Oregon Music News: Oregon’s all-genre music magazine since 2009

01/31/2025

Kerry King w/Municipal Waste and Alien Weaponry at the Roseland Theater on 01/19/25 Photos

By BENJAMIN MAH //

After Slayer played their final show in 2019, guitarist Kerry King made it very clear in multiple interviews that he wasn’t all that thrilled about his main band calling it quits and that he had no intention of stopping. It took 5 years, but he wasn’t kidding. His first solo record “From Hell I Rise” was released in May of last year. One listen and it’s very much what you’d expect from the guy who wrote the bulk of the material in Slayer for on their last few albums, and I mean that in the most positive of ways. That’s on record though, what about the live experience?

When Slayer last played this area, it was on their “farewell” tour at the RV Inn Style Amphitheater. But even from the smaller stage at the Roseland Theater and with some different faces on guitars and bass, Kerry still brings what 30 plus years of shredding gets you, some well executed ass kicking, riff driven, satan praising metal.

First opener Alien Weaponry got the surprisingly mostly full venue warmed up with their Maori-inspired metal. On paper what they do could sound kind of gimmicky - metal sung almost entirely in their native Maori language, but it practice it was anything but. As all good metal does, the music transcended any language barriers and they were very enthusiastically received by the crowd. Next up, another inspired choice of opening acts, the 80’s punk/thrash/crossover revivialists Municipal Waste. They’re a well honed live band, who don’t even kind of take themselves seriously, but are a seriously tight band that really delivers on stage and were received by the crowd with the kind of enthusiasm reserved for a headliner. And like all Municipal Waste shows, there were circle pits and crowd surfing aplenty.

Then after all that, the lights went down and “Diablo”, the leadoff track from Kerry King’s solo album began playing as two inverted crosses lit up in the dark signaling the appearance of the headliner. And for the next 90min, the band ran through most of the solo record, a few surprise Maiden covers, and a few more not so surprising Slayer covers. All played with the kind of precision of someone who’s been doing this for awhile, which is very much a positive thing. For being a “debut” album, the band sounded like the veterans they are, Singer Mark Osegueda (doing double duty from his main gig with Death Angel) worked the crowd with purpose, setting the tone and letting King and his band do the rest. King staked out stage left, staying focused on the task at hand, but clearly enjoying himself.

The rest of the band followed suit, and knocked out excellent renditions of the solo material, and also turning in some inspired versions of the Slayer classics including “Reign in Blood “ and “Disciple”, among others. All in all, this was an excellent night of metal, from the relative newcomers in Alien Weaponry, to the seasoned vets in Municipal Waste, and the legends in Kerry King’s band. From hell I rise indeed.

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