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Artist
King Hell!
10+ albums
heavy metalSouthern metalstoner metal
about
Legendary “gonzo journalist” Hunter S. Thompson made up his own adjective anytime he tried to describe the ultimate of something: “It was the king hell of all parties.” “This bastard was a serious, king hell crazy.” No doubt, the late great author of Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas would feel the same sense of visceral energy if he’d had the chance to check out King Hell, the furious and funky, intensely tongue in cheek New York based indie powerhouse named after his turn of phrase. Drawing soul and inspiration from Metallica, Parliament-Funkadelic, as well as Art Neville’s New Orleans blues-funk band The Meters, King Hell blazes into 2010 with their popular as ever theatrical stage carnival and a highly anticipated debut album, aptly titled Rhythm & Bruise—the follow-up to their popular self-titled 2007 EP. King Hell are anchored by the dueling vocals of Samwell and Doc Thompson. Along with guitarist Mötherfökker (aka Möfö), they first bonded over a mutual love of Black Sabbath and Metallica, and started jamming in high school in Cambridge, MA years ago. “We were originally called Longinus“, says Samwell, “but everyone thought that was a venereal disease—which is very metal, but not in a good way.” Eventually moving to New York and renaming themselves King Hell—“which sounded commanding instead of contagious,” says Doc—the band has come a long way from their first gig at The Continental in NYC two and a half years ago. Fans find it hard to believe that back then, Doc wore
