The Unholy Alliance – Hammersmith Apollo 2008/1

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Slayer‘s third bi-annual touring package rolled into London for the first of a two-night stand which would form the recordings for the tour’s live DVD and see Slayer play a different set to most nights of this run.

The package represents good face value at £30 per ticket for four bands, and Slayer were offering fans who wanted to attend both this show and the one at the same venue the following night a £10 discount on the ticket for whichever show they didn’t already have a ticket for. This was to try to ensure a full house both nights for the filming of the DVD, especially following the disappointment of having to down-grade the venues in Glasgow, Birmingham (moved to Wolverhampton) and Manchester, presumably due to weaker-than-expected ticket sales.

Norse mythology-influenced Swedes Amon Amarth had the opening slot, and were supporting their recently released Twilight of The Thunder God album, and pulled three tracks from it, including the title track. These new songs are by far their best and most interesting compared to the generic melodic death metal of the older tracks they played. Their subject matter also gets a little tiring. There’re only so many songs in a row for which viking tales can remain valid. Still, a solid performance, very well received by most, and an excellent warm up.

Mastodon once again appeared on the bill, meaning they’ve not been a part of just one Unholy Alliance tour out of four (the 2006 European tour) so far. Unfortunately they suffered badly from the the very beginning from a horrible vocal mix on all three microphones. Their amazingly complex tracks, mostly taken from latest album Blood Mountain, ended up being the musical equivalent of a grammatically lacking stream of consciousness. The Mastodon fans in the audience still appreciated everything they did, but it was clear everyone else wasn’t really on board. It was a real shame as the quality of the band is incredible.

The special guest slot, previously occupied by the likes of Slipknot, In Flames and Lamb of God, was handed to Florida outfit Trivium. Around a third of the audience seemed to care, which makes it even more disappointing that they were afforded the same 75-minute set as Slayer. Of the eleven tracks played, five came from latest album Shogun and, like Amon Amarth, are easily their finest material so far. Unnecessary use of metalcore vocals in places still mars the songs in the same way as their first two albums, but musically the new songs are excellent.

Front-man and guitarist Matt Heafy’s attitude, however, is not. Seemingly fully aware of the less-than-complete support they had from the audience, his arrogant attempts to goad those who weren’t interested in his band did not paint him in a particularly good light. “If you’re not moving yet then you’re not f**king metal” and “If you’re too cool to have fun at a Trivium show get the f**k out” did not go down well, especially as it was Slayer show, and the loud chanting for the headliners as Trivium bowed at the end of their set said it all.

The roar to greet Slayer was, of course, complete. Having not been back to the UK since 2006 fans were eager for more shows, despite no new music since then, and if they weren’t going to be already, the crowd were fully behind them following Trivium’s set and Heafy’s attitude.

Several songs were dropped from Slayer’s standard set for this tour in order to incorporate the complete Reign In Blood album at the end. More recent songs Disciple, Dittohead and Cult were left out, along with Dead Skin Mask, the one of the sacrificed most sorely missed as the remaining set contained almost entirely fast, and very similar songs. South of Heaven and Seasons In The Abyss broke things up a little, but everything else was really far too closely related to be in the same set.

The other problem with playing a whole album is of course the lack of surprise. Once Angel of Death started everyone knew how the rest of the set was going to pan out, and because their overall set length was unfairly short there was to be very little chat from Tom Araya in between songs. They rattled through the whole thing at a relentless pace in about the same length of time as the album itself takes to play, with just a couple of pauses to change guitars etc.

Slayer’s sound and performance was pure perfection. They sounded flawless; exactly like they do on CD. The brevity of the set and the one-dimensional composition unfortunately made it a less interesting show than it could have been, and than the regular set probably is.

They are in the process of recording their next album, due for release sometime next year, so there’ll surely be either a tour to support it, or another Unholy Alliance in 2010. Several cameras, including a large sweeping arm, shot the whole show, including Slayer’s wholly ineffectual net-of-lights backdrop, so a live document culled from this night and the next should prove a faithful representation of an excellent value-for-money tour.

“ relentless ”

Amon Amarth Setlist: Death In Fire / Asator / Twilight of The Thunder God / Runes To My Memory / Free Will Sacrifice / Cry of The Black Birds / Pursuit of Vikings

Mastodon Setlist: Blood and Thunder / Wolf Is Loose / Crystal Skull / Capillarian Crest / Bladecatcher / Colony Of The Birchmen / Megalodon / Circle of Cysquatch / Aqua Dimentia / Iron Tusk / March Of The Fire Ants

Trivium Setlist: Kirisute Gomen / Becoming The Dragon / Insurrection / Gunshot To The Head of Trepidation / Pillars of Serpents / Like Light to The Flies / Into The Mouth of Hell We March / Throes of Perdition / Down From The Sky / Rain / Pull Harder On the Strings of Your Martyr

Slayer Setlist: Flesh Storm / War Ensemble / Chemical Warfare > Ghosts of War / Seasons In The Abyss / Live Undead / Jihad / South of Heaven / Angel of Death / Piece By Piece / Necrophobic / Altar of Sacrifice / Jesus Saves / Criminally Insane / Reborn / Epidemic / Postmortem / Raining Blood

Written by Andy Lye
More: Black Metal, Gigs, Thrash Metal, Amon Amarth, Mastodon, Slayer, Trivium