Slayer, one of metal's best, played to a packed house at Bogart's in Cincy on the night of April 13. Having not seen Slayer since the mid-'80s, I was anxious to check 'em out. The drive up was well worth it.
Slayer is one of the originators of speed/thrash/death metal. The band came out during the •80s wave of metal, putting out Show No Mercy around 1983. Metal fans definitely took notice! Slayer had a sound that was - and still is - heavier, faster and much more evil than most metal bands.
They opened with a couple of new songs from their latest disc, Diabolus in Musica, which got a good response, but the crowd seemed more pumped to hear some classic Slayer. The next couple of tunes, "War Ensemble" and "Born of Fire" - both from 1990s' Seasons In The Abyss CD - really caused a frenzy in the massive mosh pit and only left the crowd hungry for more.
Slayer played a good mix, shifting between old and new material. Many, many awesome tunes were played, including "Dittohead,""Die by the Sword,""Postmortem,""Raining Blood,"" Angel of Death" (from Reign in Blood), " Dead Skin Mask" and "Seasons in the Abyss." The show "ended" with the much-demanded "Mandatory Suicide." But . . . Slayer wasn't done yet. Much to the crowd's pleasure, the band came out for a few more songs, including "Chemical Warfare" and "South of Heaven. "
Whew! This was a killer show. If you missed this one, then you must be punished. One thing is for certain - Slayer is true to the craft. No need to worry about hearing any pop, dance, rap or hip-hop stuff, `cause these dudes ain't havin' none of that. You get what ya came for - heavy, ragin', wicked metal!
Sick Of It All and Meshuggah opened the show. Sorry to say that I didn't make it in time for these two bands - but I did hear that Meshuggah kicked butt.