Metal Reviews

I've been listening mainly to the entire Slayer back catalogue for the last month and I'm starting to froth at the mouth at the prospect of this tour happening in just six days now. As long as they play virtually all the Dave Lombardo drummed Slayer songs (and maybe a couple from Divine Intervention) then I will finally be ready to die and go to hell!!

Anyway, why isn't 'South of Heaven' reviewed on this site? I reckon it's the most underrated album of the 80s and has arguably the best two song start to any album ever (South of Heaven into Silent Scream is sheer quality)! Obviously being the follow up to 'Reign' was always going to go against 'South' as 'Reign' is the most perfect Thrash album ever made, but I reckon South of Heaven's 'slower' subtlety made it just as menacing, if not more.

South of Heaven is a great album but one little thing always fucking pissed me off-Live Undead starts off with a riff which you're sure will induce some headbanging, but the drums never form a solid beat to that riff to headbang to; they kind of just do fills which you'd expect to introduce the riff with a couple of times and just when you're ready for the solid beat to come in it doesn't! A small thing but I always founsd that because of the drumming that was one of the most wasted riffs Slayer have ever done.

Hey Live Undead still kills!

Live Undead is a good example why Slayer fans didn't take to this album as much as the two albums around it, but I think it's a cracking tune that just builds and builds then kicks you in the nuts at the end.

I'm just on about the intro riff, it's so wasted because of the shitty drumming behing it. Lombardo kicks ass, but not there.

Haha, mentalmark's signature; fisting the devil.

The the proverbial blind man says, I hear what you're saying! I suppose Dave Lombardo is one of those untouchable, 'never can do any wrong' types, but I agree with you. I heard the demo version of Criminally Insane from Reign In Blood and the drumming was awful. The album version was just a bit faster but not a huge improvement, but it goes to show that even the biggest Metal Gods can do crap, isn't that right post Cliff Burton Metallica?

I just think that Lombardo fucked up that riff. It's not that big a thing, it just REALLY pisses me off, it's a little niggle that always annoys me.

After spending a whole day of sobring up, I can now report on how the Cardiff leg of this gig was. First of all, some shout outs. To all who saw a long-haired guy in a Dragonforce T-shirt throwing up in the 'Pit for Slayer and especially those I puked on, apologies. Thanks to the person who handed in my phone after it was kicked out of my hand, and thanks to the guy at the train station (Gareth from Bridgend?) for putting up with my drunken ramblings about Metal in general.

Thine Eyes Bleeds - Imagine new Slayer with Alexi of Bodom on vocals and that's more or less what these guys sound like. Performance wise, the frontman (sorry, couldn't be bothered to look up his name) was excellent and the drummer was super human, however, Tom Araya's brother on Bass is no feature to the band other than his surname as he was quite wooden and seemed to be making up the numbers. That aside, they were a good start to the night and they're certainly worth checking out.

Children of Bodom - I was a bit disappointed that these guys were the second act on as I thought they'd be off after just a few tunes. They managed a full blasting forty minutes that started with the 'Naked Gun' Theme then straight into Silent Night, Bodom Night which is one of my fave Bodom tunes ever. Suffice to say they kept the set varied and Alexi confirmed to me once more that he's one of the best frontmen around. For me band of the night and the only let down was that they should have had the same amount of time In Flames had and vice-versa.

Lamb of God - I can't say I'm a fan, but they seem to be the most up and coming band around. Musically they're tight, great drummer, good guitarist and Randy Blythe did one of the best Phil Anselmo impersonations I've seen this side of Jamey Jasta. That, for me, is the problem, the constant comparisons to Pantera isn't healthy. You can't fault them for effort, but Randy's stage presence is so reminiscent of a young Phil, I was wondering why I didn't recognise any of their tunes and when they would play Walk or Mouth For War.

In Flames - Ok, we all know that this band have transformed themselves into a chart friendly act, and we know that they have lost more fans than sold records recently (which equates to 100 fans to each one of 'Soundtrack' sold), but could they cut it live? Well, they were the only band to play a power ballad all night so that more or less sums up the state of these guys. A lot of the back catalogue sounded really punishing and made me glad to be at the front, then they'd chuck in something like the song Come Clarity and the momentum was lost. By this point I was a bit hammered, so decided that this was the best time to go for a lie down and I actually dozed through to the end of their set. I may have missed a highlight, but I just thought that they were a bit dull, a bit lacklustre and, for me, the worst band of the night.

Slayer - When they started with the intro to 'God Hates Us All' then into Disciple I actually wanted to cry and not for the right reasons. It was like 'new' Slayer were here today and this is the best foot forward. Fair enough, in some ways you can say that Slayer have had two careers-the Dave Lombardo years and the Paul Bostaph years. They've always been Slayer but, for me, haven't been as good as Seasons in the Abyss, so for them to start off with Disciple just seemed wrong and I was thinking that I should have left the gig after Bodom.

Obviously things got a hell of a lot better as they stayed away from virtually all of the 1994-2001 stuff, but even songs like Jihad fitted in really well with the back catalogue. Special mention about Raining Blood, it just remains the greatest thrash song of all time, even hearing it again live after all these years. By this time I was a mess, not only from the booze but sheer excitement of seeing Slayer in full flow. They were just what they've always been, the best Thrash Metal band of all time and ending with Angel of Death was sublime (although I was on the floor at this point as every last ounce of rage was exorcised).

So to summarise, in my opinion, this was one of the best gigs I've been to in years. In Flames were the only band I really didn't enjoy, but that was probably more to do with me being wasted. I even made time for Lamb of God and they were pretty good live, although not really what I'm into at the moment. I just hope that Bodom doesn't follow the Flames down that commercial route as they were outstanding. Thine Eyes Bleed are worth looking out for and Slayer were just incredible. If you've got tickets for this tour then I envy you as I'd love to do it again. If you haven't got tickets and there's some available, just buy them as I think it will be a while before a tour this good comes around again. And no, I'm not a promoter!!

Dude, why so many posts?

Guess I'm just a chatty guy! Too much time on my hands and just being a bit anal retentive in keeping a structure to my whitterings

Well at least Bodom get 40 minutes and play old songs. Slayer opening with Disciple?

My opinions to follow the Glasgow leg on Thursday, possibly all in the one post.

Hope you had a blast man. I've been miserable as sin since Monday as I reckon this was one of the better gigs around.