Live Review : Slayer + Amon Amarth + Anthrax + Mastodon + Hatebreed + Neckbreakker @ Finsbury Park, London on July 6th 2025

Let's deal with the leviathan in the room. Many of us took Slayer’s proclamation eight years ago that they planned to call it a day at the end of 2019, to heart. You see, Slayer had always kept it real and told it as it is, so it was only natural that we believed their insistence that this was it. It would therefore be understandable if there was at least some level of resentment to their rather speedy U-turn and return to action. But and here is the rub, Slayer are so good this evening that a) it feels like they never went away, b) it becomes obvious a world without Slayer is an incredibly sad place, we just hadn't realised.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Stewart Lucas8 July 2025Finsbury ParkSlayer, Amon Amarth, Anthrax, Mastodon, Hatebreed, NeckbreakkerComment

Live Review : Slayer + Lamb Of God + Anthrax + Obituary @ MEN Arena, Manchester on November 9th 2018

It was only in 2010 that I saw Slayer headline a three quarters full Academy, just eight short years later they pretty much filled the Arena. But this is no bog standard Slayer gig, this is, apparently, the end and everyone wants to get one last look at Slayer before its all over. Because the truth is at some point over the last decade Slayer replaced Black Sabbath as being the officially recognised dictionary definition of Metal. They have become metal's spirit and essence distilled into one band. And now they are going away.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Stewart Lucas11 November 2018MEN ArenaSlayer, Lamb Of God, Anthrax, Obituary, MEN Arena, Manchester, 2018, ReviewComment