Last night thrash metal giants Slayer brought death and destruction to Riverbend Music Center on their final world tour. This tour is historically significant to metal heads, as it brought Anthrax and Slayer together on the same stage again as they did in the “Clash of the Titans Tour” in the 1980s. Cincinnati was lucky to host this concert on international “Slayer Day” as June 6this front man Tom Araya’s birthday. This concert was a must see heavy metal spectacle as we say farewell to Slayer before they retire.
Heavy metal music is a style of music that has many different sub-genres and presentations, and this tour had a diverse lineup that satisfied the large energetic crowd of Riverbend metalheads. Behemoth is a black metal band from Poland that explores extreme satanic themes and imagery, Anthrax and Slayer are some of the biggest Thrash bands in the world, Testament is an influential band from the second wave of heavy metal, and Lamb of God has been described as a “Punk band that plays heavy metal.”
Cincinnati is very fortunate to see these cultural icons play one last time before they say goodbye and take a much-deserved rest. Slayer has been making brutal music and constantly touring for 37 years. For this final tour Slayer set up more pyrotechnics than seems humanly possible with constant walls of fire and flame throwers that gave the appearance that a portal to hell had opened next to the Ohio River. Slayers musical catalog spans twelve studio albums which gives their set a large variety of songs to chose from. No concert of theirs would be complete without the classic songs such as, “South of Heaven,” “Seasons in the Abyss,” “Raining Blood,” and “Angel of Death.”
Giant tours like these prove that heavy metal is still alive and well in the world. There were many children seen wearing band tee shirts and rocking out with their parents as the culture passes down generations. It is a privilege that these musical pioneers are still playing and are bringing classic music to the younger generation.
Check our photos of the show HERE!
