Kerry King is in the news lately because of multiple reasons. One is that he has a new band that’s hitting the road for tour dates. The other is that Slayer has reunited for select festival dates later this year. His solo album From Hell I Rise releases soon, but he’s talking a bit about one of his biggest influences, Iron Maiden. He sat down with RIFFX for an interview and talked a bit about Iron Maiden’s new era and Bruce Dickinson’s solo album The Mandrake Project.

“Haven’t heard Bruce’s new album, but I have a friend who told me it’s better than Maiden. Wouldn’t surprise me — nothing against Maiden, [but] their songs have gotten so long, man, I just can’t be bothered with it. And my attention span isn’t that much.”

He also talked a bit about Judas Priest’s new album, Invincible Shield.

“I haven’t heard the entirety of Priest’s new album, but I heard a handful of songs on satellite radio. Some are you know, typical. I heard one that stood out. ‘The Serpent and the King.’ That’s really cool; it sounds like a progression of what Priest [does]. I enjoyed that one. I haven’t heard the whole album, but I definitely will. Actually, I’m going to be playing with Priest in a couple of weeks.”

Well those are some surprising thoughts about the current era of Iron Maiden and for Judas Priest from King. Here’s what he had to say about his own solo material for the upcoming album.

“It’s what I want to play. If I ever had something I wanted to do other than Slayer, this would have been the time to do it. But obviously, I didn’t. You know, this is what I like. And this is why people like me, I think.”

While it is true that Iron Maiden’s songs have gotten longer over the years, especially in this new era, it’s not like the older songs were that much shorter. King might just be a Di’Anno era fan, who knows? Either way, I can’t say I agree with him, and he should probably listen to the entirety of Invincible Shield. But Kerry King is gonna Kerry King at the end of the day.

From Hell I Rise releases wherever you get your music on May 17th.

For more on Metal, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.

Source: RIFFX

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