Mark Osegueda has fronted Kerry King's solo band since the pandemic, and in a new conversation with Extreminal Metal TV the DEATH ANGEL vocalist offered a description of his employer that will not match many people's expectations.
"He's pretty wonderful," Osegueda said. "I consider him one of my dearest friends."
He is aware how that lands. King has spent four decades cultivating an image built on scowls, tattoos and a famously low tolerance for small talk, and Osegueda does not pretend the reputation came from nowhere. "It's always been the lore of SLAYER — daunting," he said. "But from an outsider's point of view, I could definitely see how people are leery to approach him." The man he actually works with, he says, is funny, and possesses a work ethic he could only describe as insane.
Osegueda did not fall into the job. He reached out to King directly during the pandemic with a straightforward pitch, and then had to earn it the slow way — a lengthy audition process, demo after demo, before King finally offered him the role. It is a detail worth holding onto, given how often the gig gets framed as a favour between two Bay Area thrash veterans.
The recording itself he describes without qualification. Two weeks at Henson Studios in Los Angeles with producer Josh Wilbur turned out to be "one of the most amazing studio experiences I've had".
King has since said publicly that he made the right call, noting that Osegueda's range extended well beyond what ended up being asked of him on the finished record.
That record, "From Hell I Rise", arrived in May 2024 via Reigning Phoenix Music, and assembled a band with no shortage of history: Osegueda on vocals, Phil Demmel and King on guitars, Paul Bostaph behind the kit and Kyle Sanders on bass. It was King's first release under his own name after SLAYER's retirement, and the first time in his career he had built a group from scratch rather than inherited one.
Osegueda continues to front DEATH ANGEL, who take "Act III" back across Europe on a 35th-anniversary tour in December.
Source: blabbermouth.net