Slayer @ SSE Hydro, Glasgow, 12 Nov
Slayer leave us with their biggest Scottish show to date, and a performance that no one will forget anytime soon
American thrash metal legends Slayer are visiting Scotland for the last time this evening, as part of their final world tour, to mark the end of a 37-year reign of terror, however they're not arriving alone. This evening they bring death metal pioneers Obituary, thrash metal pioneers Anthrax and pure american metal pioneers Lamb of God with them to show Scotland that they may be bowing out, but they aren't leaving without a fight.
Anthrax take to stage and demand that everyone in attendance “get up off their asses, this is a metal show!” followed by Lamb of God, who proclaim that they “came to do one thing and one thing only, and that is fuck this place up.”
As the crowd wait for the main event the air is thick with sweat, Mary Jane and Jäegermeister; the lights fade to black and hell's house band emerge amidst inverted crucifixes and pentagrams. Opening with newer track Repentless, the stage is filled with fire as Slayer proceed to deafen everyone in attendance with their unique brand of hate-filled anarchism, the first four rows immediately swirling into an unforgiving mosh pit, long hair and arms flailing as the band tear through their greatest hits.
Between songs the arena is plummeted into complete, silent darkness. For such an aggressive band, frontman Tom Araya addresses the audience in a calm, soothing tone. "Are you ready for this, man?" he asks in a hushed and lowered voice, before breaking into the murder-fuelled anthem that is War Ensemble.
The group play fast, and play hard. As the evening progresses, so too does the mosh pit – slowly but surely growing like a black hole – and before long it seems no one is safe from a face full of sweaty hair or an elbow to the stomach. Hell, fire and brimstone accompany the evening's demonic show, no expense spared in this epic stage show that features several backdrop changes, smoke machines and pentagrams made of flames.
Angel of Death closes the show tonight, along with a tribute to the band's original guitarist Jeff Hanneman, responsible for some of their more memorable riffs, who passed away in 2013. What completes this evening is not only the group's unwavering and brutal performance, but the fans in attendance. You could be a maths teacher or a mortician but tonight, if you're a Slayer fan, you're part of one big happy family.
And so Slayer leave Glasgow for the last time, riding off into the sunset to enjoy their twilight years. They leave us with their biggest Scottish show to date, and a performance that no one will forget anytime soon. Don’t be sad because it’s over, smile because it happened, and all that jazz. Besides, Ozzy Osbourne’s first farewell tour was 1992, and he plays Glasgow in January. You never know, it may be raining blood again someday soon in Scotland.