Concert Review: Slayer at the Pageant in St. Louis September 22, 2016 -photos and words by Danny Nichols

Slayer guitarist Kerry King

After a thirty five year career which has included twelve albums (four of them gold), achieving legend status among the thrash metal scene, being a principal influence for the death metal scene, inciting constant controversy and enduring the recent loss of two of their founding members (one through death and one through departure), Slayer still show no signs of slowing down.





Their rabid fanbase shows no sign of letting them. This bombastic celebration of all which is brutal rolled into a sold out Pageant Theater in St. Louis, Missouri.

Slayer delivered twenty relentless songs, with barely a moment for one to catch their breath.  The violence of their lyrics was matched, to some degree, by the spontaneous mosh pits which kept forming during their songs.  The band didn't waste too much time between songs, excepting when bassist/singer Tom Arraya paused to inform us the next song was going to be a love song, before hurling full steam into the decidedly unromantic "Dead Skin Mask".   The attack was fierce and fast, exactly as we wanted it.

Slayer bassist and vocalist Tom Araya

The most noticeable thing about Slayer's sonic onslaught was the volume of Tom Araya's bass guitar.  It rattled your bones and shook the rafters. Periodically, a strip of confetti left over from some previous show at the venue would shake loose and float down into the crowd.

The following week I was back at the Pageant for a show by Ghost and saw one final piece of confetti float down during their performance and wondered how it could have possibly survived the Slayer show.