Post by MetalBlade on May 29, 2010 13:56:01 GMT
So tomorrow I go to see the mighty Slayer once again.
This will be a sweet reunion, as I have not seen them since Ozzfest 2002 at Donington.
This will mark the Fifth time I have seen them, and has got me thinking about my journey from first discovering the metal machine that is Slayer.
My first encounter was a video of Hell Awaits that I caught on late night metal TV show The Power Hour back in 1986. At first glance I thought "what the fucking hell is this crap?".
I couldn't believe it. This has never even been music. I even taped it, and showed it my mates. We were all astonished that people actually listened to such garbage. It was just a wall of noise.
You must understand that We were all into Van Halen, AC/DC and Iron Maiden back then. The heaviest thing we'd ever heard was Motorhead.
But somehow this new thing I'd discovered had destroyed the boundaries of what we considered extreme, and slowly, one by one, we began to hear the music in this Slayer video through the aforementioned wall of noise.
Eventually, I too threw aside my prejudice toward this alien sound, and became consumed by it's raw intensity.
From there, I bought the Haunting The Chapel ep, and was transfixed by the speed and energy of Chemical Warfare, something I had never before experienced.
By the start of 1987 I had bought the first 2 records, and had just discovered Reign In Blood.
Well, that really was the catalyst, and I became a thrasher from that day onwards. I could not believe this record. It had the most intense, crisp and clear production I had ever heard on a metal record. Given the extreme nature of the music, to hear every nuance and ride cymbal tap from my new drum hero Dave Lombardo, through the rest of the immensely convoluted structure of the songs, seemed like a miracle to me. And all this encapsulated in such a small package clocking in at under half an hour. Amazing!
The next step on my Slayer journey was the first time I saw the band, shortly after the release of their slow burning now classic South Of Heaven in 1988.
To experience a Slayer show for the first time aged only 17 is something I will never forget.
So fast forward a couple of years to Clash Of The Titans, which saw Slayer share the stage with fellow thrashers Suicidal Tendencies, Testament and Megadeth. Slayer actually filmed the War Ensemble video at that gig, so that turned out a bit special.
Thanks to Slayer, I have in the past quarter of a century discovered countless hundreds of extreme metal bands from the likes of mainstays such as Death Angel and Exodus, Sodom and Destruction, Onslaught and Venom, through Obituary, Vader, Emperor and Cannibal Corpse, to slightly more obscure acts like Primordial, Nile, Amon Amarth and Unleashed, and finally virtually unknown acts such as Melechesh, Dark Fortress, Endstille and Keep Of Kalessin.
Long live Fuckin Slayer, and thanks for the inspiration!
Tell me YOUR Slayer story.
This will be a sweet reunion, as I have not seen them since Ozzfest 2002 at Donington.
This will mark the Fifth time I have seen them, and has got me thinking about my journey from first discovering the metal machine that is Slayer.
My first encounter was a video of Hell Awaits that I caught on late night metal TV show The Power Hour back in 1986. At first glance I thought "what the fucking hell is this crap?".
I couldn't believe it. This has never even been music. I even taped it, and showed it my mates. We were all astonished that people actually listened to such garbage. It was just a wall of noise.
You must understand that We were all into Van Halen, AC/DC and Iron Maiden back then. The heaviest thing we'd ever heard was Motorhead.
But somehow this new thing I'd discovered had destroyed the boundaries of what we considered extreme, and slowly, one by one, we began to hear the music in this Slayer video through the aforementioned wall of noise.
Eventually, I too threw aside my prejudice toward this alien sound, and became consumed by it's raw intensity.
From there, I bought the Haunting The Chapel ep, and was transfixed by the speed and energy of Chemical Warfare, something I had never before experienced.
By the start of 1987 I had bought the first 2 records, and had just discovered Reign In Blood.
Well, that really was the catalyst, and I became a thrasher from that day onwards. I could not believe this record. It had the most intense, crisp and clear production I had ever heard on a metal record. Given the extreme nature of the music, to hear every nuance and ride cymbal tap from my new drum hero Dave Lombardo, through the rest of the immensely convoluted structure of the songs, seemed like a miracle to me. And all this encapsulated in such a small package clocking in at under half an hour. Amazing!
The next step on my Slayer journey was the first time I saw the band, shortly after the release of their slow burning now classic South Of Heaven in 1988.
To experience a Slayer show for the first time aged only 17 is something I will never forget.
So fast forward a couple of years to Clash Of The Titans, which saw Slayer share the stage with fellow thrashers Suicidal Tendencies, Testament and Megadeth. Slayer actually filmed the War Ensemble video at that gig, so that turned out a bit special.
Thanks to Slayer, I have in the past quarter of a century discovered countless hundreds of extreme metal bands from the likes of mainstays such as Death Angel and Exodus, Sodom and Destruction, Onslaught and Venom, through Obituary, Vader, Emperor and Cannibal Corpse, to slightly more obscure acts like Primordial, Nile, Amon Amarth and Unleashed, and finally virtually unknown acts such as Melechesh, Dark Fortress, Endstille and Keep Of Kalessin.
Long live Fuckin Slayer, and thanks for the inspiration!
Tell me YOUR Slayer story.
