Slayer with Lamb Of God, Anthrax, Behemoth and Testament
Riverbend Music Center
Cincinnati, Ohio
June 6, 2018
Lamb Of God and Anthrax would make a killer show by themselves but you add Testament and Behemoth then you’ve got an incredible show! But you’re not done adding bands. Add one of the, if not THE forefathers of thrash – Slayer – to headline this night. It turns into an EPIC event!
An epic event is exactly what you had on a Wednesday night at Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Not only did you have two of what most consider the founding big four of thrash metal in Slayer and Anthrax (the other two bands are Metallica and Megadeth) but this is also Slayer’s final tour. So this HUGE Cincy crowd was primed and ready!
Testament was the first to test if the Riverbend crowd was really ready. Judging from the reaction I heard this crowd was more than ready! Testament came out and smacked everybody in the mouth with Brotherhood of the Snake straight into Rise Up and The Pale King. Ahh yes, this crowd was ready! Closing out this killer set with Over The Wall.
Now it was Behemoth’s turn at this crowd. They didn’t waste it! To be honest, this was my first Behemoth experience and I wasn’t disappointed. These guys really command the stage. Nergal, Seth and Orion moving around the stage are a photographers dream! They offered Ov Fire and Void to the crowd first then Demigod and Ora Pro Nobis Lucifer. I’m not here to talk about what these guys sing about or might believe, but as a music fan and a music photographer they are intense, play some very cool music and are a blast to photograph! I’d photograph them again tomorrow if given the opportunity.
By the time Anthrax took the stage this crowd’s numbers had increased big time! Anthrax has been at this a long time and didn’t waste any time kicking into high gear! But first a little history and unless you’ve been living under a rock the last 30 years you’ve at least heard of Anthrax. Formed in the early 80’s (like Slayer) have had many hit songs, where part of one the earliest hip hop/metal crossovers that I can remember with Public Enemy been nominated for 6 Grammy Awards, numerous chart topping albums and are considered one of the “big four” of thrash metal. To say they know what they are doing is an understatement. Starting this set off with Caught In A Mosh from 1987’s release Among The Living then Got The Time (a Joe Jackson cover) from 1990’s Persistence of Time and one of my favorite Anthrax songs Madhouse from 1985’s Spreading the Disease. They always seem to have so much fun playing this music and it really showed on the Cincinnati stage!
We could have stopped after Anthrax and had a killer show but not on this night, we’ve got two more bands – Lamb Of God is next! With the opening dialog of Omerta blaring through the speakers and the throng of metal heads quoting it you knew what was about to happen, the place was about to come unglued! Unglued it came! I couldn’t see it from my vantage point but I was told that the pit on the lawn section of Riverbend during Lamb Of God’s set was the biggest of the night so far! Ruin and my personal favorite Walk With Me In Hell were next. Lamb Of God has been nominated and won several “Best Live Band” awards and it is easy to see why. Randy Blythe takes charge of a stage and crowd! They’ve also been nominated for 5 Grammy’s and numerous other awards. With 7 albums as Lamb Of God and their latest release Legion: XX under the band’s first name Burn The Priest they have a great catalogue to pull from for this tour with Slayer. They pulled a couple of heavy hitters Laid To Rest and Redneck to close their set with. Lamb of God (and all the previous bands) has set the table nicely for tonight’s main attraction – Slayer!
Slayer’s final tour, I’m not sure Cincinnati and Riverbend were ready for what was about to happen! This capacity crowd knew what Slayer was about to deliver! They were about to deliver a 19 song playlist of over 30 years’ worth of incredible, intense, fast, heavy music, that everyone I could see knew every word to every song. On top of all that this show took place on Tom Araya’s birthday, so this huge crowd of fist pumping, mosh pitting metal heads sang happy birthday to him on more than one occasion!
Slayer started this night off with the title track from their 2015 release Repentless followed closely by Blood Red and Disciple. As most of you reading this probably know, there aren’t many breaks between songs, the ones that are they are short. So this was an intense hour and half of Slayer at their best! They went all the way back to 1983 with Black Magic and another one from 2015 with When The Stillness Comes but then you mix in War Ensemble, Seasons in the Abyss, Hell Awaits, South of Heaven and, of course, Raining Blood and you’ve got something for the old and new Slayer fans!
Slayer’s final tour…let that sink in; I know it hasn’t for me. I’m going to date myself when I say this but I went to high school in the 80’s and Slayer has always been around. Always putting out music, I didn’t always listen to them religiously but when I wanted something heavier than the hair bands I was listening to (don’t judge me J ) I knew where to find that fix. The world of thrash metal wouldn’t be the same and would not be at the level it is today without Slayer in it. So with many heartfelt thanks from Tom to the crowd for supporting them all these years Slayer closed out this show with Angle of Death.
I know tickets are hard to come by for this tour, but if you can make it happen go see these bands and be a part of music history.
https://www.slayer.net/
http://www.lamb-of-god.com/
https://anthrax.com/
http://behemoth.pl/
http://www.testamentlegions.com/
http://www.riverbend.org/
All photos by Tom Biggs at TRB Photography LLC
©2018. Please DO NOT copy or use without permission.
