The Unholy Alliance (Chapter III) tour has been
winging it's way around
Britain for the last week, and now it's Wales'
chance to thrash to the kings
Anyway, after a late start (access woes) we arrive
'mid Mastodon', and I'm greeted with what looks
like a giant horror stags head on stage (don't
worry, no animals were harmed during the show).
Welcome to the world of thrash metal!
The crowd seemed fairly subdued for Mastodon,
but judging by the number of
Slayer tee's about I guess the crowd were just
paying them their dues.
There didn't even seem to be the inner circle
of hard core 'I'll bang my
head to anything loud and scary' brigade but a
real mix of oldies and
youngsters alike.
 Next up were Trivium (cue the second scary horror
animal backdrop!) Now
I'll put my hand up and say in all honesty I'm
not a big fan of metal, but I
went in with an open minded reviewers head on.
And Trivium literally blew
me away!
Oh yes I was so nearly tempted over to the dark
side. Their entrance was
pretty spectacular... a blood red stage with blinding
white strobe lighting
embracing Travis' elevated drum kit. Then the
rest of the band literally
bounded on stage in a huge ball of energy!
The first thing that really stuck in my mind
was the quality of the
drumming. It quite literally reverberated to your
core. My heart was
beating of it's own accord anymore, but was totally
in synch with the
drummers foot pedals.
Matt Heafy is a true performer too. Bearing in
mind the lukewarm reaction
Mastodon got, it was good to see the Slayer faithful
warming to these guys.
He's got an amazing stage presence, and his vocal
range is pretty wide, able
to switch from a scream to a melodic whisper in
the blink of an eye. And I'm giving Trivium 4 stars for the quote
of the night... "If you're not
moving, you're not fucking metal". Classic!
 But the lure of a life wearing tight jeans and
cut down gore tee's is
brutally whisked away from me by over zealous
security who are sticking
rigidly to the 'three songs and out' rule. Trivium,
if you ever decide you
want to perform a human sacrifice I've got a bunch
of people I can put you
in touch with. So we waited patiently in the foyer (I know,
it's not very rock and roll is
it) until Trivium had screamed the death throes
of their set and we were
allowed back in to catch Slayer.
My first surprise was the distinct lack of beasts
as a backdrop. Their set
was more understated (apart from two giant upside
down crosses cleverly put
together with Marshall's!). Before the band came on there was a huge white
curtain at the front of stage
which kind of built up the tension and I'm sure
increased the number of
'Slayer' chants. The crowd were like kids at Christmas,
being held back
from opening the big big present in the corner.
I'm sure a couple of them
were foaming at the mouth!
 Lights down... I'm happy to report there was
another smattering of teen
horror effects, this time with twirling Stars
of David along the curtain!
Then it dropped to reveal Slayer in their full
'kings of metal' glory. What struck me most about Slayer is just how
slick as an act they are. No
gimmicks, no severed heads, no goats on sticks...
just a wall of sound which
they seem to slice through effortlessly. This
is plain and simple metal,
and they well deserve their place at the top.
Kerry King is a mesmerising presence on stage.
Watching him play was truly
stunning. But if you ever find yourself up against
him in a Guitar Hero
dual just admit defeat... you're not going to
beat him. make no mistake,
this guy's the real deal.
But again we were cut short, this time not even
making it to three songs. I
think the lovely boys and girls running security
at the CIA didn't realise
that stands for Cardiff International Arena, not
Central Intelligence
Agency. Not only could they not count, they were
overzealous, and at
sometimes downright brutal... it's not normally
necessary to escort crowd
surfers out of the pit in a headlock is it?
So, a short and simple review. Trivium rock,
and Slayer are Slayer.
Slayer 4/5
Trivium 4/5
Review By Allie Brock
Photos By Scott Cole
|
The
Unholy Alliance Tour
