanneman's health issues after he contracted necrotizing fasciitis in 2011 and sat out several tours with Exodus guitarist Gary Holt filling in, but in 2013 the band was forced to cope with two serious blows. First Lombardo left the band over a pay dispute that had many fans crying foul, even after he was replaced by returning longtime drummer Bostaph. Far more difficult was the sudden passing of Hanneman in May from liver failure.
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The group decided to soldier on with Holt continuing in his role as the band's second guitarist and over the course of 2014 and 2015 worked in the studio on Slayer's first album since Hanneman's passing. Including several tunes the late guitarist had been working on prior to his death, Repentless came out in the fall 2015 on Nuclear Blast to wide critical acclaim. Tunes like "Implode" and the vicious title track proved Slayer has lost none of its characteristic ferocity.
While the band continued to tour and members discussed plans for Slayer's next album in 2017, early the following year the group announced that it would instead embark on a farewell tour that would eventually stretch into 2019. The extended jaunt would stop in the Bay Area twice with the band accompanied by fellow metal favorites Anthrax, Testament, Lamb of God, Ministry and more. However, last year the members of Slayer surprised fans with two reunion performances at Chicago's Riot Festival and Sacramento's own Aftershock with a third headlining set scheduled for the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville this fall after Hurricane Helene cancelled the 2024 edition of the Kentucky fest.
Besides the reunion shows, King has remained busy since the band retired, working on the songs that would make up his solo band's debut From Hell I Rise that came out last May to glowing reviews. Assembling a who's who of elite thrash-metal musicians with deep Bay Area connections -- longtime Slayer drummer Bostaph (who also once played in Forbidden), guitarist Phil Demmel (formerly with Vio-Lence and Machine Head, also a member of the new supergroup Category 7 featuring Armored Saint and former Anthrax frontman John Bush), and Death Angel vocalist Mark Osegueda all were raised locally -- the group is rounded out by Hellyeah bassist Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah).
On its current headlining tour that stops at the Regency Ballroom on Jan. 15, Kerry King is joined by popular Virginia-based band Municipal Waste. One of the leading crossover punk/thrash revivalists touring today, Municipal Waste was founded in Richmond, Virgina in 2001. Led by singer Tony Foresta and guitarist Ryan Waste, the quintet crafts a hectic brand of metal-infused hardcore that nods to the sounds made by '80s greats D.R.I., Agnostic Front and early Corrosion of Conformity and the thrash stylings of the Bay Area's own Exodus. A string of singles and EPs for several independent labels eventually led to a deal with Earache Records.
Municipal Waste further refined it's often humorous, horror-focused style of metal on two celebrated recordings -- 2005's Hazardous Mutation and The Art of Partying two years later before eventually moving on to its current label home at Nuclear Blast Records. The band plays songs from its latest effort, 2022's Electrified Brain. Acclaimed New Zealand thrash/groove trio Alien Weaponry opens the show. Breaking new ground with their 2018 Napalm Records debut Tū and 2021 follow-up Tangaroa, the group earned global attention with its politically charged lyrics sung in English and Maori and creative incorporation of native music elements that recalled Sepultura's classic Roots album.
Kerry King with Municipal Waste and Alien Weaponry
Wednesday, Jan. 15, 6 p.m. $44.95-$85
Regency Ballroom