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Retirement isn't really a concept that sticks in metal. Lured back to the UK by fellow pipe-and-slipper dodgers Black Sabbath for their first shows here in six years, Slayer's headline gigs in Cardiff and London offer an impressively stacked bill with Hatebreed, Mastodon, Anthrax and Amon Amarth. It sounds great on paper, but the reality is a little more complicated.
With gates not opening till 5pm, set lengths are almost pathetically short. Add to that an excruciatingly slow entrance process and Hatebreed starting only 15 minutes after gates, and there's disgruntlement right from the off. To their credit, Jamey Jasta and crew aren't going to let that stop them. Kicking off with I Will Be Heard, they make the most of their short slot with a relentless pound of hardcore anthems To The Threshold, Destroy Everything, Looking Down The Barrel Of Today]. But it feels like it's barely begun as Jasta is told they need to leave the stage. Bummer.
It becomes a recurring theme. Mastodon's first UK gig with guitarist Nick Johnston feels like it barely gets started before they're pulled off-stage after Blood And Thunder. Anthrax's set feels even worse as the thrash legends are only able to break out four songs - Caught In A Mosh, Antisocial, Got The Time and Indians - before they too are off, chants of "one more song" left unheeded.
It's a disappointing turn of events for one of the best metal bills this summer, begging the question why the show didn't have an earlier kick-off (as in London, where gates open at 12). Thankfully, Amon Amarth redress the balance some: flanked by gigantic statues and enhanced with jets of flame, they kick off with Guardians Of Asgaard and quickly show how it is they've been able to claw their way up to headlining festivals like Wacken and Bloodstock.
Granted, it's not all smooth sailing. Vocalist Johan Hegg takes a nasty spill in the first song and sports a bloody elbow for the rest of the set, but with a cheeky quip ("It's not about how you fall, but how you pick yourself up!") there's a sense of triumph as they blast through the rest of their set.
Cynics will probably point out that Slayer never really went away. The arrival of the pandemic a few months after their "final" gig in November 2019 means there was only a couple of years the band were actually off the road. The cynics can also, respectfully, do one.
The thrash metal legends are at their infernal best in Cardiff, and from the first notes of South Of Heaven, all grumbles about the afternoon die away. This is, after all, Slayer and they are a force to behold. Drawing from across their career, they power through what feels like a non-stop procession of hits. Repentless, Disciple, Jihad, War Ensemble, Chemical Warfare...it's an absolute reckoning.
And good god, the pyro. Apparently not content with flaming inverted crucifixes, Slayer's on-stage inferno is an ever-changing beast with flamethrowing crosses, napalm-like explosions and stage-covering blazes breaking out throughout the set. Chatter is kept to a minimum - though Tom Araya speaks with a disarming sincerity as the thanks fans effusively for showing up - and the band let their songs do the talking in a set that sinks its teeth deep into some of the finest songs thrash metal has to offer. By the time the band gear up for finishers Raining Blood - complete with fireworks falling from the rafters - Black Magic and Angel Of Death, there's an undeniable sense of awe in the field.
At a point where we've seen other reformed bands lose steam, it's natural to wonder just how long this can last without new material. But if they continue to perform on this level, with this level of intensity, it's hard to imagine that ever losing its potency. Besides, who wants to live in a world without Slayer?
Slayer play Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne's Back To The Beginning show at Villa Park on July 5, and play Finsbury Park in London on July 6.
Slayer Setlist Blackweir Fields, Cardiff 3 July 2025
- South Of Heaven
- Repentless
- Disciple
- Die By The Sword
- Jihad
- War Ensemble
- Chemical Warfare
- Reborn
- Mandatory Suicide
- Born Of Fire
- Dead Skin Mask
- Spirit In Black
- Hate Worldwide
- Seasons In The Abyss
- Hell Awaits
- 213
- Postmortem
- Raining Blood
- Black Magic
- Angel Of Death
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