Metallica meets Parliament, it's King Hell —
the Epic Defenders of Metal and Funk!

With dual, dynamo front-men, epic guitar, and earthquake inducing bass and drums, King Hell's groove-infused classic metal and relentless live show come with a money-back guarantee to tear the roof off the joint, burn the house down, and make audiences dance 'round the flames—and their new CD Rhythm & Bruise makes good on their sworn, solemn vow to deliver pure rock ecstasy wherever it is needed.

Doc Thompson, co-vocalist Samwell, and guitarist Motherfökker began playing as teenagers in Cambridge MA, sharing a strong affinity for old-school metal and early funk. "Initially, we bonded over Black Sabbath and Metallica," relates Samwell. "Metal became an addiction. Then we discovered Funkadelic's album Maggot Brain and The Meters. Funk was a revelation. Experiencing groove for the first time blew our exceedingly white minds." Excited to fuse both influences, the three found that funk and metal dovetailed perfectly. "If you're banging your head while shaking your ass, it's doubly devastating"

Relocating to New York, the members formed King Hell. "We were originally called Longinus, but everyone thought that was a venereal disease, which is very metal... but not in a good way." To complete the band, new drummer Shille-Lee and bassist Zigabot were brought on board. While both were well versed in funk, they also brought to King Hell experience with different genres. Shille-Lee drummed for seminal '80s hardcore outfit The Abused, and Zigabot had played in death metal bands. "They were the perfect complement. They could groove like pimps, but when we wanted to step on the gas they were capable of going absolutely ape shit."

Another significant addition to King Hell was the element of an electric, theatrical stage show. "People long for bands like Queen and KISS because they were larger than life," says Samwell. "Plugging into that was liberating. At some point, rock got really self-conscious. We're confident enough in the quality of our music to embrace carnival. We're like Cirque du Soleil, minus the elegance and trapeze, which we're barred from using. So, more like Berserk du Soleil." Drawing on their love of comics, a unique concept for a rogue team of rock avengers emerged. "It started under control, but by our second show, Doc was in a zoot suit waving a Tommy gun and I found myself standing on a horned anvil in Batman's pants."

After releasing their debut EP in 2007 on Seventh Level Records, the band began building a strong following throughout New York, quickly branching out to play shows across New England and the Tri-State area. A year and a half of steady gigging culminated in shared bills with reunited schlock rockers Green Jelly and an opening spot on horror punk legends The Misfits 30th anniversary show in front 2,000 people. Playing with costumed bands became something of a theme. "If you look goofy, we've probably played a show with you."

Towards the end of 2008, the band hunkered down to begin work on their first full-length recording, Rhythm & Bruise, a 13 song maximum effort released in October of this year. "We pushed ourselves to write songs that spanned everything we could do. 'Oblivion' is influenced by Swedish metal, 'Mr. Fancy Pants' is raw funk, and 'Bad Mofo' is definitely metal, but the drums are a New Orleans shuffle. What ties it together as King Hell music is a focus on rhythm and melody." The CD's lyrics are similarly varied in content and style. 'Brooklyn' tells the story of the band in a poetic way... and then there's 'Retarded Forces of Doom'.

To capture the broad spirit of the new material, the band signed on with engineer and co-producer Sal Mormando whose diverse resume spanned work with hard rock bands like Clutch to a Grammy nominated CD by jazz artist Raphael Cruz. "We don't like the synthetic production value of lots of today's music, so most of the CD is us playing together in-studio. Sal used a lot of room mic-ing and did a great job capturing our live sound. Also, at no point during the recording process did he lose patience and shoot us, which was a big plus."

King Hell will broaden their reach to play shows across the country throughout the next year in support of Rhythm & Bruise. For 2010, they've already landed appearances at the Gramercy Theater and the Highline Ballroom in New York City, a berth at the 14th annual, International Millennium Music Conference & Showcase in Harrisburg, PA, a showcase at Six Flags New Jersey, and the headlining slots at two major music industry showcases during the South By Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, TX. Look for them at a venue near you soon, and possibly under your bed.