Slayer’s return to Cardiff after 6 years was no doubt one of the most thrilling, aggressive, and fastest shows to bless Blackweir Fields this year. By including incredible support from a strong variety of Metal bands such as Hatebreed, Mastodon, Anthrax and Amon Amarth – I would consider it the biggest Metal gig in Cardiff in years.
Hatebreed opened the show with their intense hardcore set, featuring iconic songs such as Destroy Everything and Looking Down the Barrel of Today. For a 20 minute set, I can confidently say that Hatebreed set the energy for the rest of the concert. As soon as they let two gigantic ‘balls of death’ into the crowd, everyone pushed, shoved and dived to make sure that they stayed in motion.
Roughly 15 minutes later, Mastodon began. Their set was progressive, groovy and heavy. I would definitely consider them a band worth seeing live – they are truly a staple of progressive metal over the last 25 years. At this point, the audience were mesmerised by their psychedelic, hypnotic visuals and headbanging to their sludgy rhythms. Whilst all of the bands of the night were metal, the contrast between subgenres really stood out to me – Thrash, Progressive, Hardcore, and Death Metal meant that I got to experience an incredible variety of my favourite genre.
Around 6:35pm, Anthrax tore through their set full of the fastest, strongest songs such as “Caught in A Mosh” and “Indians”. Once again proving why they are part of the “Big Four” of Thrash Metal. Joey Belladonna kept the atmosphere loud and wild by running down the middle of the crowd, and across the barriers to high-five the sea of those at the front. I think it was during Anthrax’s set whereby the audience erupted into circle pits and mosh pits, nobody stood still during their songs.
The next band of the night were the thunderous, melodic, viking-themed Amon Amarth. Having already missed the last time they came to Cardiff in 2022, I was buzzing to see them perform at this new venue. As soon as I saw their amazing stage setup of two giant viking warriors, I knew I was in for a crazy time. They started with the beloved “Guardians of Asgaard” and the crowd began punching the sky to its riffs. Staying true to the viking energy, Johan raised his iconic drinking horn to the sky and drank from it which gave me goosebumps! I’ve been to many metal gigs over the past few years but I’ve never been a part of a rowing pit, it truly became a core memory for me – the whole crowd sat, held each other’s shoulders and rowed back and forth to “Put Your Back Into The Oar”.
Finally, the headliner, Slayer annihilated the evening and crowds exploded instantly. They played a strong set of 20 songs, including my personal favourites such as “Raining Blood” and “Repentless”. Watching Slayer, despite them previously doing a Farewell Tour, was an unforgettable experience and I am so glad they came back to Cardiff. Although everyone had already been tirelessly moshing for hours, it only got bigger and better during Slayer’s set with many people crowdsurfing – even somebody in an Elmo outfit. The pyrotechnics was the highlight for me, with explosions of fire and fireworks only intensifying the night.
