Tools
w/Soulfly, In Flames
Sat Sept 14, Paramount, $28.
Slayer fans are loyal. No wait, what am I saying--they're freaking fanatics. I mean, how else does a Satan-lovin' metal band survive nearly two decades with virtually no radio airplay, hardly any promotion, and tons of negative controversy. (Ever heard the saying, "Five out of five kids who kill, listen to Slayer"?!?! Anyone remember when the parents of a teenage girl who was murdered in California sued the band?) Slayer persevered. They never got soft, and they never even changed their format. Guitarist Kerry King was once quoted as saying, "We don't give a damn about music today, about the concerns of tastes having changed and Slayer not.... We don't feel the need to change because everything and everyone else is." Slayer also, somehow, survived the '90s--when grunge killed just about every single metal band with one cool-ass Nirvana video.
Stranger Personals
I say they owe it all--every bit of their success--to their rabid fans. How else could an album with a gory title like Reign in Blood go gold--along with three other Slayer records in two years--with basically no promotion? Doesn't it seem impossible that an album with lyrics like, "Ripping apart, severing flesh, gouging eyes, tearing limb from limb," ever made the mainstream Top 100? MTV sure didn't have anything to do with it.
True fans, myself included, have stood the test of time. I never even ONCE considered selling my Slayer CDs--not even during my short-lived raver phase. True, I don't spin my Slayer discs as much as I once did, but I'll tell ya this--I still can sing almost every single horrific word to "South of Heaven."
Slayer are playing a venue the size of the Paramount because their fans are a fucking army. Countless metalheads, hicksters, and punks alike will flood there to see the Almighty play live, touring once again with original drummer Dave Lombardo. For most, it won't be the first time. Slayer's live shows are infamously and brutally perfect, and the crowd should be completely unmatched in its enthusiasm. It's hard NOT to join in the cultish chanting--"Slay-YA, Slay-YA...."--before the band hits the stage. And to this day, EVERY hair on the back of my neck still stands up when Slayer strikes that first note.
by Kelly O
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