KEY POINTS:
One question they forgot to ask in the last census is who owns a Slayer T-shirt. Is everyone wearing one except me?
This is hardcore, mate. But crikey, what fun. When Slayer's bass player and lead screamer, Tom Araya, asks with a devious grin if we're ready after first song, Disciple, from 2001's God Hates Us All, it's a ridiculous understatement.
These baying masses, who've been breaking into sporadic Slayer chants for the past 20 minutes, have been ready for the return of the mighty metal gods for years.
And what a polite and well-behaved crowd. Yeah, right. It is glorious and sweaty carnage out there.
It's easy to think Slayer would be predictable. Heavy, fast, and brilliant - that's all we want. And we get it. But it's so much better.
These chaps, who have been playing this heavy thrash metal music since they were in their teens, have not lost any venom even after more than 25 years as a band.
It makes you wonder how they keep going. But when they get to play classics like Raining Blood, from 1986's Reign In Blood, then what more inspiration do you need?
Before Slayer, Atlanta metallers Mastodon, the hot metal ticket from last year after their insane and intense album, Blood Mountain, were set up like a true support act. Crammed on to the front of the stage with barely enough room to fit the two woolly and wild singers, but do you think they care?
While Blood Mountain's Colony of Birchmen got the biggest cheer, songs like Iron Tusk, with its scything riffs, from 2005's Leviathan, show how good this band is.
And then, of course, there's Slayer. Mixing old songs with tracks from last year's crushing Christ Illusion album, of which Eyes of the Insane is a slow, bludgeoning killer, this is a Slayer set to remember.
Who knows if Araya is in constant awe of this mental metal crowd but often he just stands on stage and looks.
You gotta love how, at the end of a song, they either crank straight into another one or, as the lights dim, they fade into the distance then reappear out of the mist and launch into it again.
The highlights are Raining Blood and Angel of Death from Reign In Blood. More than 20 years on, the album still rules and my neck muscles and bleeding ears are proof.
Review
* What: Slayer and Mastodon
* Where: St James
* Reviewer: Scott Kara
