After a triumphant showing at this years Download festival, Swedish Viking metallers AMON AMARTH were a popular choice as opening act, and this proved as the hall gradually filled up during their performance. Although limited to a swift 30 minutes, AMON AMARTH emerged out of another battle victoriously, as they had undoubtedly added more UK metalheads to their ever growing fan base. Thunderous opener ‘Death in Fire’ throttled all in attendance, and new track ‘Twilight of the Thunder God’ sounded equally as brutal in the live arena as it does on record. AMON AMARTH are a great live band, and tonight’s display was a taster of the treat that lies ahead when the band returns to UK shores to play their own headline shows next year.

Next up were MASTODON, a band whose techincal, progressive, yet heavy-as-fuck metal, isn’t exactly the easiest to get in to. Live, their musicianship is spot on, but with so much going on in their music, the live sound has to be perfect to do it justice, and tonight, it wasn’t. This resulted in the band sounding like a mish-mash of riffs and intellible vocals, with only the odd melody standing out amongst the racket. The fact that the band had zero interaction with the crowd also didn’t help matters and other than those who were into MASTODON before tonight, I can’t imagine anyone being impressed by this sadly forgettable set.

The sound may have been bad for MASTODON, but the sound for TRIVIUM could only be described as truly awful. It was far too loud, with the loss of all clarity, making it almost painful to watch the show. TRIVIUM’s new album ‘Shogun’ is a little better than the bland ‘Crusade’ record, but still doesn’t come close to matching the excellent ‘Ascendancy’ record that broke the band into the big time. 18 months ago, TRIVIUM were headlining this venue on their own, and sold it out. Tonight, there seemed like a distinct lack of TRIVIUM fans about, thus proving that their dip in song quality has resulted in a corresponding dip in popularity.

Frontman Matt Heafy did at least have a go at interacting with the crowd, but his over-used line of ‘move your bodies you pussys’ (or very similar variants) got a bit tiresome when it was said during every song. After withstanding the dreadful sound for as many songs as I could handle, it was time to seek sanctuary at the bar. If TRIVIUM are to get back to their best, they need to get a new live sound engineer, and they need to write some better songs. Anyone who thought TRIVIUM could give SLAYER a run for their money was sadly mistaken.

Just before SLAYER took to the stage, I noticed the sound engineer had changed, and fortunately this guy knew exactly what he was doing. It’s hard to understand how SLAYER could sound so good when the previous bands sounded so bad. After all, it’s the same venue, same mixing desk and same PA! SLAYER were on outstanding form tonight and within seconds of the opening blast of ‘Flesh Storm’, the Civic Hall stalls turned into a brutal mosh pit, and one that didn’t subside until the very last note of encore closer ‘Angel of Death’.

It was great to see SLAYER back in a slightly smaller venue. For me, they just don’t have the same intensity in the large arenas and on festival stages. Tonight it was in-your-face and the intensity of the music was as fierce as it gets. The combined sound of the ferocious drums of Dave Lombardo, the irate vocals of Tom Araya, and the dual lead guitar wizardry of Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King is unmistakably SLAYER - and as a live unit, very few metal bands come close to matching the sheer ferocity of this band.

Although AMON AMARTH were enjoyable, ultimately SLAYER’s terrific performance had saved the ‘Unholy Alliance’ from being a disappointment. It would be great to see SLAYER do their own tour playing some of the larger club venues and universities – it is in these more intimate venues that the band are undoubtedly at their best, and hopefully tonight’s show will go a long way to helping them realise that surely that’s what most of their fans would rather see.

SLAYER Setlist: Flesh Storm / War Ensemble / Chemical Warfare / Ghosts of War / Jihad / Cult / Disciple / Seasons in the Abyss / Dittohead / Live Undead / Dead Skin Mask / Raining Blood / South of Heaven / Angel of Death

Ratings:

AMON AMARTH Photos