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Slayer - Still Reigning review




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Reviewer:
7.5

134 users:
9.02
Band: Slayer
Album: Still Reigning
Release date: September 2004


[Reign In Blood Live]
01. Angel Of Death
02. Piece By Piece
03. Necrophobic
04. Altar Of Sacrifice
05. Jesus Saves
06. Criminally Insane
07. Reborn
08. Epidemic
09. Postmortem
10. Raining Blood

[Bonus Material]
01. War Ensemble
02. Hallowed Point
03. Necrophiliac
04. Mandatory Suicide
05. Spill The Blood
06. South Of Heaven

[Slayer In Their Own Words]

Before I give a full review, let me give you a quick overview of the what you're getting
on this disc. The DVD consists of one show recorded at the Civic Center in Augusta, ME on 11 July 2004 and an interview. The setlist for that show consisted of some non-Reign In Blood material for the first half, and the entire RIB album for the second half. The DVD, however, is called "Reign In Blood: Still Reigning" and focuses only on the RIB portion of the set, leaving the other tracks off the main concert and sticking some them in as extras (others are left off altogether). The interview is also plugged into the extras. As most of you may know, RIB was only a 28 minute album, but it's closer to 33 minutes live. Altogether, you get over 80 minutes of Slayer for right around $15 USD. I got my copy on sale for $9.99 USD.

Because this is a DVD and not a CD, you get a video experience to go with the audio, so I will cover both in this review.

For the DVD: The camerawork is decent for the most part - there are plenty of good shots of the band and the audience, and most of the camerawork goes well with the music, but sometimes it's a little too dark and jumpy. This is especially obvious during the song "Raining Blood" - it's very difficult to get a good look at the band with the blood raining down on them because of the lighting and the frantic angles. I wish there was at least one good shot of the entire stage from about mid-floor with good lighting so you could get the full effect of the band on stage, the blood raining down from above and drenching them, and the original 1986 Reign in Blood backdrop. However, for the most part, I think the video works very well.

As far as the audio goes ... the 2.0 (Stereo) mix is balanced well, but the 5.1 Surround mix is a little weak - there's not enough coming from the rear channels and the subwoofer - throughout most of the show it felt as if I was being hammered through the center channel. However, the audio is crisp and clear throughout, so no worries there - especially for those of you listening to the stereo mix. But those of you with surround sound may feel that it leaves a little (if not a lot) to be desired. Without the full surround effect, I never get the feeling that I'm actually there - it just doesn't encompass me the way I would like.

The extras are cool, but minimal. Essentially, all you get is the first half of the show separated out as "Bonus Tracks" and a brief interview session called "Slayer In Their Own Words." The "Bonus Tracks," as I mentioned above, are just the first part of their set (minus about 5 songs). Unfortunately, by separating them out this way, you don't get the full impact of the live performance. The interview portion was the highlight of the DVD for me, but even that left a little to be desired. The band touches briefly on some highlights of their career, but mainly focus on how & when they formed and how they write music. Unfortunately, they don't give you enough of that information to make it really interesting, just enough to make you want more.

So, that sums up the DVD quality, but what about the actual performance?

Well, it's not bad, but the guys are starting to show their age. Does that take away from the set? Probably not. After all, most people watching this (pay attention here, this is important) are Slayer fans. Not just fans, but Slayer fans. So what does that mean? It means that most of the people watching won't give a fuck that Tom messed up the lyrics in several spots. They won't care that he missed a couple of lines altogether. They won't care that he can't hit the high notes the way he could in '86. They won't care that Dave mixed up the drum beats. They won't care that the blood raining down on the band got the instruments so wet that Tom couldn't even play the end of Raining Blood and he just bangs on the bass making noise. And why won't they care? Because it's FUCKING SLAYER!!!

Overall, I'd give this DVD a 5/10 for production & content, but a 9/10 for Slayer's performance, resulting in an overall rating 7.5/10. Yes, I realize that doesn't average right, but I gave more weight to the performance since, after all, this is Slayer. And that, my friends, is reason enough to purchase this DVD.

Written by Søren | 03.11.2004




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.


Comments

Comments: 13   Visited by: 69 users
29.06.2006 - 21:02
Emperor Sidious
Account deleted
Can Anybody tell me one good thing about this band? really i mean just listening to there albums just gives me a headache 1st off shitty ass Guitars..and ppl go around saying hes a living legend " I say no his guitars sound like a cat is getting ass fucked and Tom araya adds no what so ever variety to the music A FUCKING 50 year old with leather pants on stage isnt cool man just give it a rest ok.....FUCK SLAYER...
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18.07.2006 - 20:46
Rating: 9
Stigmatized
..........
Written by Guest on 29.06.2006 at 21:02

Can Anybody tell me one good thing about this band? really i mean just listening to there albums just gives me a headache 1st off shitty ass Guitars..and ppl go around saying hes a living legend " I say no his guitars sound like a cat is getting ass fucked and Tom araya adds no what so ever variety to the music A FUCKING 50 year old with leather pants on stage isnt cool man just give it a rest ok.....FUCK SLAYER...


Wow....never heard anything like that before.
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18.07.2006 - 23:29
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by Guest on 29.06.2006 at 21:02

Can Anybody tell me one good thing about this band? really i mean just listening to there albums just gives me a headache 1st off shitty ass Guitars..and ppl go around saying hes a living legend " I say no his guitars sound like a cat is getting ass fucked and Tom araya adds no what so ever variety to the music A FUCKING 50 year old with leather pants on stage isnt cool man just give it a rest ok.....FUCK SLAYER...



And this coming from someone who has SIx Feet Under and Children of Boredom as a couple of his fav bands in his profile.
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Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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19.07.2006 - 01:26
Darth Satanious
Post Destroyer
Heresy, heresy! Burn the infidel! :[ Every musician from the bands you listen to would clearly assure you the importance that this band has in Metal.

My one and only complain about this DVD would be how the songs are not shown in order, how they cut and seem to be put in an order that was not the real one in the performance, possibly what happened when they separated the tracks from other albums, that were not in the Reign In Blood one, so that they could leave that album as the main focus while featuring the others as Bonus Material. This makes the DVD to lack of "flow" and keeps me out of concentration.
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Christless
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12.09.2006 - 16:43
Spyroid
Rosetta Stoned
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 18.07.2006 at 23:29

Written by Guest on 29.06.2006 at 21:02

Can Anybody tell me one good thing about this band? really i mean just listening to there albums just gives me a headache 1st off shitty ass Guitars..and ppl go around saying hes a living legend " I say no his guitars sound like a cat is getting ass fucked and Tom araya adds no what so ever variety to the music A FUCKING 50 year old with leather pants on stage isnt cool man just give it a rest ok.....FUCK SLAYER...


Atleast SFU and CoB doesn't have any "bad" musicians, Kerry King could acutally be accused for that
Well I like Slayer anyway


And this coming from someone who has SIx Feet Under and Children of Boredom as a couple of his fav bands in his profile.
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01.01.2007 - 14:41
RavenLord

Written by Guest on 29.12.2006 at 02:50

here ill name you 2 guitarist that know how to Actually Play their Guitars..1. Christofer Johnson (Therion) and Luca Turilli (Rhapsody Of Fire)...In Your fucking face you Pussy's !!


To me, three power chords played in the same sequence with some palm muting does not constitute 'good guitar playing'. Johnson can write some good riffs (Ginnungagap, Symphony of the Dead) but some of the guitar work on their latest two albums is dire.

And for the record, can someone ban either Dethroned or God of Tyranny? As far as I'm aware, using multis to spam threads with incoherent insults is frowned upon.
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29.01.2007 - 12:43
lenesu

Please dont compare Six Feet Under with Slayer. Slayer has influenced all modern metal, including SFU that are nowhere near slayer.
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05.04.2007 - 18:36
ThrashMetal_Rulz
Account deleted
Wow some fool that likes Six Feet Under actualy tried to diss Slayer ? lol

Anyways i've just purchesed the dvd and i'm quite happy with it, Slayer was on their top that night, the interview was alright and you can see the mosh pits from some of the camera angles, if even for a few seconds .
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05.04.2007 - 21:32
Hembrom
Diabolic Priest
Written by Guest on 29.06.2006 at 21:02

Can Anybody tell me one good thing about this band? really i mean just listening to there albums just gives me a headache 1st off shitty ass Guitars..and ppl go around saying hes a living legend " I say no his guitars sound like a cat is getting ass fucked and Tom araya adds no what so ever variety to the music A FUCKING 50 year old with leather pants on stage isnt cool man just give it a rest ok.....FUCK SLAYER...

What are you smoking dude ? I want that shit ....
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04.05.2007 - 02:43
Doc G.
Full Grown Hoser
I found this DVD amazingly boring, I like Slayer and the music live was very good but I much wouldve rather bought a live album, I found the DVD far too ( as Ive said) boring.
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"I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck."
- George Carlin
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07.07.2007 - 11:37
CrimsonSoaked
Account deleted
Written by Guest on 29.06.2006 at 21:02

Can Anybody tell me one good thing about this band? really i mean just listening to there albums just gives me a headache 1st off shitty ass Guitars..and ppl go around saying hes a living legend " I say no his guitars sound like a cat is getting ass fucked and Tom araya adds no what so ever variety to the music A FUCKING 50 year old with leather pants on stage isnt cool man just give it a rest ok.....FUCK SLAYER...


My God , Thats blasphemy for The Holy Thrash Metal Band, and by the way ,CoB has Slayer's Silent Scream Cover on TWO of it's albums ( Something Wild , Hatecrew Deathroll ). And About the DVD : Slaytanic Menu, Kickass performance, fascinating Extras. Though I must agree with the Darth Satanious about the lack of flow . All the songs of Reign in Blood have been cut from the original concert record and placed in the order which they appear on the album RiB. The cutted songs are placed in the extras.

Damn . . . Why did they have to cancel this years Ruisrock
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28.04.2008 - 19:07
Slaytan
Account deleted
Written by Guest on 29.06.2006 at 21:02

Can Anybody tell me one good thing about this band? really i mean just listening to there albums just gives me a headache 1st off shitty ass Guitars..and ppl go around saying hes a living legend " I say no his guitars sound like a cat is getting ass fucked and Tom araya adds no what so ever variety to the music A FUCKING 50 year old with leather pants on stage isnt cool man just give it a rest ok.....FUCK SLAYER...


o.O how fucking gay can a human being be ... dude are you ok ? you should go to doctor.. no wait .. you should die man .. you fucking suck :S
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29.04.2008 - 02:11
Rating: 9
SlaytallicA
Lycanthropy
Written by Guest on 29.06.2006 at 21:02

Can Anybody tell me one good thing about this band? really i mean just listening to there albums just gives me a headache 1st off shitty ass Guitars..and ppl go around saying hes a living legend " I say no his guitars sound like a cat is getting ass fucked and Tom araya adds no what so ever variety to the music A FUCKING 50 year old with leather pants on stage isnt cool man just give it a rest ok.....FUCK SLAYER...


You're a very funny guy! You must do comedy for a living!
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One Pound Of Flesh, No More No Less, No Cartilage, No Bones, But Only Flesh...
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