The doors of the Aragon Ballroom opened at 4:30 P.M. and Thine Eyes Bleed were at full speed and done by 5:15. Children Of Bodom were on and off before I knew it, but they did Mastodon the favor of working the crowd into an almost fevered pitch. The boys from Atlanta burned up the stage for about an hour, and by 7:00, the entire crowd was up against the stage with devil horns at full mast. Mastodon closed their set with my personal favorite -- "Blood and Thunder" -- which was even better live than I could have hoped for. But all this was just the buildup for what came next.
At about 7:20, there came a sound. I'm not sure if it was human, animal or mechanical. But I do know it came from the massive stacks of speakers on stage. As soon as it stopped, the building went black. The crowd was then bathed in green, laser-like lights, followed by bright floodlights. When the floods went off, there stood Lamb of God. Lead singer Randy Blythe was front and center with his foot on a monitor and let loose the opening of "Ruin." About 4,000 fists shot into the air and began a pumping motion that would continue for the next hour.
I tried to keep up with the set list but found myself being carried away -- along with the rest of the audience -- by the unbelievable live performance of the Adler brothers: Chris on drums and Willie on guitar; not to exclude Mark Morton's guitar or John Campbell, who I would list as one of the top bass players in contemporary metal. When I got my head screwed back on, L.O.G. was shredding through favorites "As the Palaces Burn" and "Now You've Got Something to Die For," with its maniac opening guitar riff. I was a little disappointed with the sound in the venue, as I felt the bass was almost overwhelming and the vocals seemed to fade into the guitar on a few songs, but overall I was impressed. They may have waited a bit too long to play "Redneck" from their new album "Sacrament," (due out on August 22), because by then there was only one thing the people wanted to hear, and that was Slayer.
To truly explain the level of anticipation for Slayer's start, I'll just say that just the appearance of Dave Lombardo's drum kit on the stage brought a huge five-minute round of the now famous "Slayerrrrrr" chant. There was an almost worried air throughout the crowd, as if they felt the 'real' show would never start. They could not have been more wrong. When the 15-minute changeover was complete, the lights dimmed -- and the most perfect intro to "South of Heaven" washed over what I would have to guess was now 4,500 sweaty, tired, but all-at-once rejuvenated Slayer Freaks.
There is quite possibly no more ideal song to open with, and from there it just got better. All the hits came flooding out. About three songs into the set, Tom Araya, just fully healed from a recent minor surgery, asked the bloodthirsty fans, "So, how's it going so far? How has the show been? Do you like war? WAR ENSEMBLE!!!" The entire building started to shake! Kerry King's and Jeff Hanneman's guitars were pounding out the notes faster than my ears could take them in. I liked the fact that they got to a new tune early with "Cult" off the "Christ Illusion" album (due out on August 8), but I couldn't help longing for them to just play the old hits, and that is exactly what they did. It took everything in me to stay out of the pit that moved as though it was a single entity, and now took up half the floor. From that point, it was one brutal attack after another: "Mandatory Suicide," "Seasons in the Abyss," "Chemical Warfare," and on, and on, and on.... By the time "Raining Blood" started, I was burned out. I could barely take another moment. At the same time, I could not turn away for fear that I might miss something.
The night was getting on, and this was an all-ages event, so I knew our time with the Mighty Slayer would soon be over. And as tired as I was (and a bit on the over-served side) I hated to see them go. I was worried they were going to leave us without doing my all-time favorite -- "Angel of Death" - but they did not disappoint and it ended up being their encore. So perfect. I hadn't seen Slayer with Lombardo on drums before, but it was everything I had hoped for, no disrespect to Paul Bostaph, Tony Scaglione, or John Dette, but there is nothing like the original, and it showed. All in all, I would have to say this is the best lineup of what I hear will now be an annual "Unholy Alliance Tour," and I look forward to next year's pairings.
Oh -- I almost forgot......SLAYERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!
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