Kerry King Rocks Brazil’s Bangers Open Air With Explosive Set (Video)

Kerry King, the legendary guitarist formerly of Slayer, brought his solo project’s signature intensity to the Bangers Open Air festival in São Paulo, Brazil, this past weekend (May 4, 2025). Fan-filmed footage captured the band tearing through a setlist heavy on material from King‘s debut solo album, From Hell I Rise, including tracks like “Where I Reign,” “Trophies Of The Tyrant,” “Residue,” and the title track.

Never one to forget his roots, King also treated the Brazilian crowd to iconic Slayer anthems “Disciple,” “Raining Blood,” and “Black Magic.” The set even included a cover of Iron Maiden‘s “Killers,” showcasing the band’s thrash and classic metal influences.

According to Setlist.fm, the band performed the following songs during their set:

01. “Where I Reign“
02. “Rage“
03. “Trophies of the Tyrant“
04. “Residue“
05. “Two Fists“
06. “Idle Hands“
07. “Disciple (Slayer cover)“
08. “Killers (Iron Maiden cover)“
09. “Shrapnel“
10. “Raining Blood (Slayer cover)“
11. “Black Magic (Slayer cover)“
12. “From Hell I Rise“

From Hell I Rise dropped almost exactly a year ago, in May 2024, via Reigning Phoenix Music. The album, recorded in 2023 with producer Josh Wilbur (known for work with Korn, Lamb of God), features material written entirely by King.

Kerry King solo band consists of drummer Paul Bostaph (a fellow Slayer alumnus), bassist Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah), guitarist Phil Demmel (formerly of Machine Head), and vocalist Mark Osegueda (Death Angel).

Despite a busy touring schedule supporting the debut, King is already focused on the next chapter. He recently told Rolling Stone Brasil about his progress on a follow-up album. “I made up two songs since I’ve been home,” he revealed, adding, “So we keep working on stuff… we have stuff to work on when we get together.”

King outlined his ideal timeline for recording the sophomore effort, aiming to capitalize on the band’s live chemistry. “What the plan is, is whenever [the] cycle [for From Hell I Rise] is done, and right now that looks to me like October, Paul and I have always talked about going straight from playing live, taking maybe a week off and go right in the studio to keep your tour chops, so you’re firing on all cylinders… and get in there and record it,” King explained. “So, ideally, in my perfect world, it would be done this year and then just hand it to the record company and say, ‘Put it in line, whenever you want it to come out.'”

Recently speaking at a press conference in São Paulo, Brazil, he explained why classic Slayer songs are crucial to his solo setlist:

“Part of the reason I’m doing Slayer songs in my set is because it’s part of my past, part of our legacy, and if Slayer never comes down here again, I play these songs so people in South America, wherever I play, they can still enjoy the songs that I’ve written over the last 40 years. So, to me, it’s an extension of Slayer because Slayer went away. Slayer got taken away from me as well. I planned on being Slayer forever. And I still am; we’re just not playing that often. But I like to give fans a taste of what I am now, what I was then, songs they’re probably never gonna see again live. I wanna give that to them. I wanna show people that were too young to see Slayer the first time how cool it was, because I think we do the Slayer songs justice. And me moving forward, I’ll have more and more solo material, but I’m not ever gonna forget that I was in Slayer and I’ll always play some of that too.”

The Kerry King solo band made its live debut in May 2024 with an intimate show at Reggies in Chicago, quickly followed by major festival appearances at Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple. They launched a European tour in June 2024, hitting festivals like Rock Am Ring, Hellfest, and Download, and later supported Lamb of God and Mastodon on the “Ashes Of Leviathan” tour across North America in July and August 2024.