For the few that don’t know, Slayer’s upcoming 2018 tour will be their last and just in time for Easter the band revealed that they have one final album coming out this year titled Abominations of Finality.
This album will be a double album with disc 2 containing covers and remixes of old songs. The band says that the style will stay true to the Slayer sound fans know and love and will feature guest appearances by many famous artists. Expect many of these new tracks to be played during this final tour.
Disc 1
7 Princes of Hell
God Sucks (featuring Glen Benton)
April Blood Shows
Daddy would you like Some Satan (featuring Tom Green)
God is Lame and I Hate Him ( featuring Aeon)
Religious Fools
Lust for the Chosen Son (featuring Dagon)
God is Still A Tool Even Though Tom Goes to Church and Believes in God
Dark Evil Darkness ( featuring Glen Danzig and Hopsin)
Hell’s Domain
Disc 2
Criminally Insane (industrial remix featuring Trent Reznor and Mc Ryde)
The Antichrist (bluegrass remix)
Angel of Death (remix featuring Fred Durst, Snoop Dogg, and the Insane Clown Posse)
Continuing on from part 2, Birdman, Jason, and myself continue to tell you, the loyal reader the most metal shows of 2017 with our top 3’s!
Birdman: # 3 – In Flames and Kataklysm at the Chance
Jason : Two bands that take me back to high school.
Birdman: There were a few days where In Flames detached from their tour with Alter Bridge to play with Kataklysm
Anthony : Skipped that one cause I was sure In Flames setlist wouldn’t be too old-school. Plus I think it was the same day as Amon Amarth. Alter Bridge and in Flames? Wierd bill
Jason: And how are Kataklysm live?
Birdman: Kataklysm was pretty solid, a lot of new songs.
Jason: Interesting.
Birdman: Yeah the only old songs In Flames played were “Moonshield” and “The Jester’s Dance.”
Jason : Wish they did more tracks from Colony. That was a great album.
Anthony : Agreed.
Birdman: During me filming that Anders took my phone and got a close up of Niklas and Jesper. Then we had an interesting back and forth in front of the whole theater over my Morbid Angel shirt.
Anthony : That’s pretty cool of him considering I hear he’s a dick…
Jason : Gives thumbs up!
Birdman : Well I guess he’s experienced a spiritual awakening or at least a modicum of shame since yesteryears. I caught guitar picks from Jesper and Niklas at the end.
Anthony Carioscia: #3 – Slayer Lamb of God and Behemoth at Madison Square Garden
Jason : I was there too.
Anthony : Yep, I remember.
Birdman : I know Behemoth’s changed since last we saw them
Anthony : It was my first time seeing them. Was mostly there for them because of that.
Jason: First time seeing Behemoth believe it or not and LOG was the best pit IMO. I also remember Randy giving a shoutout to NYHC.
Birdman: And Slayer. It didn’t feel empty without Jeff and Dave?
Anthony: Yeah, but their pit was intense. Slayer finally played the Antichrist; something they skipped the last 2 times. They still have energy.
Jason: Could have been better but t was also my first time seeing Slayer.
Anthony – I’m still glad Birdman and I saw them with Dave and Jeff. This was my third. The second time they played four songs off of South of Heaven.
Jason – Now I’m jelly. Now my 3rd is…
Jason :#3 – Rammstein and 3Teeth at Jones Beach
Jason: Capped off 8+ years waiting to see those guys.
Anthony: Rammstein’s a band I need to see before I die. Or they split.
Birdman: Not much time left. The next album may be their last.
Jason: 3Teeth were a decent industrial opener. I checked out their studio material, Pretty heavy stuff and helps that I’m getting more into synth stuff. Synth wave has taken a good amount of my music exploring lately.
Anthony: He said he was going to retire by a certain age. Hopefully they do a full US tour.
Jason: Rammstein as I expected from secondhand reports put on a great show. I wish it was at a better venue than the Jones Beach Theater but didn’t take much away from the show.
Anthony: My friend Jay hates Jones beach with a passion.
Birdman: What shows did you go to at Jones Beach besides Maiden Tony?
Anthony: None, sadly. Almost saw Rush there but that didn’t happen.
Jason: The setlist was solid and had my favorites including”Du Riechst So Gut (all-time favorite song),” “Ich Tu Dir Weh.” Decent amount of pyro, especially during “Du Hast.” I’m sad “Mein Teil” wasn’t played (the theatrics would have been awesome). At least “Ich Will” and “Engel (the encore)” were on the setlist. I’m happy I finally saw those guys. And oh! “Stripped” by Depeche Mode was covered and “Sonne” near the end. The latter track is just epic.
Editor’s Note: In the wacky world of publishing, some stories don’t see the light of day. Whether they sit on the back burner until they become irrelevant, positions change hands or they just plain get cut, it’s just one of those things. Today, one of those unpublished articles will finally get its due as we traverse the archives of “The Vault.”
Rockstar Energy’s Mayhem Fest, the annual touring metal festival with a more mainstream lineup than others. Due to the festival being a haven for nu-metal and metalcore artists, I usually never bother to go.
However,in 2012 I planned on going to see Motorhead, get a second round with Slayer and Anthrax and in 2013 Amon Amarth and Mastodon; but car repairs and work schedules made it impossible. When King Diamond was announced for 2015 I knew I had to go.
I went down to the PNC Bank Arts Center with my friend Drew as well as my middle-aged metalhead friend Jay for our chance to see the King. Due to the amount of crappy bands on the bill, we decided to get there in time for Jungle Rot, skipping the first three hours of the fest. Due to the PNC Bank Arts Center being 90 minutes away and New Jersey being traffic land, we left with an extra hour in between (just in case we got stuck).
Sister Sin
We got there around 3:20. Drew and I had free tickets while Jay still had to buy his. After waiting for Jay at the box office we then walked over to the Victory Records stage, where Sister Sin was playing. Drew and I watched them while Jay looked at merch. Sister Sin were a hair metal throwback band from Sweden and while Drew and I both agreed that though not our thing, they still performed well.
Jungle Rot
Jay came back just in time for us to catch these death metal legends. Both Jay and I have seen these guys before but its been years for both of us. Drew had yet to ever see them and was very curious. As they always had been for us, the band’s hardcore influenced death metal delivered. Due to having a short set they didn’t get to play a lot of their classics like “Fractured” and “Victim of Violence.” This aside, the set was still good and the pit was pretty violent.
Thy Art is Murder
I had already sat through this terrible deathcore band about a year ago at Summer Slaughter and they were the worst band on the bill (although neither them or Within The Ruins stopped it from being one of the best shows of 2014). During their set we just got some disgusting overpriced dinner and came back to hear their last 2 songs (which sucked).
Whitechapel
Drew is a big fan of the first two albums (2007’s “The Somatic Defilement” and 2008’s “This Is Exile”) by deathcore pioneers Whitechapel. He’s also had five chances to see them and missed them every time. Though the setlist only had two songs from that era, Drew still wanted to see them because he missed them so many times before.
Jay and I on the other hand are not fans of them at all. During this time I noticed Jungle Rot were at their merch booth. I waited in line to meet vocalist Dave Matrise in person, whom I’ve also interviewed. Matrise was a really nice guy. I then watched the rest of Whitechapel’s set. Neither Jay or I were impressed while Drew was only impressed when they played the two older songs.
The Devil Wears Prada
Around 6:30 p.m. I was scheduled to interview Slayer’s Paul Bostaph behind the main stage. This left me with about 20 minutes with The Devil Wears Prada. We all walked to the main stage where they were playing. Drew and I had close seats while Jay sat a little higher up. None of us wanted to see them. They played very boring and very generic metalcore. When I was finally called to go back stage I was very happy to not be watching them anymore while Drew and Jay were stuck.
Hellyeah
After that awesome interview with Bostaph, it was time for the show to shift from generic metalcore to generic groove metal. Drew and I KNEW this was going to be bad. Jay on the other hand was curious simply because Pantera’s Vinnie Paul was in the band and had never heard them before (he ended up hating them).
The band looked straight out of Oniontown (a hick part of Dutchess County, NY) and the vocalist Chad Gray of Mudvayne always annoyingly chanted about metal brotherhood. Four days before this show I saw Superjoint Ritual play live. Seeing these two in within a week reminded me why I respect Phil Anselmo more.
King Diamond
The time finally came for the main reason why I was here. Drew and I were huge King Diamond fans for many years and never thought we would ever see him. Jay had not seen him since he played The Chance ten years ago with Behemoth, Nile and The Black Dahlia Murder (where are these tour packages now?). Jay realized that the seating area was pretty empty and that security was pretty bad.
King opened the set with “The Candle,” getting Jay really hyped. The stage was very theatrical with coffins, grave stones and a woman who would play characters from King’s songs. The set contained classics like “Tea,””Welcome Home,””Eye of the Witch” and “Sleepless Nights.” It got even better midway through the set. Slayer’s Kerry King got on guitar and they played the Mercyful fate songs “Evil” and “Come to the Sabbath.” King then ended the set with THREE songs from his 1987 masterpiece “Abigail.”
Slayer
The final act of the night was Slayer (or as people like to call this lineup, “Slayodus”).
I saw Slayer once five years ago with Megadeth and Anthrax. Slayer had the original lineup and played all of 1990’s “Seasons in the Abyss” and some other random songs. Megadeth played all of their greatest album (which also came out in 1990) “Rust in Peace,” plus some random songs as well. Rather than keep tradition and play all of their 1990 classic “Persistence of Time,” Anthrax met the others halfway and just played seven random songs.
Jay has seen Slayer many times with the last time at this point being Mayhem Fest 2012. For Drew this was his first time. They started the set with mostly newer songs. If you had read my ranking on Slayer albums you know I mostly like the older Slayer albums other then a few songs (which some of those were played). The band then shifted into a set of older songs. I was really glad they played “Hell Awaits,” ”Postmortem,” ”Chemical Warfare” and “Ghosts of War”- which were all songs they didn’t play last time. While it wasn’t the original lineup, it still was a great set and all three of us were glad we went (which is all that matters anyway).
On July 21st 2015, Rockstar’s Mayhem Festival came to Holmdel, New Jersey. The fest had several big names, though the highlights were Jungle Rot, King Diamond and Slayer.
Jungle Rot put on a crushing death metal performance and got the pit going. Their setlist only contained six songs, but they made the most of their short set.
King Diamond was the most hyped act of the year and had the biggest crowd of any band that day. The theatrical set mostly consisted of songs from King’s classic albums. It got even better halfway through when he covered the Mercyful Fate classics “Evil” and “Come to the Sabbath” with Slayer’s Kerry King on guitar. The set then ended with three songs from King’s most popular album, Abigail.
However, the final band of the night was none other than Slayer. Slayer started their set with several of their 2000’s songs including the three singles from their upcoming album Repentless. The second half of the set was all older songs including the popular tracks “Raining Blood”,”South Of Heaven”,”Hell Awaits” and “Angel of Death” as well as deep cuts like “Chemical Warfare”, and “Ghosts of War”. The band’s energy was great and the sound was spot on.
During the fest, Alternative Nation was able to catch drummer Paul Bostaph for an in person interview. We discussed the band’s upcoming album as well other topics related to his body of work.
Tell us a little about your upcoming album Repentless.
We all have different opinions on the album since we are all different people. It’s the first album we have done without Jeff as well as the first album I’ve been on since God Hates Us All in 2001. The whole time I was in the studio, Jeff was on my mind. He was a big part of the band and I feel I lost a friend. We still haven’t let things settle… that type of thing is not easy to deal with.
I noticed the three singles released for far,”Repentless”, “As Stillness Comes” and “Implode” are pretty different. Which one would you say represents the new album the most?
I wouldn’t say that one any of those songs represent the whole record at all. The different between the three represents diversity in the record. Each song on this record will have a different intensity. Some songs are darker then others. The three songs released show that it will not be the same thing on every track.
I see Mayhem Fest is going well so far…
Mayhem Fest is awesome! Unfortunately, I have not been able to see any of the bands on the second stage. The second stage is normally not very close to the main stage and we usually get here too late to catch those bands. I really enjoy sharing the stage with King Diamond. I’m a huge Mercyful Fate fan and love his solo stuff as well.
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We talk metal with Alfonso Ferrazza from Queens thrashers Sunlord. Ferrazza chats about recording Sunlord’s debut “The First One,” touring with the legendary Anvil, and his passion for music as well as gearing up for Sunlord’s June 28 show at New York’s Santo’s Party House where the band will be opening for The Skull (featuring ex-Trouble frontman Eric Wagner).
If you ever needed to sound like Slayer on a budget, then DigiTech had exactly what you need with their Death Metal Distortion pedal.
Designed to boost your mids and cut the bass, this stomp box had some nice features as it had two inputs for going directly into a mixer or your amp to give you more control over your recording and live sound. Turn the level knob all the way up, and you not only got the full power of the Death Metal Distortion, you also challenged the windows of the building you were in. This thing was loud. However; the lows were too low at times even with the setting all the way up, making this not ideal for Stoner/Doom metal.
If you were into playing aggressive music like Thrash, Black or Death Metal, you were in luck as an extreme tone was waiting for you. Several settings that came with the manual were designed to help you get the most out of the angry box, but as always, they weren’t necessary for the player to use. The Death Metal Distortion ran on a 9-volt battery or a PS200R power supply.
As great as the smooth bite and overall sound of the pedal were, there were a few issues with the Death Metal Distortion. For one, while DigiTech claimed the battery would last up to 18 hours of continuous use, one would often lose power at around 8-12. A power supply was almost necessary out of fear of your sound going out in the middle of a gig or rehearsal. Also the pedal did not last very long. A little after a year or so, it would eventually not sound as beefy as it used to and if you didn’t have a soldering iron, it was time to take it down to your local music store to sell it for whatever you can get.
While it had its flaws, the Death Metal Distortion was the most extreme effect pedal you could get on a budget. The pedal would sell new (and still does) for around $50. A used one will go for about $20. While the pedal is no longer as popular as it once was, you can download the module on your Istomp if you have one, which may be the best way to go as the physical pedal is pretty hard to come by.
The Bonesaw 