Slayer + Trivium + Mastodon + Amon Amarth @ Wolverhampton Civic Hall – 28th October 2008

Despite a heavy blizzard and a slight hiccup with the passes for tonight’s show, I still manage to catch the second half of Amon Amarth’s set. I can see I am not the only person to have been held up by the weather or put off by the early start (doors opened at 5.30pm!), as the venue is barely half full at this point.

Although the crowd is thin on the ground the band seems to have stirred up a small frenzy up front and I find myself getting caught up in the infectious atmosphere as they stampede through some of their best works in the form of ‘Free Will Sacrifice’ from their latest album ‘Twilight of the Thunder Gods’ and other gems such as ‘Cry of the Blackbirds’ and ‘Pursuit of Vikings’.

From the small taster of Death Metal with Viking overtures which I sampled, Amon Amarth delivered a fantastically solid and meaty performance and I was truly disappointed not to have seen the whole set.

Next up were the mighty Mastodon where we were bombarded with such rhythmically pulsating drumming from Brann Dailor that it felt like the classic scene from Platoon where you imagine you can feel the impact of the bullets exploding through Sgt. Elias Grodin’s chest.

The Civic Hall is finally starting to fill up and the intensity of Mastodon’s set is increasing with each and every song as they rip through the likes of ‘Crystal Skull’ and ‘Blood and Thunder’. This band are so technically talented it is untrue — there are not many bands who can balance such complex and delicately intricate guitar work whilst slicing your face off with the contrasting vocal talents of Brent Hinds and Troy Sanders – a real searing sound which you know will leave you with ringing in your ears for the rest of the week!

I can honestly say I was not too sure what to expect of Trivium, not having seen them live before and knowing only a hand-full of their songs…..I certainly was not prepared to hear their pre-set intro – Juke Box Hero by Foreigner, closely followed by swirling blue lights and an audio operatic display strangely reminiscent of the infamous Old Spice advert (the mid-section of O Fortuna from Carmina Burana)! Just what on earth was going on?!

It seems it was all just a prelude to a complete annihilation of every sensory organ my body possesses — Trivium spat out songs from their new album ‘Shogun’ which included ‘Throes of Perdition’ and ‘Into the Mouth of Hell we March’, as well as some older material, with such force and brutality that the whole building was reverberating for most of their set. Although it was great to experience this wall of noise, it did at times drown out the guitars.

I had a strong sense that Trivium felt the need to raise the bar tonight to meet with the demands of an audience who were not there solely to see them perform. Jibing comments from vocals/guitar frontman Matt Healy included “If you’re not moving something on your f***ing body then you are a f***ing pussy” and “If you do not move you are not f***ing metal!” I am not entirely convinced that this is the way to impress fans and influence people and it might have appealed to the younger element of the crowd but us more seasoned metalheads prefer to hear something a little more intellectual!!

To be fair to Trivium though, they really kicked ass tonight and we caught a glimpse of a potentially great band in the making — and yes I am measuring them against the success of the likes of Slayer when I say this. Whether you turned up tonight a Trivium fan or not, the overwhelming feeling was that the band seemed intent on pummeling you into submission anyway!

And of course, the band that everyone had been waiting for finally graced us with their presence — the crowd had been chanting for them since Trivium had finished their set and Slayer responded by emerging from behind a white veil screen like the beautiful blushing bride of mayhem and mischief that they are.

They make a gig like this look so effortless, cutting through the atmosphere with such precision, just plying you with one classic song after another — ‘War Ensemble’, ‘Chemical Warfare’, ‘Cult’, ‘Live Undead’, Seasons in the Abyss’, ‘Dead Skin Mask’, ‘Reign in Blood’, ‘South of Heaven’ and ‘Angel of Death’ to quote but a few. Tom Araya obviously doesn’t feel the need to break the spell with too much banter — only politely suggesting “try to enjoy yourselves tonight” after the first couple of songs.

I have seen Slayer many times over the past 18 years and they never, ever disappoint; they know exactly how to interact with the crowd and how to put together an incredibly amazing set. Blending their older and newer material and fusing their harder/faster songs with some of their more melodic offerings in such a way to ensure your captivation all the way through.

Slayer are quite simply the all powerful giants of the metal scene and it will be a long time before any other band will ever exceed the standard which Slayer have set for all who follow.

Review – Amanda Jones
Photos – Steve Gerrard

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