Slayer are Repentless in Seattle

Slayer w/ Testament and Carcass
Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA
03.19.16

“SLAAAAAYER!” Is not something you can just say casually. It is usually done while screaming at the top of your lungs with a trademark Tom Araya impersonation. It is no surprise that tonight’s show at Seattle’s beautiful Paramount Theater sold out well in advance. That’s what happens when one of the most influential bands in the metal/thrash scene, and one of the “Big Four” – including Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax – comes to town. It certainly didn’t hurt bringing Bay Area titans Testament and England’s Carcass along for a powerhouse thrash metal tour package.

Supporting their 12th studio album Repentless, the 35-year-old California band shows no signs of slowing down at this, one of the last stops, nearing the end of their six week North American tour.

Opening tonight’s thrashtivities is England’s Carcass. They have been enjoying resurgence in the thrash music scene since re-forming in 2007 and the packed house reflects the desire for all to see the band live. After all, they don’t often tour stateside so their performance is a treat. The lights dim, and fog rolls across the eerily lit stage, adorned with a medical imagery backdrop and the band’s glowing cabinets. Jeff Walker hobbles in from side stage, having just days before fractured his left ankle. The band does not disappoint, slicing through their set with the precision of their 2013 release Surgical Steel.

San Francisco Bay Area titans Testament are always fantastic live. Towering frontman Chuck Billy has a presence and booming vocal delivery that commands the already rabid crowd to get further whipped into the frenzy. Blasting through classics like “Low, Dog-Faced Gods,” and crowd favorite “Into The Pit,” which had Billy declaring how many insane pits they have seen over the years. He then began splitting the crowd from left to right, saying “I want to see the right side beating the shit out of the left side.” At that very moment he spotted a guy in a bright yellow banana suit and instructed him to get in the middle of the floor and then to the crowd, “When I say GO, everyone needs to rip that banana apart!” That pit on “Go” was a rabid moshing sight to behold with the band providing the soundtrack for destruction. Testament were most definitely on fire, proving that they’re more than worthy of a spot with the “Big 4” thrash legends.

Once their set concludes and gear starts to get moved off stage, the giant white kabuki screen drops to mask the spectacle to come. As time for the set draws near and the house lights dim, images of four white crosses project onto the screen. With the intro music blaring, the crosses slowly invert then disappear into moving pentagrams spinning in multiple directions to form the trademark Slayer logo splitting into two before the curtain drops to a thunderous roar and the band blares through opener “Repentless.”

Since 1981 Slayer has been uncompromising in their brand of punk/hardcore thrash metal. You don’t go to a Slayer show expecting to hear any ballads. You go knowing full well the brutality of the evening ahead. Songs covering such dark themes of murder, serial killers, torture, genocide, and Satanism are just the beginnings of the legacy we all have come to know at a Slayer show.

The black-light painted backdrop featuring the latest album cover is a crucified, thorn-crowned Christ theme, and it looks hauntingly three-dimensional as dry ice vapor creeps across the stage. During the set the backdrop changes three times until the final songs honoring fallen founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman. Hanneman’s riffs have defined “legacy songs” that are staples in the band’s set list. “South Of Heaven,” “Dead Skin Mask,” “Angel Of Death”. The famous Hanneman – Angel of Death – Still Reigning backdrop falls to close out an intense all killer, no filler set, leaving a moshing pit wanting more. What an incredible show from a band that still delivers a crushing “repentless” performance. It is good to be SLAAAAAYER!

Slayer Set List
Repentless
Post Mortem
Born of Fire
Disciple
God Send Death
War Ensemble
When The Stillness Comes
You Against You
Mandatory Suicide
Hate Worldwide
Chemical Warfare
Pride In Prejudice
Take Control
Seasons In The Abyss
Hell Awaits
Dead Skin Mask
Rain In Blood
Black Magic
South Of Heaven
Angel Of Death