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Slayer with Killswitch
Engage, Mastodon, and Dog Fashion Disco
The Cleveland Agora
11-19-04
This was billed as the Jaegermeister Music Tour, but no
one was shouting that at the top of their lungs the entire night. The
sold-out crowd wanted Slayer. And they got them, but not before 3 other
bands got their chances to show what they could do.
The evening started off with Dog Fashion Disco, who
remind me of a more metal Mr. Bungle. Not really the sort of band I want to
see opening for Slayer, but they played a solid set, including a strong
rendition of Metallica’s “Creeping Death”.
I was looking forward to seeing Mastodon as much as
Slayer. I love the band’s recent album ‘Leviathan’ and wanted to see how
they would pull off such complex compositions in a live setting. The answer
is near perfectly. Although there’s more than a little math rock to this
band, there’s also a lot of energy and even catchiness. Their set was sadly
abbreviated, but the band said they would be doing a headlining tour in 2005
with Cleveland’s own Keelhaul opening.
Killswitch Engage is one of those bands that just
doesn’t do it for me. I don’t know, maybe they’re just a little too close
to nu metal for my tastes. Regardless, they put on a good show and
certainly had a contingent of fans who wanted to hear them.
Finally, it was time for the main attraction. Slayer
took to the stage with “God Hates Us All”, the title track of their most
recent album. They followed up with “War Ensemble” and “At Dawn They
Sleep”, and the classics kept on coming. The vast majority of the set was
drawn from the band’s older albums: “Necrophilia”, “Chemical Warfare”, “Die
by the Sword”, “Hell Awaits”, “Seasons in the Abyss”, “Dead Skin Mask”,
“Mandatory Suicide”, “South of Heaven”, and more. You may notice there’s
nothing from ‘Reign in Blood’ in that list. That was saved for the encore
of “Angel of Death”, “Post Mortem” and “Raining Blood”. This was supposed
to be the big gimmick moment of the night, with blood raining down on the
band members. I was expecting something like the prom scene in ‘Carrie’.
Instead, the band got a light red misting. Kind of anticlimactic, but I
don’t go to a Slayer concert for the stage show; I go for the music. The
band kicked ass the whole night, especially drummer Dave Lombardo. Bass
player/vocalist Tom Araya hasn’t been able to do the high pitched screams
for some years now, but otherwise his voice sounded fine. All in all, an
excellent show. (Bob Ignizio)
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