In the wake of what was widely dubbed as the biggest and best day of Metal ever the day before with Sabbath's Back To The Beginning shindig, Slayer cleverly booked a couple of big outdoor events either side of it. Alongside them they brought along a few bands who themselves graced the stage in Birmingham (Anthrax, Mastodon) alongside a few other welcome additions (Amon Amarth, Hatebreed). The result was a gloriously Metal day in the baking sunshine.
First up for us came Hatebreed (9/13) who, much like they did at Download, helped to whip the crowd in to the mood early doors. The setlist almost exactly mirrored their performance at Download, but a couple of issues out of their control hampered this particular showing including a ropey sound. It felt like the sound engineers were battling the speakers and trying to reconfigure things at points which caused mad upswings in volume mixed with points where the snare drum seemed to take on a life of it's own. The quality of Hatebreed's tracks, especially when they're simply cracking out a blitz of hits helped to overcome this and by the end the sun beating down wasn't even a big enough factor to stop a series of huge pits down the front. Big stupid fun.
Next up came Mastodon (12/13) who, despite the recent absence of Brent Hinds, delivered one of their best outdoor performances to date. Mastodon have always famously fared better on their own tours inside venues but here they tore that theory to shreds. Opening with Tread Lightly, despite having around 45 minutes they ripped through tracks covering no less than seven of their records. Crystal Skull proved to be a turning point four tracks in which kicked the crowd up a level or two with new guitarist Nick Johnston seriously impressing throughout. Bill Kelliher seemed to engage in vocals even more than he has over the years and with that power and growl it was more than welcome. The band just generally seemed on good form, really up for it and genuinely having a great time. They seemed as sad as most of the crowd when it all came to an end after closer Blood & Thunder also brought on one of the biggest rain showers of the day - a moment of such good timing by the way to an extent that it felt like true lightning in a bottle.
Following that Mastodon set was going to be a tall order for anyone but given the fact this was a Slayer day and the majority of the audience wanted Thrash madness, Anthrax (11/13) stepped up and injected further energy at every turn. When you're opening a set with Among The Living in to Caught In A Mosh in to Madhouse it feels impossible not to get everyone riled up. As they have been for a few years now, Anthrax proved to be on blistering form and absolutely loving it. Running and stomping around from the first minute to the last, they've proven once again to be perfect foil for a Slayer crowd. Very enjoyable indeed.
Providing some light entertainment after Anthrax, the crowd were then treated to seeing an army of production crew piecing together the convoluted stage set up for Amon Amarth (10/13). Amon Amarth are an interesting prospect live at the moment - if you've seen their show in the past few years you're not getting anything new so we've definitely welcomed the release of new music this week as a sign they're about to launch in to the next chapter. There wasn't necessarily anything wrong with this performance, it's just that at times it felt a bit Amon Amarth by numbers. Given they were sub-headlining Slayer and have in recent years reached the heights of headlining the likes of Bloodstock, they actually drew the smallest crowd all day - everyone seemingly using the time to peruse the extensive amount of food stalls.
On then to the main event. The almighty Slayer (12/13). The thrash titans are currently enjoying semi-retirement in unique fashion, playing a select handful of dates here and there in the kind of form they actually struggled to consistently maintain throughout the very extensive farewell tour. One thing is clear, the break has done them a world of good as they slammed through a blistering performance from the first minute to the last. Opening with South Of Heaven in to Repentless in to Disciple is frankly relentless and the crowd soaked it up with huge enthusiasm. War Ensemble in to Chemical Warfare was another real highlight midway through the set as the thrash legends stomped around the stage in a manner which made it all look easy. Tom Araya was in a buoyant mood throughout - it's impossible not to find him grinning and chuckling through the likes of Dead Skin Mask amusing. Kerry King and Gary Holt paired off wonderfully as usual and Paul Bostaph was absolutely on it throughout. Later on in the set Slayer cracked out the Black Sabbath cover they'd performed at the Back To The Beginning event the night before - a brilliant amalgamation of Wicked World and their own Postmortem. Closing proceedings with the classic 1-2 of Raining Blood and Angel Of Death, the crowd left in to the night more than satisfied. Who knows what the future holds for Slayer - whether they re-accept retirement status or if they continue with a handful of shows a year. If it's the latter we will be waiting eagerly.