(Planet Me)
Saturday, November 10, 2018
 
SLAYER / LAMB OF GOD / ANTHRAX / OBITUARY - London Wembley Arena 03 November 2018

This cavalcade of sound sees four of thrash metals biggest and best acts united for what seems to be Slayers final tour : Obituary are no doubt great – but we miss them thanks to a enthusiastic security search. Anthrax are next and play a set that shows they should be headliners in an alternate reality. Lamb Of God are the newest act and seem, certainly, to show how they are the next generation that carries the spirit forward. Finally, we get Slayer.

That Slayer can headline Wembley Arena on their ‘final tour’ – without having had any airplay, radio support, or anything in the way of hit singles for an astonishingly long time – is testament to, if nothing else, the durable loyalty of their fans – and the cross generational appeal that sees the 12,000 strong crowd (running from 16 to 60 in age) seemingly all united in air guitar and headbanging. In some respects, Slayer are a band that either you get or you don’t : and it is difficult to logically explain the appeal.

We miss Obituary, thanks to an absurdly long queue to enter. Anthrax are next and play like they are headlining : the crowd are rampant and the band are a tightly honed, finely tuned machine that deliver an endless succession of strong material – such as “Indians”, “Madhouse”, “Got The Time” and “Anti-Social” that serves as nothing so much as a spectacular advert for their next headline run.

Lamb of God are probably great but they’re not a band I have ever got to know or love. I do feel a bit like Old Father Time, confused by all this new music, its not even singing anyway, he’s just growling, and well, I’m sure they are fantastic but it doesn’t connect and I don’t know why they are here. Nonetheless, we use the time wisely and I attend to an unpleasant eye infection rather than see the band.

And finally, it’s Slayer. In this way, then, their ‘Final Tour’ is far more of a last, glorious celebration than anything maudlin : Slayer don’t have hits so much as songs that the crowd love, and they seem to have perfected their approach with 1986’s “Reign In Blood” and every record after that has been More Or Less More Of The Same. Whilst the lineup has changed thanks to death and money, it still feels like Slayer – as a concept, a brand, a band – are much bigger than anything as basic as the integrity of a lineup. The band are a rampaging beast with Tom Araya and Kerry King still fighting the good fight, alongside Gary Holt (of Exodus) on lead guitar and Paul Bostaph (who has been in and out of the band a few times) delivering a fierce pummeling assault.

The nearest comparison, complete with lineup changes and a stubborn work ethic, is a furious Satanic AC/DC. And, like AC/DC, Slayer give the crowd exactly what they want – an exhausting, and exhaustive – run through their entire body of work, with near enough every album represented. They open with “Repentless”, the relentless breakneck lead single and title track from their final album which could have been written anytime in their career, and barely lets up. It’s fierce and supremely Slayeriffic. Their biggest hit only made No. 50 in the charts in 1995 (“Serenity In Murder”, which you almost definitely don’t remember). Naturally, it isn’t played tonight. But then, the final encore is a twenty minute summary of the genre and the band completely : “Raining Blood”, “South of Heaven”, “Chemical Warfare”, and “Angel Of Death.”

No sentimental speeches or grand farewells, just a near endless wall of fire that shoots out pentagrams, a set of stone pentagrams, fluorescent skulls, and a ceaseless roar that sounds like an angry bear arguing with a broken jet engine. It is, of course, brilliant, stupid, hilarious, and invigorating in roughly equal amounts.

It is also the only place where ten thousand people can scream phrases like “HOW LONG CAN YOU SURVIVE THIS FROZEN WATER BURIAL?” and not be – at least – spoken to by the Police. If nothing else, Slayer are still, at this stage, as brutal and brilliant as they ever were ; and choosing to go out now, and not in an enfeebled state as some of the last Motorhead gigs were, ensures that memories and legacies are not diminished by time. Still reigning.


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