The Angels of Death are bidding fans goodbye after 37 years of brutality. For some purists the thrash giants haven’t been the same since co-founder Jeff Hanneman’s untimely death, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a substitute with more shred cred than Gary Holt of Bay Area legend Exodus, who appears on the band’s latest release, Repentless, and who has amazing synergy with co-guitarist Kerry King when the two swap blistering leads. That album and its predecessor, World Painted Blood, capture Slayer’s punk-inspired mid-1980s rawness more than the overly ProTool’d mid-period stuff. Let’s hope all this “final tour” talk is a bluff because metal needs Slayer more than ever.

Slayer
Sun, 5pm, $55+
SAP Center, San Jose

For nearly 35 years, Danish heavy metal icon King Diamond has been slaying audiences around the world with punishing riffs, face-melting solos, his trademark banshee wail and brilliant, brooding, bloody theatrics.

The legendary singer, whose work with Mercyful Fate and his own eponymous band has influenced several generations of musicians, hits Shoreline Amphitheatre this weekend—sharing the main stage with Slayer at the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival.

Known for his high-pitched falsetto, macabre lyrics, elaborate stage productions and iconic face makeup, King Diamond (born Kim Bendix Petersen) says that he has never felt stronger and that his band has never sounded better. That’s great news for his fans, considering the state of his health just five years ago.

“It was horrible. That was the worst thing I ever experienced,” Petersen, a long-time smoker, says, recalling his 2010 triple-bypass heart surgery. He remembers waking up “too early”—still connected to a breathing machine in a dazed and incredibly painful condition—and attempting to pull his breathing tube out of his throat.

“I could only see in black and white when I came to,” he says—“it was surreal. The doctors were leaning over me, I felt like I was in a spaceship or something. It was like Metallica’s “One” video—I felt like I could not communicate. If they could hear me, I was literally begging them to kill me.”

The procedure had required doctors to collapse his lungs. After completing a lengthy period of rehabilitation where he basically had to learn how to breathe again, King Diamond has returned to haunt stages, and says he feels rejuvenated and reinvigorated like never before.

“My voice sounds better than ever, I stopped smoking completely,” he says. “I didn’t know it would have that big of an effect on my voice that I didn’t smoke, but I feel like it’s stronger and it’s much easier to do all those things I used to do when I started.”

Fans heading out to the show can expect nothing short of a full-blown metal spectacle—a multi-tiered stage, occult props, costumed characters, and, of course, the piercing wail that made King Diamond famous.

The 59-year-old vocalist is thankful to have been given a second chance at life, and says he is thrilled to share it with his loyal fans.

“There were so many moods and feelings and stuff you go through,” he says. “It was really out there. You cannot imagine the roller coaster—the ups and downs. I don’t take tomorrow for granted; not anymore.”

King Diamond performs at The Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival at Shoreline Amphitheatre on June 28.

For more than three decades, Slayer has lingered at heavy metal’s more extreme outposts, earning a reputation for aggressive audio assaults matched only by survival stories and broken bones in notorious mosh pits at the band’s live shows.

Boasting an aural arsenal of frenetically picked guitar lines, hammering drums and howling lyrics dripping with blood, the horrors of war and satanic symbolism, Slayer has always stood apart from other bands in the metal genre—and thusly has inspired a rabid, cult-like devotion among fans.

But in 2013, Slayer finds itself at its most vulnerable, reemerging for its first tour since founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman died last May of liver failure. The tour stops Oct. 30 at the Event Center at San Jose State University.

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“There was a lot of stuff that we had already lined up to do, and then we got the news about Jeff passing—so at the moment it’s more about fulfilling obligations—after this tour is over, we have to sit down and really discuss what the plans are, what the future is,” says bassist and vocalist Tom Araya.

Hanneman had not toured with Slayer since 2011 due to the effects of Necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease that he may have contracted from a spider bite, so it was unexpected when it was revealed the condition that took his life was determined to be alcohol-related cirrhosis. Hanneman’s longtime friend and Exodus guitarist Gary Holt has filled in for the guitarist since he first stopped touring.

“We’re moving forward, and finishing up the year, basically so everyone can have closure,” Araya says. “It will allow fans to have closure too and we can all remember Jeff one last time.”

Thousands of people, including family, friends and fans, attended a public memorial for Hanneman in late May at the Hollywood Palladium, and Araya says that these shows also offer a way to pay tribute to their departed comrade.

“It’s the old cliché, no one is ever really respected for what they do until they pass, and then you realize the profound effect that he had on a lot of people, and the effect the band has on a lot of people,” Araya says. “We have a banner
that we had made with Hanneman’s name on it and at the end of the set we drop it and the whole place goes nuts. I’m touched by that alone, that the fans have been very supportive, and coming out in droves.”

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After the tour is completed, Araya says he will begin working on Slayer’s next album, a process that actually began more than two and a half years ago, before Hanneman became ill.

“In the course of rehearsals Jeff brought in two or three things he was working on and I thought it was awesome,” Araya says. “It was really cool, but he never brought us finished products, they were things he was still working on, and that’s the stuff I want to see if I can find. I want to see how far he got with a lot of that music, because it was just amazing stuff; we listened to it in jaw-dropping awe.”

Hanneman’s contributions to Slayer were key to the formation of the band; he wrote or co-wrote many of their best-known songs, such as “Angel of Death” and “Raining Blood,” and it was his academic knowledge of and infatuation with World War II history that informed much of the group’s lyrical content and art design.

His wild guitar riffs and manic solos helped shape the musical foundation on which the group built their legendary status; a legacy that has been cited as hugely influential by a vast array of other guitarists in the metal realm.
While Araya says that he and guitarist Kerry King will need to hash out some differences that they have concerning the overall future of Slayer, he is determined to at least make an album truly befitting the spirit of his friend.

“This record has to be something special, it has to be extraordinary—it can’t just be another Slayer record,” Araya says. “There’s a lot on the plate for the band, and we’ve gotten quite a bit of support from a lot of fans.
“We’ve also gotten a lot of negative feedback about things that we’ve done [over the years], so we’ll see what the future holds. Usually our attitude about that has been ‘Fuck ‘em!’ It seems to have worked for us so far, so I doubt we’ll change that aspect of the band.”

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This year’s Mayhem Festival was different. It felt different. Gone was the dread of attending a faceless, corporate-sponsored event. As soon as I entered, I felt at ease. Why? Because I didn’t feel like a chump. Let’s face it, most of the time, festivals like this leave you drowned in a sea of bands you couldn’t care less about. With a lineup that included true metal legends like Slayer, Motorhead and Anthrax, that wasn’t the case Sunday.

Overall, the biggest stroke of genius was the traveling keg. Amongst the crowd of concert goers were wheeled carts with a kegs in them, filled with ice. A tall flag with the type of beer they were serving stuck up out of the back of the carts, so all you had to do was look for the flag. It was like a beer beacon.

Musically, there were some parallels to last year’s Mayhem Fest. Instead of questioning why Testament wasn’t on the main stage, the question was why wasn’t Anthrax on the main stage? No matter, though. Anthrax came out with more energy than guys half their age.  Running amuck and sounding incredible, Anthrax’s showmanship was unmatched that evening.

As the sun set, Motorhead took the main stage. Subtle yet effective, Lemmy is the epitome of cool. He doesn’t even have to try. He just is. Dirty, gritty and louder than a 747, Lemmy made it clear that night: “We are Motorhead, and we play rock and roll!” Who are any of us to disagree?

The power of Satan took over as soon as Slayer took the stage. As Scott Ian put it: “Slayer is the music you’re going to hear when you go to Hell.” They had their Marshall stacks set up to look like two upside down crosses –-with fire shooting out of them. They set a standard that night, making me feel sorry for whoever had to follow them.

Which brings us to Slipknot.

I’ve always respected Mick Thomson’s guitar work. The guy shreds, plain and simple. There’s also no denying Slipknot’s influence and ability to get the crowd moving. But headlining? Over bands that have paved the way for them? I don’t get it. There’s no accounting for taste, so take their music with a grain of salt. But they never fail to put on a good show, whether you like their music or not.

At concerts like this, it’s always a t-shirt contest. Who has the most obscure shirt from a band you’ve never heard of? Well, I guarantee I had a shirt no one was wearing: Mr. Bungle. Last year I wore an Eyesores shirt. So, I’m still the undisputed Mayhem t-shirt champion, two years running. 

Reigning biggest metal tour the Rockstar Mayhem Festival has announced its line-up for this year, which features headliners Slipknot and Slayer, along with Anthrax, the Devil Wears Prada, As I Lay Dying, High on Fire and Whitechapel. The 26-date tour begins on June 30 and comes to Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View the next day, July 1.

Another as-yet-unrevealed band referred to so far only as a “major special guest” will be announced on March 5. Tickets go on sale April 6.

Slayer and Anthrax have joined up several times over the last couple of years for the historic “Big 4” shows that saw them touring with Metallica and Megadeth, uniting the top thrash bands for the first time. This tour will be different, as Slayer will be on the main stage, while Anthrax will be headlining the secondary Jagermeister stage, which is getting a huge upgrade.

Another interesting addition is High on Fire, the offshoot of legendary San Jose stoner-metal band Sleep. Their 2010 album Snakes for the Divine was the best record of frontman Matt Pike’s career, and may finally make him more famous for the albums he did finish than the ones he didn’t.