Reviewed by Thomas
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Tourname: The Unholy Alliance
Headliners: Slayer / Slipknot
Special guest: Mastodon
City: Gothenburg, Sweden
Venue: Scandinavium
Date: 13 Oct 2004
Slayer setlength: 65 minutes
Slipknot setlength: 70 minutes

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Slipknot

Slipknot was amusing to watch all along but they became tiring to listen to after a while. It is with great intensity and chaos on stage they deliver their noisy kind of metal. And even if they were one member short and only eight guys on stage I can't say that the ninth member was missed. The guitarists along with vocalist Corey do an outstanding job, and along with the chaos the entire band creates on stage, lots of drumming make it great to watch them.

Slipknot pull it through with songs like Duality and a couple of others, but by the time they reached Wait And Bleed I was overfeed on Slipknot and little did it help that it is their best song. The Heretic Anthem and Spit It Out works really well, but why they leave out songs like My Plague and Left behind I can't understand. Song like those that stick out could have saved the day and made their performance sound less repetitive.

One of the percussionist and the guy handling the sampler must have been either punch drunk or stoned. While the others maintained a professional level during the organised chaos on stage, they just looked... well, drunk I guess. Even if some have problems taking Slipknot seriously the band do themselves, and they work really hard on stage and I give them credits for that. But these two guys didn't exactly enhance the performance and since the percussionist played like shit and kept missing the beat repeatedly, it took away some of the pleasure.

4 chalices of 10

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Slayer

In true thrash manor the stage was mostly filled with tons of smoke and the lightning came from behind the band. And Slayer was bashing out the track Disciple as an excellent beginner followed by War Ensemble and the four guys really filled the big stage with some seriously great thrashing.

Araya's voice, that forced Slayer to cut a concert short a short while ago, didn't sound all well at the start, and I was frightened that they had to be forced to cut this one short as well. But he managed to keep going all the way and his voice got better as well, and apart from some occasional times it sounded just fine throughout the consert. As did the playing from the other members. With a really good sound, the solos and harmonies came out really great, as well as Dave Lombardo's most excellent drumming.

And what a mighty Dead Skin Mask they did. Araya speaks the intro, King plays the lead, tons of smoke and flickering lights - this really filled me with delight. A classic piece delivered in a great way, and you just have to face the facts: it doesn't get much better than this live. Period. Angel Of Death was a track that I missed obviously, and it would also have been good to have Dittohead as a part of the setlist in my opinion. But as this was the first time for me to finally get to see Slayer, I was completely satisfied with just to hear Dead Skin Mask, all of the rest was a bonus.

Even if they don't make much fuzz on stage, they are all great characters that know their way around it, and they were enjoying it. And the many years of touring and playing together make them a secure and tight band on stage. Tom Araya's faced shined up in a big smile at many time and it was no doubt that he as well as rest of the guys is living for this, and Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman banged their heads constantly and are sure to have a sore neck more than one day in the week. I couldn't hardly see Dave Lombardo behind his drum kit but I could definitely hear him, the volume was high and the heavy beating was felt in your body.

It was a good concert with some really great highlights like Dead Skin Mask, Seasons In The Abyss and Mandatory Suicide, but it was way too short. The concert only lasted for just a little bit more than an hour and that made me feel disappointed when I realised that this was it. I paid a lot of money on a expensive ticket but all I got was an hour of Slayer. Not to mention the cascade of blood pouring down on stage in Raining Blood you've heard about beforehand. Rumours tells of a massive rain of theatrical blood, but this was more of dripping and it was actually hard to see that there was rain falling if you weren't paying attention. Still it was a great song but the effect got lost with the small amount of blood that was actually falling down on stage.

7 Chalices of 10

SETLIST

Disciple
War Ensemble
At Dawn They Sleep
Fight Till Death
Mandatory Suicide
Hallowed point
Dead Skin Mask
Seasons In The Abyss
Chemical Warfare
Hell Awaits
South Of Heaven
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Post mortem
Raining Blood

Related links:
www.slayer.net
www.slipknot1.com