Hyperblasts: Back to the Beginning

The biggest metal weekend of all time maybe arrives, with our impressions of Black Sabbath's Back to the Beginning and Ozzy's retirement party, plus trips to the return of Slayer in the UK.

Releases:
Split Chain - motionblur
Calva Louise - Edge of the Abyss
dead7 - Love What You Can While You’ve Still Got Something Left to Love
Ward XVI - ID3NTITY
Born of Osiris - Through Shadows
Margarita Witch Cult - Strung Out In Hell
Floating - Hesitating Lights

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Hello, everybody, Welcome back to That's Not Metal and welcome
to another edition here of Hyperblast. This is your weekly
rock and metal show where we let you know everything's
been going on in the past seven days. My name
is Parrin Haiish. I'm here to do all that with
you at this exact moment. I am here on my
own doing the deed of I'm gonna let you know

(00:46):
what again, the releases and so on, and that we've
got coming up as well, let you know what we've
got cooking here in tnm land. Relievingly after last week
and everything that had to be said about Bob Villain
and Glastonbury and Radar and all the rest of it,
let alone Dennis stuff. There's not really been much news
this week, aside from obviously everybody's been talking about the
Black Sabbath back to the beginning show. Lots of people

(01:09):
watched it, and there's been lots of conversation continuing in
the aftermath of it, as I guess you would expect
for such a huge hyped event. As well, I'm recording
this a day earlier than usual as well, so next
week we'll have a proper new segment with anything that happens.
But I did earlier in the week when we had
the chance sit down with Sam and Elliott to talk

(01:29):
about our impressions of the Black Sabbath event of again
just what we kind of observed took in by osmosis
ha ha around that, and actual in person reports as
well from the two of them about the two Slayer
shows that they did in the UK around their appearance
at the Sabbath show. So I'm gonna hand over to

(01:50):
past me and I'm gonna put that chat here. Okay,
So I've got Sam and Elliott here and we are
gonna round off what we have regularly basically every single
week on a hyperbastm the new show termed the busiest
summer on record in the UK for not just shows
because show's always happened, but big event shows, right, And
obviously the buck doesn't stop here. There are more things coming. Sam,

(02:14):
You're off the two thousand Trees very soon, and you know,
the usual summer events occur, But that little period that
we have been talking about did feel like it was
building to essentially the Mammoth occasion, which is what collectively
I suppose we could say has happened this past weekend
with most obviously the Black Sabbath Back to the Beginning show,

(02:37):
but also some bands who are around and involved with
that show, most notably Slayer and some of the bands
who went along with them also making appearances in the UK.
And so we're going to round off that little period
right now, the Black Sabbath Back to the Beginning show. Unfortunately,
none of us were actually at in We were not
in the you know, the Villa Park Stadium in Birmingham.

(03:00):
I know people who were. I know obviously anyone who
wants to look like there anyone was going to Villa
Park and watching that show. But I think everyone on
the internet has you know, been involved with that show
to some degree or another. Maybe they watched the entire
you know stream that you could pay for. Maybe it's
just by osmosis absorbing every clip that they can find

(03:20):
of what obviously, as we knew it would be, but
certainly turned out to be a enormous, star studded, highlight
a minute sort of occasion. And so while we're not
gonna give it a full show review because none of
us are actually there, it was obviously the biggest event
in rock music this year, so we could just sort
of talk about roughly what we felt and emanating towards

(03:40):
us as people who weren't actually attending, but what the
vibes were like and what impressions we got from it. Elliott,
you were probably the best equipped to it is because
you did actually watch the entire like stream you know
that you could pay to do. I didn't do that
because I mainly I didn't want to pay twenty five
pounds for Sharon Osborne to show me David Draymond. But
you know you I understand as part of a big
family they get together, which would absolutely be the way

(04:01):
to do it. Did watch the entire ten eleven hour
whatever it turned out to be, just roughly vibes in
terms of again what we've heard from people who were there,
and you know, what we've absorbed through the Internet and
so on. The momentousness of the occasion and certainly the
cynicism that was maybe around it when it was announced,

(04:22):
I do feel like has largely dissipated into the general
like joyous after glow of what a particular event like
that is. And that's again, there are pros, there are
cons to every bit along the way of what this
event might be, but that is the general vibe that
I get.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Do you share that?

Speaker 3 (04:43):
I mean, yeah, I to be honest, I had no
truck for this cynicism when it came out the first time,
when people saying like they've already retired, it's you know,
it's money fleecing, it's a cash grab. They're just trying
to milk the fans and they think you're stupid or
whatever is I always found that a slightly, to be honest,
a slightly miserable point view, because to take away the
whole aspect of it being for charity, which is a

(05:05):
major thing to take away when you look at just
how much money for totally deserving charities that this event
has raised, even just in the live stream numbers like
the estimates of like one hundred and forty to one
hundred and sixty million quid, It's like, that's that's an
incredible contribution. But even discounting that, if we need to do,

(05:27):
that is just one of the most spectacular things that's
ever happened in heavy metal. And I think if you
like Black Sabbath and you like Ozzy Osbourne, which if
you like heavy metal, you'll most certainly do, this is
the kind of event that would feel befitting of that,
because Sabbath did a big farewell tour the first time

(05:47):
or the third time, and it was cool, like people
saw it, it was popular. People seem to think they
want good form, especially at the last show, but I
don't know that. It's kind of hard to come up
with a thing that of appropriate size for band like
Sabbath with their reach, and then Ozzie, you know, having
his thoughts canceled time and time again, becoming more and

(06:10):
more unwell, and then just kind of having to quietly
retire a guy with that career that doesn't seem like
the appropriate send off either. So getting to almost correct
those two things, where it's the original Sabbath lineup playing
together for the last time, Ozzie getting one last show,
and it being a true spectacle that's appropriate to his

(06:31):
size and his influence, and pretty much who's who of
metal bands who are available to play it, getting all
them to come and putting their egos aside. Playing the hits,
playing the Sabbath cover is paying tribute. It's just I
can't get myself in the headspace of someone who isn't
thrilled by that or doesn't think this is a wholly

(06:54):
brilliant moment.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, I think, particularly when you think about what clearly
visually meant to Ozzie right. Of yeah, as you say, like,
he hasn't been on stage in what like six years
or something like that, and he's clearly not going to
get out on stage for extended tours or anything like that. Ever, again,
you know, those days are are gone. He clearly wanted

(07:18):
an opportunity to bowl, right and to see you know,
the fans who have made his life what it is
for the last time in that kind of environment, and
that having that whole you know, essentially the entire eight
hour day or whatever leaving up to that point was
basically just the elaborate retiring party and having all of
his friends and all of his matrough all these bands right,
you know, it's a fun time. But that moment of

(07:41):
Ossie coming out doing his solo set and then getting
the guys he started it with in Black Sabbath before
it as well, just for him, that is clearly the
final moment on stage that I think he could be
happy with, and that ultimately, I think is the be
all and end or of whether that moment is a

(08:02):
good thing. Or not. You can then factor in what
I've said before about the bill Ward factor him finally
after you know, he hasn't played with South for twenty years,
getting the moment to bow out with the rest of them,
which he did not get the last time, and then
you factor in as you were pointing out the amount
of charity money or whatever this kind of contributed, it's
it is hard to kind of really fold your arms

(08:23):
about it. And I think when you see what this
meant to all the other bands who played on the
day as well, like the amount of like genuinely super
sincere after the show messages that bands or musicians whatever
have kind of like you know, posted up there, whether
it be you know, Randy Blythe or like Sega photo
of Axl Rose and Aussie like you know, shaking hands

(08:44):
or whatever, like everyone clearly knew what the moment was
and the fact that you get, you know, in their
own rights. Stadium headlining actually bigger than Black Sabbath bands
like Guns n' Roses or Metallica turning up and absolutely
like yeah, we'll go on at six pm and will
play four songs because this is your moment and we
would not be here without you. And everyone clearly was

(09:08):
so honored by the occasion. Even though we can bitch
and we do have valid complaints about maybe some of
the people who were or weren't involved or whatever, that
pure message I think has just overrided the majority of
what else has been kind of put out there this weekend.
So we're not going to do like a full beat
by beat review of the entire show, because that would
be very, very long, and none of us are actually there,

(09:28):
so that we're pouring and a bit rich to pretend
like we were, But just some of the impressions and
vibes and memorable moments we got throughout the things were
when you know, when you were watching your stream, what
were the moments that you like popped for when they arrived,
or what were the moments that you were curious about
that you were like, oh, so that's what that turned
out to be when it arrived.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
Well, so initially that the family event was meant to
be a barbecue. I will have this going in the background.
You can wander into the house, see what's going on,
come back in, and then basically pretty quickly everyone just
sat down and you were glued to it for the
whole eleven hour stretch, because when were you going to leave? Like,
the first thing that clocked was basically every band. I
don't know if they were told to do this or

(10:10):
if they decided this is like our live aid moment,
like let's go out and just pack it as densely
as possible. Pretty Much every band did their biggest songs,
and in that sort of setting, it's kind of hard
to capture the excitement that that creates, where you know
that every band's going to go out in front of
forty two thousand people, and however many million are watching

(10:30):
at home and get their moment to go work. Look
Lamb of God, Laid to Rest, Redneck Mastered on Black
Tongue and Blood and Thunder, do you know what I mean?
Like Goodjear are coming out and doing Stranded into SILVERA.
It's just that sort of thing where like I said,
Ego has put aside, there's no worry about like, oh on,
this album got a promote. They's got a promot that
have your time on the biggest stage of all, at

(10:52):
the biggest heavy male ven there is, and just do that.
But for me, the thing that was really keeping me
engaged and out in front of the TV was the
promise of every band doing a Black Sabbath cover. Yeah,
and that thing of going who's gonna do what? Because
really you start thinking about it, you go like almost
anyone could do anything, and pretty quickly you realized there

(11:15):
was no point predicting it because obviously you thought, well,
Black Sabbath will take DIBs on some of the biggest songs.
But then like Lamb of God was third on or something,
and they just peel into Children of the Grave.

Speaker 4 (11:27):
Yeah, my cynicism evaporated.

Speaker 1 (11:30):
They're they're, they're they're the only band so far who
have released a studio version of their cover. Basically immediately,
it'd be interesting to see if any more of those
joined the ranks.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
But yeah, fun or like not.

Speaker 3 (11:41):
Say, one of the best covers, but the thing that
kind of sets you go like, oh really, it's it's
you know what's it called? First Come, First Servant Away
was Anthrax doing Into the Void, which I could have
sworn was going to be one of the songs that
Sauth did or one of the later bands, And we'll
get to it later, but some of the later bands
really picked some rogue choices and then just like the
moments when they start doing the supergroups and cycling people

(12:03):
in and out again. Some people you kind of go like,
why are they here? Some people maybe aren't that great.
But Papa from Ghost coming out and doing bark At
the Most bark at the Moon, and Travis Barker from
Blink on It two is behind him, and then Nuno
from Extreme is doing the solo. You just like, what
the fuck.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
That's properly weird it.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
It's properly mad and it worked amazingly. It was so good.
It was a it was a blind It was the
sort of thing was like that that makes perfect sense,
Like that's whoever's put that together, whoever's had that idea
understood the assignment.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
The fact of the first one was mastered On doing
super or like the first band on and they got
that like like collective percussion circle with like Danny Carey
and you know these other people involved with it. Yeah,
like that makes you go immediately, Okay, you're the first
band on mastered on. They are one of the smallest,
most comparable to a cult band on this bill, But

(12:59):
straight away you just going, yeah, star power, look at
the party this is gonna be.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
He got like four of the best drummers in the
world all at it together. I think that would have
set the tone really nicely.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
And the other one later where you just go like,
what am I even seeing was when it was Steven
Tyler on stage with Tom Morello, Ronnie Wood and Chad
Smith on drums, and I'm forgetting the other people who
are up there, and they're just coming out and doing
like walk this way into a whole lot of love again,
not Ozzie or Sabbath songs, but just addressing the moment
and going like this is the biggest rock party. Yeah,

(13:30):
found them big.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
Moment for Stephen Tyler actually because Aerosmith, you know, could
have went off the road a couple years ago because
he was having vocal issues, and by by all accounts
he found it sounded to fucking great and killed it.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
So you know, you.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
Sounded like fucking I mean, I'll say as as that
the Aerosmith hater, Yeah, he sounded fucking great, Like he.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
Said, good for him.

Speaker 3 (13:47):
And even moments which I thought could be really enough,
they managed to turn it around. And I don't know
if it was just my good will or it was
the exciting moment. So I just think they rescued it.
So one of the things we were doing in my
family was this game of the I was some special guests,
so we're all placing bets on who the special guests
were going to be and like see who would show up,
and a surprising number of them did. And one of

(14:08):
the people I put down was Jack Black. By didn't
know in what capacity he'd come in, and I think
it was like, it's Scott Ian's kid, and Tom Morello's
son came out and went like, we want to introduce
like mister Crowley or something, and then this video starts
playing of them two and two other very young musicians
like ten to thirteen aged start playing mister Crowley and

(14:30):
I go Tom, like, this is very nice, but at
the biggest heavy metal show of all time, why have
you got your kid? And his mate was also like
the kid of another guy in a band, and got on,
let them do mister Crowley because it is the first
We didn't know what anyone else was gonna do it,
and I just thought like, this is a bit of
a wasted opportunity. And then when fucking Jack black appears
and you go, oh my, they're doing.

Speaker 5 (14:50):
School of Rock.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
They're doing School of Rock back to the beginning, and
I have an immense amount of nostalgia for that film
that just seems to like.

Speaker 4 (15:01):
It was.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
It was stuff like off the side of that was
kind of extracurricular. Maybe it's a bit cheeky, a bit silly,
but it's that was an actual a lister doing something
kind of out in a way, out of his wheelhouse,
something a bit off kilter, and it just felt so loving.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yeah. I mean again, am I right in saying because
I have a slightly different impression of because I didn't
actually watch the whole thing. Yeah, that was like a
video thing, right? And is that also how because they
were actually there in the stadium. For example, when the
poster appeared of who was there and we were like
fred Durst, how could Fred Durst be there? That was
like a video stream thing as well of him doing
changes for the second time that day, right, and saying that's.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
How it worked. Yeah, there were a couple of things
like that where Jonathan Davis was on the poster. I
kept waiting for him to show up and then he
just came in a video and we're like, hey, like
best of luck, Like that's not really poster worthy. Behavior
but fine, but like fred Durst again and I was
looking out for and then he comes on the sort
on the street. It just took over the video. But
presuming he was played on the screens at the stadium,

(16:04):
I would think the fred that I've got to say,
I mean, I I despise young Blood, so it's not
that surprising. I thought his Changes cover was kind of annoying.
Fred Durst doing changes is both the most and least
appropriate choice possible. But like again just to go like
the family that will sat there and people go like

(16:25):
who is this guy? I was like, this is the
guy that did break stuff and people I was like
what they didn't know? Fred Dost had this balladeering why
is that with the puss with a cello?

Speaker 2 (16:35):
Like this is yeah, the young Blood thing.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
I know that a lot of people have said that
young Blood was like did fucking incredibly unchanges, Like I
just can't do it with that guy's voice.

Speaker 5 (16:45):
The good will for the event, yeah, well young Blood
is yeah, I reckon, he probably did do a good job.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
I've seen like little bits of the clip. I just
I can't stand his voice. And I also don't even
like changes as a song anyway. So the combination two
things was not really going to be for me, but
as said, the good will of everything he put in
a shit brilliant going through again some of the more
rogue choices of covers, Kajira doing under the Sun is like,
that's a that's a heavy poll, that that's cool as fuck,
and then there's a poll later on that I don't know.

(17:12):
I felt like it was for us because we did
a Black Sabbath special at the start of this year
focusing not on the Ozzie years, right, and obviously we
knew there wasn't gonna be anyone coming out doing headless
cross or fucking disturbing the priest or whatever this other
stuff we had a whale of a time talking about.
But we did start that special talking about like the
final couple of the of you know, the seventies Assie
records when they kind of go off the you know,

(17:33):
the the path a bit to lead us into the
story we're actually telling. And when we were talking about
Nether Say Die and how mad it is and stuff
like that, and we were like, Johnny Blade, well, bizarre
mad little song Johnny Blade is when I saw her
on this setlist that Metallica, the band famous for having
Sabbath covers. They didn't even play, but they just decided

(17:53):
to play Johnny fucking Blade. That was one of the
most exciting things this whole thing for me. I was
like Metallica Johnny Blade to a stadium of Like, however,
many fucking thousands of people, many of whom probably don't
know that song, so rogue and so awesome.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
I could not believe my eyes and the ears because
they came out to hold in the Sky, which already
I was like, what Sabrika dabra, that's your Sabbath cut, Like,
no one's done it yet, that's yours, Like that's on garage,
everyone's gonna expect that from you. And hold of the Sky,
like that's an interesting choice. And then three songs, lads,
when they Johnny Blade, Hole of the Sky seems so boring.
It seems like such a choice from metell because you're

(18:32):
just like, what is and what's weird?

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Blade?

Speaker 3 (18:37):
Yeah? As it starts, as I thought like this, like
and you've recogize that and you know us truth as
we're going, what's no, surely surely not doing Johnny Blade.
Of all fucking songs, especially mad because Guns and Roses
just come off and done the songs off. Never say
Die they did, Never Say Die Junior's eyes and it's

(18:57):
all right. I mean, so you just go like, how
is said I getting more representation than like Black Sabbath Black.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
Sound perfectly tuneful renditions. I'm sure you'd agree from from
Guns and Roses there, but Johnny Blade from Metallica.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
Johnny Blade returning to Johnny and the cover was like,
it was good, like it fit. It made like because
because I as soon as it started all over that's
a weird. Like that drum part is so bill Ward.
I couldn't imagine any other drummer playing at all. And
Lars Alric in like classical lars Arek fashion.

Speaker 4 (19:32):
He's not any other drama.

Speaker 3 (19:33):
He doesn't matter what bill Ward did. Who cares what
the drum part is. We're going and suddenly it's a
four on the floor like biker rock, and you're like,
oh yeah, and you got the song is in bactor
jam and in the hands of Metallica, it's like a
stadium metal song, which obviously it's not.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
And then maybe we're going to come back to this,
I suppose, because this is obviously the other band we're
majorally talking about, but the other cover on.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
The list Rabben.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
What is Slayer doing Wicked World? Because not only is
that a deep poll, Slayer are the band on this bill.
Where I maybe found it hard is to envision what
they're doing a Sabbath couple would actually sound like, because
Slayer don't swing, you know, like Slayer, are you know,
Lamb of God or whatever. You may be difficult to imagine,
but like Slayer and Sabbath, despite being two of the

(20:21):
quintidential names and heavy metal do not seem to cross
over a lot of passages. And I was like, what
fucking Slayer songer that Saba song?

Speaker 2 (20:29):
Could Slayer do?

Speaker 1 (20:30):
And I certainly would have guessed a B side from
the first album, but I guess that's you know, Kerry
King and tom A Ray or whatever. It's like og
Sabbath fans from back then in the same way they
cover pre songs on their classic records, drawing on that.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
But what a mad what a mad thing to do?

Speaker 3 (20:47):
Well, I just started laughing because I thought it's gonna
be hand of Doom or sense of the Universe.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
Surely the universe if any of them?

Speaker 3 (20:53):
Yeah, yeah, and you think it's gonna be since in
the universe then obviously, and Slayer they've come out and
they've done like Disciple War Ensemble, and I think they
might have done South of Heaven by them, it's like
three fucking rages and then poor Boss Staff and you're like,
you've picked like the Jet d Yeah.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
It's one of the jazziest on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
It's just saying like, you know, Slayer don't swing, and
they picked the swingiest Sabbath song, like the proper barn
dance rhythm. It's just and quite cool that in a
way that they didn't do the whole in fact that
they did South of Heaven afterwards, because halfway through Wicked
World they just kind of stopped and skipped the whole
South of Heaven intro and just went straight into that

(21:37):
first Verson that's like a you know, no.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
Yeah, I watched the video of them doing Wicked World
and then building it into Before the Sea you like
you Will both Die and ever Going, Oh, which is
as rad I love that as a combination of things.
And then we should, of course just got you know,
skipped forward to actually talk about because you can talk
about every single cover that was done you know, Tall
doing hand of Doom sounds like a fucking cool But

(22:01):
you know the reason for the season Ossie and Black Sabbath.
Ozzie as we knew he'd be kind of, you know,
wheeled out on his throne, look like he was perfectly
comfortable their lovely stuff, doing his little solo set, and
then Black Sabbath again arriving playing four or five songs
whatever it would be. In some ways, I guess the
most predictable part of the of the evening because you

(22:22):
just know it's going to be those four guys peeling
out that thunderous sound that changed the world. But yeah,
quite something to even just a far through the internet
or whatever observe and be like, yeah, you know, I
know that we all thought that we had bid farewell
to that for the last time, but now properly with
the four of them and everything with the sense of

(22:42):
I think that there is a greater sense of finality
about this and the sense of celebration of having everyone involved,
having basically put in, like I get a ten hour
shift or whatever of rocking up to that point, specifically
as the prelude to these four guys playing this handful
of songs there is something different about it.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
Yeah, And I remember, and I think part of this
was me almost coping with the fact that bill Ward
wasn't part of the last reunion. But everyone saying, oh,
you know these thirteen missus, bill Ward and the toy.
It's that the guy's fine, but there's no bill Ward,
And I was like, yeah, but you know, you can
play those parts, and you know, bill Ward's kind of
old anyway, maybe it's good to have some fresh But
probably just me trying to console myself for the fact

(23:23):
that I was going to see the original four Sabbath
members and even though bill Ward very understandably is not
as you know, he's not the same powerhouse that he
was back in the day, And there were a couple
of slip ups along the way, Like the films were simplified,
there were moments where it him maybe slightly late, when
he was locked in and that swing was there, that

(23:46):
like irrepressible, inexplicable, that thing that makes Sabbath Sabbath. When
that's there, that to me alone was worth doing this
whole thing, because when it gets like that bit of
the end of War Pigs, or when nib is kicking off,
or when Iron Man's laying into that groove. That's a
sound I haven't heard before, because I've heard, you know,

(24:08):
Sabbath with in the twenty tens plenty, but not with
Bill Ward and him being there. I kind of didn't
quantify what a huge thing that was gonna be until
I was watching it, and because I kind of thought, oh,
you know, it's a bonus, like it's just an extra song,
it's a nice nale blody blah blah. It's like, Wow,

(24:29):
those are the fucking the four dudes. Like so much
of my life has been dominated by heavy metal and
go into shows and listening to the music and obsessing
over it, and it's just those four people for one
last time, closing out this whole thing, and like, like
you say, you knew it was gonna be those four guys,
You probably knew what songs they were gonna do. As

(24:49):
someone who loves this music, it's just so affecting to
see and hear that.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
And then obviously for Ozzie as well, we've spoken about
the kind of the emotion of the occasion for him
very very clearly, and I think the set, like there's
that really cute little video of Geezer Butler going off
stage and bringing him back like a Ossie cake, you know,
like everyone, it's like, yeah, those four guys are still
They have had their ups and fucking downs in terms
of contract bullshit and the cynicism of the rock industry

(25:15):
taking its toll and all that stuff, but there they are,
you know, the four of them together, and there's still
that connection and that's that's incredible. And you know, in terms,
I know, obviously the event was crazy fucking expensive. I
know that it has its elements that we have criticized,
and you know, even though it is completely historic, I'm
still not like, I'm not overwhelmed with this sense of fomo.

(25:37):
I wish I had, like, you know, sold my fucking
so all of my belongings to to be there. All
I've heard from people who were there was just the
sense of magic and joy around the occasion. And so
I do believe, you know, I completely believe that it
was one for the one for the books, and so
that is obviously against something that none of us were

(25:58):
actually attending, but certainly demanded a little bit of conversation
as to you know, it's placed in the history books
of not just this year but overall in you know,
rock and metal history. Something that we can give a
little bit more of a personal report about is involving
a band and maybe a handful of bands who are
all in attendance at that Sabbath show, is that you

(26:21):
could you know, it could get lost amidst the normality
of that Sabbath show. But as the first time that
Slayer have appeared this little run on in the UK
since they're very shocking surprise reunion from last year and
they either side of the biggest Sabbath show played two
big outdoor shows in the UK. There was one in Cardiff,

(26:42):
there was one in London. They brought along a mighty
mighty blockbuster support bill in their own right to those shows.
There has been a lot of theorizing and kind of
I don't know, observing of some of the business around
these Slayer shows, as I seem to feel like we
have having conversations about more and more and more when

(27:02):
it comes to big outdoor festival occasions or whatever because
of all the I don't know, the strange nebulous stuff
that goes in trying to flog tickets or whatever, and
I feel like there are a lot of people who
in the weekly up these Slayer shows basically believed that
forty people would be in attendance because of the ticket
flogging or whatever that was going on.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
But it's quite reassuring.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
I suppose, looking again, I was not at these shows,
but watching footage of them, being like, oh, there's big
crowds going nuts for Slayer and all of these other bands. Right,
Elliotts you you went to the Cardiff show, Sam, you
were at the London one. I know there was a
strange nebulus in terms of particularly set times, in difference
between the Cardiff and the London show.

Speaker 5 (27:43):
London was like an all day Cardiff was like a
half day.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah, with that, which is is fucking weird in terms
of again, I don't know if you guys would have
like paid the same price for these shows and how
that works in terms of what you actually got. It's
very strange. But you have seen the same bands, and
you both well, I guess we've seen roughly the same
Slayer show. So we're now going to talk a little
bit about the return of Slayer to the UK after

(28:07):
six years. I suppose also could be the last time.
Probably won't be the last time, but it is still momentous, nonetheless,
and you guys got to see fucking Slayer, so.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
Let's talk about it. How was fucking Slayer guys?

Speaker 5 (28:21):
I mean, I've not seen Slayer since twenty thirteen, so
I was like, wow, desperate to sort of I just
timings like not being at the festivals they are at
all the sort of things, so like missed the entire
farewell run, all of that sort of stuff. Didn't just
didn't land my way. So that's why fuck all the
demand about like, oh, you paid full prices this year,
and I was like, I've not fucking seen Slayers' twenty thirteen.

Speaker 4 (28:43):
They're bringing that fucking line up. Yeah, I'll pay one hundred.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
Quid for it.

Speaker 5 (28:47):
Women can sing some of the other shows what they're
I was just going when I well they're charging, I'm like,
I'm getting my money's worth with this Slayer bills. While
I had no qualms about tickets running like that, I
was like, I want to fucking see Slayer. It's been
way too long, and I was just in the mood,
but just like I just want to hear fast, fucking
fresh riffs. I want to be able to like do
my like Angel live Deaf screams and just have a

(29:08):
good time mutching one of the greatest fresh bands ever,
and I just happened to watch, you know, a bunch
of other kick ass bands beforehand, so I was just
fully like I had no kind of like issues going
into this.

Speaker 4 (29:18):
I was like, let's let's have a grand old dea
of heavy metal.

Speaker 3 (29:21):
Yees see. I saw Slayer's last UK show a download
and that is one of the funnest gig memories I
have and will likely ever have. And it was one
of those things where part of me did think, I
do I want to go and tarnish this. I don't
mind Slayer going out and playing these shows, but do
I want to go and have a Slayer show after
that that might not live up to it. So when
it was just like, oh, it's probably just gonna be

(29:41):
the America, It's gonna be these three shows that one
summer last year, I thought, well, I don't really mind.
I'd like to see it, but I'm happy with my
Slayer experience. And then the moment they went on sale,
it was like, I'm going to Wales for this because
I am. I was so paranoid that it would sell
out in London. That I was like, well, whales won't
sell as much, and that was I guess turned out

(30:03):
to be true. Fine, but II the same thing where
I looked at the price and thought, not only is
it Slayer, but I never seen mastard on before. Whoa
was a big one.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
Never.

Speaker 3 (30:15):
They've always been at like festivals when I've not been there,
except for when I.

Speaker 4 (30:19):
Was read the same thing.

Speaker 3 (30:20):
Yeah exactly, But I was reading in twenty sixteen when
they were playing the Rock ten off the Dinner Escape Plan.
But me and my friends had a vote and they
decided that the Red Hot Chili Peppers would be a
better thing to go and watch, and I thought, don't worry,
I'll go see them next time. And that was nine
years ago. So mastered on a monomath. Anth Ax hate
reed that bill. Even if in Cardiff we did suffer

(30:44):
some shorter set times, which only dawned on me on
the day when I was like it was in the
town over. I was saying when should I get there,
and I just thought, hang on, how the fuck is
this all gonna work? Like if I'm getting there at
like five and there's five bands Slayer, I've got to
be off by ten thirty so it and what transports

(31:07):
doors were at five Hatebred's one at five fifteen there
were twenty minutes of Hate Breed. There was Las at
thirty minutes of masteredon. So part of me was like,
this is unfair. I've been I should have thought this through,
like I should have known. But in another way it
kind of worked in my favor because a bit like
that Sabbage show we were just talking about, all the

(31:29):
bands had to go right. Anything that even resembles fat
shed it because every set list I saw, even if
the performances weren't like out of this world at least
for one of the bands, the set lists were unfuck
with able.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, it's well bizarre at that word.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
I don't know if it's again because yours gig was
on like a Wednesday or something. Wasn't it so compared
to a full weekend event, But you know they should
have ran it, like obviously the London show worked, or
the death Zone show we went to the week before whatever,
but the same. I guess bands on the bill along
with us supposed to an extra opening band in London, Neckbreaker,
who are kind of upcoming death metal band. We're gonna
fly through the non Slayer bands. You know, started with

(32:08):
neck Breaker in London and then onto Hate Breed and
so on throughout What does I mean even fucking the
full price ticket before it then became a fucking like
fifty quid ticket or whatever. The idea of seeing those
like five all all tim of heavy metal or heavy
bands together it is the you know, if the Black
Sabbath lineup is the most like ridiculous star studed lineup

(32:30):
of the year, this Slayer one is just the most
like I am here to break some fucking heads and
nothing else, big metal rider for the year.

Speaker 5 (32:37):
I did catch neck Breaker in London. They're the one
new band on the lineup of like say legendary I
want to function up metal band.

Speaker 4 (32:45):
So I was like, why are they on there? Like
what have they landed? And pretty good actually kind of
like groovy death Court.

Speaker 5 (32:52):
They need to get a couple of songs going for
themselves to really stand out, but you know they've got
a pick going like this is the sort of thing
where like the crowd was as say, up for smashing
heads because halfway through neckbreakers first song, there's a pick going,
like not the biggest club, but everyone who's there early
is like right, let's fucking go and bounce it.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
Yeah, having a good time.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
Yeah, I think that band are okay. You know, I've
not seen them live. I've only heard their record, and
I think they're okay. And for whatever reason, they seem
to be getting like again, of newer, younger death metal bands,
they seem to be getting a lot of these like
you know, pushes and slots, So they got something going
on with them that's, you know, drawing people to them. Like,
I agree with you that, I think, you know, the
music needs to advanced a little bit further.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
But that's that.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
Onto Hate Breed, who Elliott saw, you know, fifteen to
twenty minutes off or whatever.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
But be brief with this.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
One, because I did speak about hate Breed at Mystic
Festival a few months ago, a few weeks ago, even
in Poland. But on that I spoke about the ridiculousness
of the particularly the opening run of what hate Breed
decided to come out and do, and Sam, you were like, oh,
if hate Breed do something fucking similar at London And
it wasn't the exact same set list, but the impression
I got is the same kind of oh, hate Breed

(33:59):
that I was certainly walking through that Polish shipyard feeling.

Speaker 5 (34:03):
I mean they open with I will be heard. I'm
hunching my friend.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
I mean like the Setlers in London, I will be heard.

Speaker 5 (34:11):
To the Fresh I'd tear it down perseverance as die
had as they come in Accessary Proven, this is now
destroy everything looking down the barrel of today. That's a
fucking hit after after hit Proven has one of top
five beatdowns of all time. Seeing that in a big
outdoor field in act they had the Balls of Death
come out. Great fun Hate By I'm just like something

(34:32):
Jakes said, but oh so I think I quite kind
of believe it. Hate We are the greatest band ever.
I fucking love that bad. I had the best time, Ellieah.

Speaker 3 (34:40):
I needed to see much Hate Breed because of the
insane quan situation in Cardiff, where like I say, doors
are at five, they're on fifty minutes later, and they
were twenty thousand people hoping to get it. So Hate
Bred probably only played to a couple hundred people at
the at the start of their show, but I got
in so the last few songs you could tell there
was a bit of frustration from Jamie, like we're being
told to cut it, but you know, you guys have

(35:02):
been awesome. We'll be back again with kill Switch Engage
and all that. They they made use of their twenty minutes.
You could tell they kind of expended all their energy
there and then I hate Actually I'm not a huge
Hate Breed fan, so I wouldn't know the ins and
outs of the sett list, but the people there did
seem to go a bitter, go a bit mental for it,
So big, big thumbs up.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
Yeah, Mastered On.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
This is also notable for them because these their first
shows in the UK without Brent Hines, Right, so Elliott,
I mean half an hour of Mastered on for a
first time seeing there is no time at all. But also,
as we're saying, you know, noteworthy for this kind of new,
currently slightly unknown version of what's going on with Mastered On.

Speaker 3 (35:39):
How were they? Well, yes, there were a few things
that were kind of swimming in my mind before I
thought like, this is my first time seeing Mastered on
and it's gonna be a half hour set outdoors, which
I know can be notorious new guitar player, and who
knows if like the vocals are going to work because
sometimes even Mason when musically they're great. I've seen live
videos where the vocals don't quite hit it. Not only

(36:02):
were all those things fantastic, especially with the quick turnarounds,
the sound for all the bands was just brilliant. Mast
On sounded fucking crushing, Troy sounded great. The new Guy's cool,
good looking.

Speaker 4 (36:14):
Only complaint like could be a problem.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
But as far as the settlist for half an hour
of masted On, Crystal Skull, Black Tongue, Megalodon, more than
I could chew, Mother Puncher, Blood and Thunder, I.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
Mean, like I I still left Mother Puncher in there.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
That's kid. Yeah, like just especially more than I could chew.
They really jammed on that for a while. They were
kind of milk and then you could sells like right
when need something fast and frocious and completely fucking feral.
Just that felt like hate breed, like they kind of
suffered from, like the slow start of people getting in
and you know, getting a short set. Maston was like, Okay,
the night has begun, and like I say, one of

(36:55):
my absolute favorite ever metal bands. Six ten out of
ten songs, back to back to back, no messing about.
Everyone sounded great. Brand vocally sounded brilliant Troy, just like
he sounded fucking mad like vocally he's because because there's
that thing where like you know, he's an older guy
and like on hushting Grim, there's this weird effects on
his vocals which has taken me quite a while to

(37:17):
adjust to. And I wonder if there was gonna be
some of that live he's channeling that blood Mountain Leviathan
like crazed maniac thing they add on those records again.
I am so ready for another mass on the record
and whatever, whatever the toy is holy as far as Cardiff,
I can't wait for another half an hour shoft to
go and see the full thing.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
Yeah, first time's going White Whale, Holy Grail is a
special moment.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
Special, I mean, yeah, London.

Speaker 5 (37:45):
So we've got tread lightly, We've got the mother Load,
which is fucking brilliant. I will second, I've never seen
mass On outdoors. I've seen him a few times, but
I've never seen him outdoors. They've always heard you know, oh,
they they're never good at festivals. They're a bad outdoor band.
Fucking brilliant like they were so good. So yeah, we
got tread lightly, the motherload and pushing the tides before
then they cranked into crystals one black tongue.

Speaker 4 (38:06):
I was having the best time. We got steam breathing
near the end, which was really cool. Blood and Thunder
caused the heavens to open, which again like.

Speaker 5 (38:15):
If there are times where it's like theramatically relevant for
it to start pouring of the rain, I'll take it.
During Blood and Thunder Like, yeah, I thought they were great.
Did did they have the keyboardist for you as well?
When you were seeing them in Cardiff with his top
hat and sunglasses looking like a complete lunatic. Yeah, I
thought Maston were brilliant. They sounded great. The new guitarists

(38:37):
he's kind of started in and they seemed to be
having fun on stage. I was like, okay, cool that
there's a chemistry between the lineup right now, which again
I wasn't sure about with this new guitarist, but I
was like, no, that the four guys like there's a
chemistry between there. They're balancing off each other and they
see him again quite happy to be on stage, and
you know they were talking about yesterday was the greatest
metal show of all time sort of thing they were

(38:58):
on to be part of it, and you know that
they can't wait to you know, play more songs now.

Speaker 4 (39:02):
It was a massive win for Mastadon.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
I saw a video of them then did the mother
Load at the London show, and I thought brand did
sound particularly like on point with it so great. Anthrax
just always basically perfect Slayer warm up music essentially. I
love Anthrax and I haven't seen them living quite a
long time actually, and I'd be well up for seeing them,
but the amount of times I have seen them in
the exact slot of hyping me up for Slayer is great.

(39:26):
And you know, I'm sure that there's nothing particularly special
or crazy about the Anthrax show, but looking at the
setlist for the London one in front of me, it's
just all fucking like, literally nothing from my after nineteen ninety,
just all classics. It's hard to complain about among the
living caught in a marsh madhouse, fucking you know.

Speaker 5 (39:44):
Last time I saw Slayer, am Frax were main support
and they did pretty much the exact same set.

Speaker 4 (39:50):
Am Fraks are the perfect forty minute festival band, like
they're very good at it. It like come out.

Speaker 5 (39:55):
Among the living court and a marsh madhouse, melfrashing mad,
I'm the Law, and Social got the Time, Indians. I
was amaze, and we were always quite too hardcore. And
when in our space with the back, when I Am
the Lord came on, we were doing our silly bit
walks and like all of that, because like a Facts
are a fucking hardcre band. Scott Ian is two stepping
on stage right now. You can't tell me that hardcore isn't.

Speaker 4 (40:15):
In this band's DNA. Jerry bella donna act young good
for my fault.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
He was really up for it.

Speaker 5 (40:19):
He was having fun, sounded surprisingly good. I had great
fun watching Anthrax. I don't know how they weren't kind
of but it was just it was such a feel
good forty minutes in London.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
Yeah, it's similarly the only quibble I have is that
because with the Abridge sets we got like we got
just the among the living intro caught in a marsh, Anti,
Social got the Life and Indians and that was it
so kind of four songs really like if you don't,
if you don't consider the intro living a full song. Yeah,

(40:51):
Anthrax are just they were a remarkably undemanding band to
go and see, like you don't have to stand there
guessing what they're gonna play like that. The songs aren't
ferociously heavy or ferocially fast. They're just happy, upbeat, cheery,
thrash songs that they said they get you in the middle,
like Slayer is going to be the assault later Anthx,
it's just like the sun's starting to go down, classic

(41:12):
metal tunes, nothing like you say past nineteen ninety or
even I think nineteen eighty eight in our case. Yeah,
like probably of the bands I saw the weakest of
the bunch, but is a competitive class. Just a nice
time and like you say that, they are in good form.

Speaker 4 (41:27):
So I think in London they were like the surprise
hit of the day for me. While I was I
was like, arak'sill be fine?

Speaker 5 (41:33):
And then I don't think it's because it was with
my friends or because of just like when we're getting
like got the time and all of that, and it
was just jing us up and we were again war dance.
We were like throwing fists in our little corner of
the stage, Like it really was a surprise for me
for like I've seen An Franks do that exact scept
for but right place, right time.

Speaker 4 (41:51):
I was just joyous.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
Yeah, I think if you're in the field and you're
in the like you're in the mood for just hearing
a bunch of that kind of heavy metal, and then
Anthrax come out and deliver It's there is something quite
wonderful about that. I thought it said a lot about
actually the position that a Mono Math are in now
as a band, that they would be big logo, main
support slot under Slayer over you know what a Slayer's
peers in Anthrax, one of the great metal bands of

(42:14):
the twenty first century and mastered on I think the
fact that they are now so clearly like that, you know,
we are the band who play before Slayer, big metal
draw with the stage show and everything to go with it.
I thought that was just a great testament to what
one of Mauth kind of you know, where they live
these days and what they've kind of grown to and achieved.

Speaker 3 (42:30):
Yeah, I mean, I really like them on a math
and have them for a long time, But the two
times I've seen them previously, I've always thought that was fun,
like cool band, et cetera, et cetera. I was pretty
stunned by what I saw on Thursday. It was my
first time seeing them in about six or seven years,
and even though I think they lightly released one record
in that time and maybe a couple of singles, they've

(42:52):
just established a set list of unfuck with able, big
stage metal tunes where you look at that set and
just off the top of my head, it's like Guardians
of Ours, God Shield Wall, put your Back into the Ore,
find a Way, God Kill Yeap, like Crack the Sky, Twilight,

(43:12):
the thunder God, and a lot of pretty much everything
was like twenty thirteen onwards, with the exception Nobody Kings.
That's surprising, Yeah, yeah there was. There was some major
ones I was expecting that didn't make make an appearance
in the set. But they are, for me now like
one of the ultimate populist metal bands of right now.
Where you go see them and there's gonna be very

(43:34):
few surprises other than maybe like a couple of song choices,
but like the sound of each song is big made
and guitar melodies, huge hulking riff. Now they've got like
you know, I've always seen people do the rowing action
I'm on the Marsters, but now they have a song
which calls for it's like they're jump the fuck up
moment where like that starts playing and everyone starts getting
down to do the row like they know what they're doing.

(43:55):
They're not daft. It's so cooled to see a band
like I get their flowers so late in the where
they've been around for like thirty plus years, and like
in the last five they've just become this this bad
which can be main support as a slayer. And you
just felt the vibe in the field that day, like
people were so fucking up for it, and again maybe
a slightly sure set and they got in London, I

(44:15):
would imagine even tighter on the on the bang of front.

Speaker 4 (44:19):
I enjoyed them on a malf.

Speaker 5 (44:21):
The last time I saw them was when they headlined Bloodstock,
and they were fucking unbelievable that night, and I think,
I don't know if I was kind of like, oh,
you know, they've only bought like half of what they
can bring into the stage.

Speaker 4 (44:31):
They still fire, they still have you know, those songs.
I thought they were good.

Speaker 5 (44:35):
I was kind of hoping to be blown away by
a mono math on this day with open my Guardians
of az God.

Speaker 4 (44:41):
I was like, yeah, the crowd could have got going
of back and then the energy did.

Speaker 5 (44:46):
This was the only set of the day where the
energy in the crowd kind of had some lulls in
it where people were kind of like, yeah, cool.

Speaker 2 (44:52):
That's good.

Speaker 4 (44:52):
It's the one band I will allow it for.

Speaker 5 (44:55):
But I still kind of recoiled in discuss that a
rowing pit and was like, don't two foo them, Sam, don't.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
You get kid out of you? This is their moment
that I was like, this is their moment.

Speaker 5 (45:05):
I was like, recreate that drain video, Like develenadis almost
want to.

Speaker 4 (45:09):
Be like, recreate that drain video. No, they're allowed to
do it, Sam, let them be cringe.

Speaker 5 (45:14):
But then you know Twilet of the thunder God to
end the set, like when he's coming out with the
hammer bam on the stage, piro as that riff gets going,
like you can't fuck with that. That's pretty fucking amazing.
I like to say I've got a monomuth for good.
I was just I don't think it was my expectations
or if it was just kind of the energy wasn't
as up for it. I would say I was hoping

(45:34):
for more, but it was still a very sort of
fun warm up for Slayer.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
Yeah, well, ultimately the day wasn't about them. Right because
it was about Slayer, who maybe, again I don't know,
is that if there was set this difference between the
two of you. But I imagine this is maybe where
your day's kind of evened out in terms of what
was really really going on Slayer. It's different actually because
asking what was Slayer like? Right, asking that about Masterdon
when they've had the lineup change they've had is more

(45:59):
of a question. I imagine Slayer were basically like the
last time that Slayer were around than in this country, right.
I don't think they'll have changed very much. Maybe Tom
will be I don't know, like he's had a big
sleep and he will have slightly more jolliness about him
or whatever. But I can't imagine Slayer deviating much from
the Slayer that I know and love and saw quite

(46:21):
a few times throughout the twenty tens. But I can ask,
did you guys have a fucking great time? And looking
at the setlist I have in front of me, it's
hard to imagine the arts of being anything but fuck yeah.

Speaker 4 (46:32):
Fuck yeah, ah the best time.

Speaker 5 (46:36):
Again, I haven't seen slav fucking ages. This did feel
like very much like this is twenty ten Slayer like
or twenty twenty sort of slayer. Tom actually seems quite
jolly at points. He was he was smiling, he was
having fun. Obviously, his move on stage is always like
for for how many like fifteen or I come in
the exact a man time.

Speaker 4 (46:55):
He's had the surgery but been limited.

Speaker 5 (46:57):
But you know, I will say in London they had
a bit of a malfunction before the set started where
the curtain that they had that was meant to be
in front of the stage of this Slayer, when they
dropped it, it got all tangled and wrapped up, so
they had to kind of like abandon that, and then
they just had the videos playing on the side of
the screen, and then they just kind of walked on
and then was like here's South of Heaven, which I
was just like, fuck it, here's South of Heaven.

Speaker 4 (47:19):
Let's fucking go south of Heaven.

Speaker 5 (47:23):
Oh my god, Into Repentless Into Disciple Disciple when they
had them, I'm sure they had you know, the metric
ship Ton of Pyro when you saw them last, you know,
the giant inverted marshal lamp crosses, which are the coolest
thing I think I've ever seen. The other thing of
the Disciple was they had like pirate that would shoot

(47:43):
up and then out like and then across that would
make an inverted cross a flame in the middle of
the stage that would just kind.

Speaker 4 (47:48):
Of like horror horror says.

Speaker 5 (47:50):
I was like, that's the coolest piral I've ever seen.
It's an inverted cross made purely out of fire. The
Slayer or the coolest band in the world. When you're
getting that, I was like, yeah, you know what. You
can have your quibbles about the Slayer of Reunion, but
I'm watching some of the best fresh songs ever. Even
you know, I'm not a Show No Mercy fan died
by the sword fucking went off. Can imagine anyone who

(48:12):
likes metal not having the best time in these Slayer shows,
Like I.

Speaker 3 (48:17):
Think I've just got some gray hairs here. You don't
like Show No Mercy.

Speaker 5 (48:20):
It was just it's been a whole discussion. It's it's
I think it's another worst Player album, Like that's not.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
You know, the musical, like it's one of the that
is that's Poser talks leave the hole to quote, Player
gets amazing.

Speaker 4 (48:36):
It's it's a it's a bit of a ropie debut.
It's a whole other conversation. But die by the loser?
Can we not just celebrate Slayer here about pose you
started it?

Speaker 2 (48:47):
We weren't saying died by the sword.

Speaker 4 (48:52):
I was saying mercy actually has.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
Like not hard mercy.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
You pray die by the sword, like it's a weird
novel thing to do.

Speaker 4 (49:00):
It rips Elliott it that's rip they have.

Speaker 1 (49:04):
Like Sam was saying, they have turned into basically the
band who turn up and for a long time, and
they turned up and they deliver a comical amount of
fire and brimstone. And there will be people out there
who tell you that Slayer Alive aren't the same as
they were in nineteen eighty six or even nineteen ninety
four or whatever. And I'm sure to some degree that's true.
But fucking inverted Crosses made the fire and they're playing
disciple into jihad and whatever else.

Speaker 3 (49:25):
Yeah, they're just a fucking killing machine. And more so,
like you know, because judas Priest jo Seamen, You're like,
this is still brilliant, this is still fun. These guys
are like some of they're pushing seventy, they're over seventy,
and they're they're crushing iron mane like hearing the reports
back from the run for your live stores, that just
sounds like the best time Slayer. They are like the
oldest band that I can think of who are still

(49:49):
like frightening when they get into their violent and some
of it is that kind of cartoonish heavy metal thing
where you're like, Marshall Stacks are Raisings who inverted crossed
the perst into Flames. Yeah, please, Like, I don't care
if you think that's silly. You look at that set
list which I have up in front of me now,
opening with South of Heaven, as you already said, Baller Move,

(50:09):
Repentless Disciple, Died by the Sword g had one of
my favorite things that became a stable Slayer shows. But
the way he introduces it every single time is it's
the first time Tom speaks to the crowd, is a
smile on his face. He just discarded and goes like,
it's so good to be here, Like you know.

Speaker 4 (50:24):
It's Santa's bring any of the presence two.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
Second pause, what somber when that clicks in and it's
just another run and you just like that. It's war Ensemble,
chemical warfare.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
Look at the settle.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
As I can say, I always used to think of
the Slayer shows ending with a certain run of hits
that they have largely maintained, some of them moved around obviously.
Here they've got a fucking Wicked World cover at one
point in the ending run, and like two, one, three
and some other like weird pools going in there. But
Slayer B and that band who have those songs where
they can go, yeah Disciples near the very fucking beginning. Yeah,

(51:03):
just a little bit of the way into the set
is where you're getting war ensemble into chemical warfare. There
will never be another Slayer. It's just special, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
Yeah, just like the songs they could throw out where
you know, it's their first shows back in the UK
and six years they could just do the same settluser
as last year. And then we got the first Spirit
in Black performance in nearly ten years and the way
that pops off, and we didn't get the Wicked World thing,
which is why it was such a surprise at the
Sabbath show. I think we got black magic instead. I've

(51:33):
seen that three times already. I don't care, I don't
I wouldn't swap it for anything in the world.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
And from ten out of ten heavy metal debut.

Speaker 3 (51:41):
Literally, yes, a perfect song on a perfect album, the
second best Slayer album.

Speaker 5 (51:47):
But album, let's not fights, there's no I'm sorry, So
what are you are you having overseasons in the Abyss? Yeah,
obviously insane, the.

Speaker 4 (52:04):
Unbelievable insane behavior.

Speaker 3 (52:06):
We'll I have this, we can have this discussion and
your your education will come another day.

Speaker 4 (52:11):
But the best Layer album.

Speaker 3 (52:14):
But the thing is you're saying, like all the run
at the end, like dead skin Mask hours moved way up,
and that's in the middle Mandatory Suit, like Chemical Warfare
that was like song seven, and then in between that
and many Suicide is Reborn. You're like, what the fuck
am I even seeing right now? And then even the
last season in the abys is always a bit where
you go right entering business end. Yeah, you know it's
going to be hell awaits postwar, some raining blood, all

(52:36):
of those songs. And even then, just when you're like
getting into the groove of I kind of know what
songs are coming, they throw out a two to one
three and I was like, I don't think, I don't
know if I've seen Slayer do that song. So like,
as much as this is the oh, you know, they're
just trusting out as an exhibition show. They're still making
the efforts to give you songs which are going to
kind of knock you off your heels.

Speaker 5 (52:56):
Because that was one of the things that made me
want to go to this is when I saw those
setless from that US one and so they were pulling
out like deeper cuts. I was like, do you know
what that's justified this Slay reunion for me already? If
they if they're you know, making it more interesting. And then,
like I say, in London, when they've done that Runner
song and then when that Wicked World cover side, I
genuinely didn't know what was going on for a second,
so I was like, why is there doing the jazz solo?

Speaker 4 (53:18):
And I was like, fucking Sabbath.

Speaker 5 (53:20):
Of course, when the song actually started, I was like
that makes so much sense now. And then doing that
into post mortem, I was like, I was like, well, okay,
we're going into rain and Blood now.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
And I love that they decided to do it again,
like I love that they clear it well, we've taken
so much, We've got so much work into working out
on Sabber cover. We're not going to only play at
the Sabbath day. We're going to subject these people who've
just come to see us.

Speaker 4 (53:42):
It was really cool though, Yeah, Like.

Speaker 5 (53:46):
I was so ready for Dundon Dunn after Post one
finished and then we got the rest of the Wicked one.

Speaker 4 (53:50):
I was like, fine, and then we've got d.

Speaker 5 (53:55):
It was it was such like it was It was
a jenne, a moment of like levity in a s
where you know, they'd been playing dead skin masks and
the screens were just serial killers yeah and shit like that,
and like all just like war imagery and like blasphemous
shit all over the screens all the whole set. And
then for Wicked World cover it was like funky green

(54:15):
and orange lights and everyone was getting a bit spacey.
And then Raining Blood were just the most fire ever,
the screens, you know, dyed red with Raining Blood red
fireworks dropping off the top of the stage, like just
the most metal shit ever.

Speaker 4 (54:31):
And then what they even do the solo for Raining Blood.
It's just like into Angel of Death.

Speaker 5 (54:36):
And I was like, okay, so we're not getting the
crazy solo in the Rain and Blood, but just seamlessly
locking into that riffed Angel of Death.

Speaker 4 (54:42):
And I was like, can't fuck with Slayer. They are
the greatest.

Speaker 3 (54:47):
Angel of Death coming in was the weirdest feeling because
when I had it last time, it was like, this
is the last Slayer song I'm ever going to see,
and the last one I'm going to see this song
in particularly played live, and this was the weird thing.
While I was going this is the first time I've
heard it played in six years, and it also might
be the last time, so I was almost even more
frenzied at it. And it got to the second arm,
I was like, I can't go to my grave having

(55:10):
not crowdsurfed to Angel of Death. So I was like,
has to happen. So I get up and I'm going
over and the security I'm not gonna blame them, but
it is their fault. They they sort of caught me
a bit funny and I landed. I went over my
ankle and Jesus wept the paint, but it meant I

(55:30):
got to sit on the ground for ten seconds before
I got escorted up and just look I had. Basically,
I was side stage wankering the Slayer show because my
ankle hurt, and in many ways it felt like the
right thing to happen because it meant I could slowly
limp out of the front bit, but I did it
backwards so I could just get a real close view

(55:50):
of Slayer and man maybe like in terms of the
greatest metal songs ever, obviously it doesn't need saying like
it's in the absolute top top top echelon and it's
still played with an outrageous amount of power. I mean,
Tom Royce, is he sixty four or sixty five or

(56:11):
something like? Slayer are old guys now, and it just
it still sounds like a fucking eruption going off in
your face.

Speaker 5 (56:21):
Kerry King's a fucking machine, like he is like imposing
on that stage, and when you're doing that like full
body sort of head bangs or twizz with his guitar,
like like he is trying to like head butter war
and destroy it.

Speaker 4 (56:34):
Yeah, man, that's fucking Slayer.

Speaker 5 (56:36):
I know they might hate each of an hour apparently
maybe allegedly, but they were on stage being that fucking
band for like ninety minutes and I was like, yeah,
I can ignore the behind the scenes bullshit.

Speaker 3 (56:48):
Maybe it's just me. I don't need Slayer to like
each other. I need those four guys to know to
destroy Yeah, to destroy to know, they need each other
to come out and do just that, and if they
want to do it again, they can have another hundred
quid forever.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
For the record, show No Mercy is not a on
the podium Slayer album, but it is one of their complete,
unassailable classics, and arguing that it is for the same
losers who don't think kill them all as real Metallica.
Back to the present episode, So that was Samon Elliott
talking about all things Slayer as well as a bit

(57:24):
of Sabbath. I am a little bit jealous of them
for the big Slayer occasion. And you know, obviously anybody
out there who is listening who actually was in person
attending the Sabbath show, I know I said that I
wasn't like overwhelmingly bursting with a sense of regret for
not shelling out for whatever that price ticket was or whatever.
But I do as I was saying, I trust everybody

(57:46):
had an absolutely incredib occasion. It is genuinely heavy metal
history and genuine memory for life shit. So yeah, everybody,
he went, I hope it was fucking great. I'm sure
it was. I'm sure that everybody did feel that way
about it. I am back here on the other side
of that to close out this hyperblast with the weekly
releases that everybody comes here for. But before I do that,
I do want to let everybody know what's been going

(58:08):
on on the that's not Patreon this week and in
the past week and in the upcoming week as well,
because it has been considering what we were just saying
at the start of that chat there, and as we
have said, for the past few weeks, one of the
most unbelievably absurd busy. I mean June alone, I think
was one of the busiest months of my life in
terms of traveling and going just for like big events

(58:31):
and stuff like that. So it has been again completely
carston on the table. It has been quite hard actually
getting for three of us who do the specials and
so on together in the same place. So we've not
been quite as like fully productive as I would hope. Butts,
we are going to try and very much climb back
atop that horse. And the first thing that we did
to address that was getting out the Adam Club pack

(58:52):
that we promised that we were going to get out there.
We recorded that when we recorded that little bit of
chat there on the Slayer and Sabbath shows, and so
what you're hearing there is the aftermath of us having
absolutely exhausted our mind capabilities by talking about the four
album clubs that we had laid out there, where the
first one I think certainly did a lot of the
heavy lifting in that regard. It was a long coming chat.

(59:15):
I think about twenty one Pilots and their twenty fifteen
album Blurry Face, which, if you were following the face
of what was being made out to me the face
of alternative music in the mid twenty tens and in
twenty fifteen, that is an album and a band that
I think they very much divide opinion. I'm sure that

(59:36):
a lot of people listening have feelings about them, whether
they be positive or I know in a lot of
cases negative as well. And going back to essentially like
ragga pop album like Oh my God, there is so
much reggae. It is the most reggae without us going
and doing a Bad Brains album where they just have

(59:56):
lots of actual reggae bits in it, it's the most
reggae talking about on album club and it's it's insane
how much we had to talk about reggie on there.
But we did, and Sam, I know, had a lot
of turmoil actually going through and just revisiting that time.
So hopefully it was worth it for Sam. Hopefully we
can make it all worth it by putting that chat

(01:00:18):
out there for you, and I hope that everybody appreciates
a blast from the past in that kind of way.
We then continued on my attempt to man O War
pill everyone, particularly maybe again Sam off the back of
that by talking about their debut album, Battle Hymns, which
I start that chat by talking about how the word
man O War absolutely conjures a kind of gut reaction

(01:00:39):
in people, whether they're again similar to twenty More Pilots
in some ways, whether they love them or hate them,
or even know very little about them. But if you
are someone who knows very little about them, this I
think is the chat for you, because I think conveying
the man O ar ethos from their first album where
they start out where they're not necessarily full man O
War as we know them, but we can see the

(01:01:00):
through line of how they become that, and it involves
some absolutely incredible metal songs and some baffling how did
they even get this or have access to that Guy
on their debut album Stuff. Then we spoke about Turnover's
Peripheral Vision, which is probably my favorite of that kind

(01:01:22):
of emo boom of the early to mid twenty ten,
certainly the ones who went in the dream pop shoegazy direction.
We spoke about all the things that they get right
to exemplify how in that time period of bands kind
of following that trend and going for the shoegazy email
e rock thing, many of them making people roll their
eyes and go, oh, I wish you weren't doing this.

(01:01:42):
You were more interesting when you weren't just a reverby Mushball.
How did Turnover get it's so right to make an
album that, as we say in the chat, has never
actually gone away. This tenth anniversary thing they're doing isn't
really nostalgia to the same degree. It's just people have
never stopped listening or loving that album. We go into that,
and then we closed by speaking about an album.

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
That I I of the Lot.

Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
I mean, I obviously I want everyone to go and
become completely manner war obsessed, But of the Lot, this
is the one that I really want to like make
new fans out of because it's by far the smallest
record of the bunch, but it's by one of my
favorite rock bands, not metal band, I would be pained
even to kind of point out, but one of my
favorite rock bands ever, certainly in the twenty first century,
The Devil's Blood and what made their record Time of

(01:02:27):
No Time Anymore a record that helped really establish and
initiate the kind of retro occult rock thing. But we
speak about how kind of above and beyond that, you know,
simple terminology the Devil Blood really were and how special
they were in the impact that they had on musicians
who you likely will know and have a relationship with.

(01:02:49):
So those are the album clubs that we went in
depth about. I think it was a really fine episode
to two there and following that, hot on the heels
of it, this up coming we are going to be
reviving something that I think we missed last year for
whatever reason, we didn't have the window for it, but
we absolutely have the window for it right now. We
are going to be reviving the summer album Roulette because

(01:03:13):
Sam right now is at two thousand Trees Festival. Sam
will have a report from two thousand Trees Festival next week.
But while Sam is a way that the kids will play,
because me, Mark and Elliott are going to be taking
to the summer and roulette this time around.

Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
Talking about the.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Record that soundtrack are sweltering. I know the weather has
been up and then down and then up again. I
think we might be on the up again, so this
will be the perfect time to do it, and that
is going to be coming this weekend. While two thousand
trees it is happening. We have in that selection classic
English punk, some of the most quintessential sunny day music.
Maybe in that regard, we have sun Bake made even

(01:03:52):
sunburned metal for you for all the people want that
metal summer. And we have a couple of conversations long
in the making about maybe the best classic rock to
grill to, dependent on what you ask, featuring the return
of a certain mister Universe and a twenty twenty five
T and M special coverage favorite as well. So that

(01:04:15):
is going to be coming this weekend, right after you
are hearing this Hyperblast episode. So if you want to
hear those episodes and just such fun we're having discussed
and all those records, Patreon dot com slash that's no
matter that the place to be that is the place
where essentially TNM gets its life blood and it's forced
to continue on from the generosity of everyone who supports

(01:04:37):
us and keeps us afloat. If you want to support
us another way, then, as I have mentioned on some episodes,
just going out and giving us a rating on your
podcast listening the platform of choice, or preferably a review
as well would be fantastic because that helps us tap
into the algorithms and get put in front of new listeners.
So cheers everybody who does that. Let's just finish this

(01:04:58):
episode by giving you the handl of releases that are
coming out this Friday, the eleventh of July July. As
I said last week, it tends to be a sort
of down a period, so there's not the most high
profile releases, but there are a few that I've sought
out and found for you here. So first of all,
there is Split Chain, who are one of those kind
of upcoming alternative rock adjacent to hardcore, but basically it's

(01:05:21):
you know, death tones e nineties alternative rock, as that
tends to be the trend right now. They've got a
record out called Motion Blur. Then there is an Act
to I'm not very familiar with. But someone called Calva
Louise with a record called Edge of the Abyss, and
this I think is it's almost coming from that alt
pop thing, but there's a bit more industrial I think
I can from what I can tell and kind of gather.
The track I listened to even had a little bit
of a synth wavy flavor to it, So that record

(01:05:43):
is out.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
There for you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
Then there is a metalcore band, a new medical band
called Dead seven, which maybe are not helping themselves. They
probably aren't aware of this, but their name rhymes with
shed seven, which does not have I don't know a
lot of metal core points attached to it, but they
have a very very long album title called what you
Can While You've Still Got Something Left to Love. Then
out on Earache Records, there is a band called Ward sixteen.

(01:06:07):
I think that's the Roman numeral there with a record
called Identity where they're three where the E is and
this is spooky clown metal. I guess I'm just gonna
describe it like that and then move on. But they
are out there.

Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
Then the tech death.

Speaker 1 (01:06:22):
Core band I guess if that's what they are still
kind of plugging these days, Born of a Cyrus back
with a record called Through Shadows Again, while just like
peeking around finding releases for this week, there's a UK
stoner rock band called Margarita, which cult called strung it
in Hell. I don't know if they are meaning the
cocktails or the pizza, but I'm sure the witches are
having a great time either way. And then finally coming

(01:06:44):
out of the undergrounds of death metal. This is a
kind of interesting palette of a record that I'm going
to investigate a little bit further, which from a band
called Floating Who. I think I've had them on Hypoblast before,
but their record, Hesitating Lights, seems to be exploring further
into a crossover of kind of like underground progressive death
metal with some post punk flavor in there as well,
which is not a combination you might, you know, expect

(01:07:06):
to hear too often. So I think that's an interesting
one to check out this weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:07:09):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (01:07:10):
Thank you everybody for listening, Thank you for joining us
for the again the Slayer and Sabbath chats. Thank you
for joining us if you are looking to do so
on our Patreon conversation about those album clubs. The upcoming
one we will have this week about the summer album Roulette,
and we will be back here next week in the
aftermath of two Thousand Trees, and then following that we
will have more reviews for you, going really in depth

(01:07:33):
on what records we decided to pull together from recent
weeks to really kind of go in there on. So
cheers everybody for being with us. We'll see you there
for all of that.

Speaker 3 (01:07:42):
Bye bye