2010 13
Slayer – Wacken Open Air 06/08/2010
Ah, Slayer. Evil personified. Emissaries of Hell. Most extreme band in the world.
Never liked them much myself. They always seemed to try a bit too hard. Everyone bitches about Metallica being sellouts, but the truth is that Slayer stopped evolving back 1990 and pretended they were too hardcore to compromise. And one look at Kerry King’s eminently punchable face always made me wanna listen to the Black Album or something.
Thank Satan for Tom Araya then. He made me reconsider almost single- handedly. Bathed in a crimson light, King and Hanneman don’t bother moving around or acknowledging the crowd. They just go through the songs with terrifying speed and accuracy, but if you are not already a fan of their sound, they won’t win you over. Araya is the man though. He laughs and teases the fans, before launching into South of Heaven or Mandatory Suicide like he’s possessed. He seems to be enjoying himself immensely and his laid- back demeanour makes his screaming in stuff like Dead Skin Mask sound truly diseased and unpleasant. And Lombardo is one of the greats, casually going through dizzying tempos and making it seem easy.
Basically, they make younger pretenders (like Dew- Scented, whose morning set was like an exercise in noise for noise’s sake) look like amateurs. The crowd is too stunned to do much (if this was a Greek gig you ‘d be lucky to escape the moshpit intact), but overall this is a success. And Angel Of Death sounds glorious.
setlist:
1.World Painted Blood
2.Hate Worldwide
3.War Ensemble
4.Expendable Youth
5.Dead Skin Mask
6.Seasons in the Abyss
7.Hell Awaits
8.Spirit in Black
9.Mandatory Suicide
10.Chemical Warfare
11.Raining Blood
12.South of Heaven
13Angel of Death
(-Dimitris Kontogiannis-)
All photos taken by -manoc- for CnB magazine
About the Author: CnB
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