Thursday 10th June
Slayer - Festival Stage (4/5)
I remember the first time I heard Slayer - I was a teenager back in 1986 or something and a friend of mine played me “Hell Awaits”. Back then I was only into melodic rock and I had never heard anything like that ever. That wasn’t music, that was a raging bulldozer on speed trying to crush everything in its way.
That made made me hate Slayer until I saw “Seasons In The Abyss” on Headbanger’s Ball in 1991. I have since then changed my mind a lot and even though I now believe that Seasons In the Abyss is Slayer’s magnum opus and that the albums after that aren't all that great, I now like their earlier records a lot.
Having never seen Slayer live before I really looked forward to this gig, especially now that drummer Dave Lombardo, one of metal’s greatest drummers is back in the band. Afterwards I can only state that witnessing a gig with Slayer is like being run over by a steamroller, but in a good way. The band are extremely tight and heavy, even though Kerry King is a horrible guitarist and when they play all their classics, stuff like “Raining Blood”, “Dead Skin Mask”, “War Ensamble”, “South Of Heaven” and “Seasons In The Abyss” you just have to surrender. And when you see Tom Araya, all grey haired with a huge smile on his face while playing this, dark and evil music in the sunshine, you just gotta love it. I had high hopes that Slayer would put on a good show, but I never thought they’d be this good.
This was certenly not the last time I will go to see them...
Check out Slayer :
www.slayer.net
Review : Jon Wilmenius
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