Armed with a pair of guitars, a bass guitar and a remarkably expansive drum kit, Slayer brought their pioneering brand of thrash metal to the Madison masses Wednesday.
Just before 9:30 p.m., the Orpheum lights went out and a large white sheet covering the whole stage lit up. By turns, various Slayer logos were projected on the sheet, including upside-down crosses, pentagrams and finally the band’s name in their signature typeface.
Then, at the peak of excitement, the sheet dropped to reveal the band, who promptly launched into “Repentless” from their 2015 album of the same name.
Far from the youthful California teenagers they were when they founded the band some 35 years ago, the members, of which only two of the original remain, showed their age Wednesday. Luckily, this was only in appearance and not in performance.
Bassist and vocalist Tom Araya now rocks a gruff, (mostly) salt and pepper beard, but neither he nor any of the other members showed signs of fatigue that may be expected considering all of the members are older than 50.
Slayer, instead, showed great stamina. The energy was expanded by head-bobbing to the breakneck tempo, moving around the stage, Araya’s primal screams and drummer Paul Bostaph producing an impressive barrage of feel-it-in-your-chest percussion — all in time with one another.
The crowd, who tended towards the older biker-gang and Brat Fest end of the spectrum, mirrored the band and showed impressive energy and stamina. From breaking out into a mosh pit to yelling along with the songs, it was clear this show meant a lot to many people.
One of the most notable aspects of the show was about an hour and a half after starting when the band played one of their most popular songs, “Angel of Death” from their seminal 1986 album Reign in Blood and exited the stage to rapturous applause.
In all likelihood, people left the show satisfied. Slayer hit on a wide array of the albums they have released such as their most recent release, Repentless to their first release, Show No Mercy.
Also of note, was the band’s impressive visual backdrop. What was initially an esoteric and iconographic backdrop which featured vague religious themes dropped away in stages to reveal Slayer logos, including their controversial eagle logo which closely resembles the Parteiadler Nazi symbol.
Despite the impressive and satisfying visuals and music, though, there’s still a part of Slayer’s performance that feels contrived. This may be more of a critique of the genre as a whole, but there’s an element of the performance that doesn’t feel wholly authentic.
A brief example of something that produced this feeling was when Araya introduced a song by saying, “This song is called…” and then changed his voice to be more tough and “metal”, “…Chemical Warfare.” This type of performative affection is likely appealing to fans, but also might not sit right with a general attendee.
All in all, though, Slayer put on a great show by sticking to what they do best and flexing their musical muscle. Something about the angry, primal vocals paired with the thunderous percussion and wailing, chugging guitars produces something undeniably satisfying. This is an effect replicated by many current metal bands, but luckily for the Madison audience, they had the chance to see one of the pioneers Wednesday night.
