DimK: It was a busy week for METAL TEMPLE with great concerts/festivals that were waiting on a long line for our eyes and ears to feast upon. So, that humid Friday METAL TEMPLE had to cover the 'Carnage Tour' stop at Chicago hosted at the UIC Pavilion. Again that was a working day so the Templars are arrived a few minutes before TESTAMENT's appearance. Unfortunately, we had to wait additional time at the cashier to obtain the press credentials feeling a little bit anxious listening TESTAMENT playing the fourth song on their setlist "Practice What You Preach".Eventually we made it, but we had already lost the photo pit access and that's the price sometimes you have to pay working at such tide time schedule.

TESTAMENT looked pretty solid on the big stage and as always Chuck Billy was the band's driving force singing with his powerful vocals. Once again while watching Skolnick laying down the distinct heavy as hell riffs I got the feeling that visually he didn't fit the rest of the band but on the hand this is a price that I can afford to pay. Taking into consideration that TESTAMENT were the opening act, the not perfect sound quality was expected. And that meant a muffled sound with a lower than usual sound to noise ratio taking away some of the fun this great band puts in every live performance. Chuck prefaced "Into The Pit" by dedicating it to all the crazy TESTAMENT fans who responded by forming a large and pretty violent mosh pit right in the middle of the arena. Watching the band finishing the 8 song setlist with "The Formation Of Damnation" I was thinking that this is not a band for opening concerts; this is a headlining band to be enjoyed to the maximum.

TESTAMENT setlist:

1. "More Than Meets The Eye"
2. "Dog Faced Gods"
3. "The New Order"
4. "Practice What You Preach"
5. "Into The Pit"
6. "D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)"
7. "3 Days In Darkness"
8. "The Formation Of Damnation"

MariaV: Watching the entire "Rust In Peace" was an unfulfilled desire that I had since my first music pursuits – tons of conventional and online ink has been lashed out on Dave Mustaine's guitar abilities of "Take No Prisoners" and "Tornado Of Souls" nowadays live versions, without saying though a thing about his vocal ones. So, the 'American Carnage' package fulfilled my expectations 100% since the official announcement and MEGADETH was just in the middle, having the potentials to give us an unforgettable evening, preparing the ground for the SLAYER invasion that would followed afterwards.

Silence is gold and Mustaine knew that for sure! Without useless talks MEGADETH jumped on stage five minutes past eight and for 75 minutes took us back in time with an especially stop in 1990 and "Rust In Peace" as they had promised. Are the 20 years too many or too few? Dave, Chris, David and Shawn seem to have a great deal with time, so listening to the entire album live that night was just like the CD! The blue, characteristic, dominant artwork in the back of the stage reminded us the release date 20 years ago and all that crazy solos and guitars' changes between Mustaine and Broderick were just like they had escaped from our teenage dreams. "Holy Wars…", "Hangar 18" and "Take No Prisoners" were on the row and I still could not believe what was happening in front of me. My eyes and my ears were on fire but that night's perfection came to disturb Dave's weak vocals. Unfortunately, his voice has changed and now lucks of the high-vocal pitches; so, the highest vocal parts of the songs were fuzzy and indifferent, in contrast with his fast-burning fingers that touched extremely rapidly the guitar's strings. And that was pretty enjoyable, for sure!

"Five Magics", "Poison Was The Cure" and "Lucretia" followed according to the album's tracklist and Mustaine didn't speak a single word to us. The blow-minding "Tornado Of Souls" came up next, giving his place with summary procedures to "Dawn Patrol" signaling the coming of Vic Rattlehead, (the band's mascot) on stage that came with David Ellefson. The self-titled track dropped the curtain and MEGADETH went backstage for a couple of minutes, having just finished a completely professional appearance that had a lot of memories, nostalgia, and good moments and unfortunately, indifferent ones too. After a while, the spotlights switched on once again, showing Mustaine and the boys for the second part of MEGADETH's show. "Good evening, Chicago" he finally said, "You have to excuse my mannersfor not saying something but I thoughts you didn't want someone to destroy your Rust-In-Peace thing, right?"

The following 20 minutes were in a way a 'best-of' setlist, including the latest "Headcrusher" (don't ask me why Mustaine chose that song – promoting the mediocre "Endgame" maybe?). "Trust" and "Symphony Of Destruction" were between the highlights of that MEGADETH show's second part and the crowd seemed to enjoy them pretty much the same, while the final part of "Peace Sells" came back and created some mosh-pits at the first lines in front of the stage putting an end in that night's MEGADETH appearance. Well, what did I watch? I watch a well-wound Thrash machine, playing absolutely professionally, missing though the past radiance of glory and the real appetite for being on stage. I can't tell that the "Rust In Peace" thing met my expectations 100%; I just watched a well-polished version of MEGADETH with Dave Mustaine in the role of the main protagonist, as always.

MEGADETH setlist:

1. "Holy Wars… The Punishment Due
2. "Hangar 18"
3. "Take No Prisoners"
4. "Five Magics"
5. "Poison Was The Cure"
6. "Lucretia"
7. "Tornado Of Souls"
8. "Dawn Patrol"
9. "Rust In Peace… Polaris"
10. "Trust"
11. "Headcrusher"
12. "A Tout Le Monde"
13. "Symphony Of Destruction"
14. "Peace Sells"

DimK: Having watched a couple of months ago SLAYER performing live at Belgium's 'Graspop Metal Meeting' I was not expecting something more from them despite the fact they were about to perform at their homeland. Not that this could be bad; but the last decade or so, I have the impression that SLAYER perform in a certain quality level using exactly the same on stage attitude. Nonetheless, that doubt was about to face the truth since SLAYER were about to enter UIC Pavilion under the most enthusiastic screams of the 7000 gathered metalheads. As a side note I have to say that there was great excitement for the SLAYER appearance that we faced upon entering the venue. In fact during MEGADETH's setlist many metalheads were outside the main stage area drinking beer or waiting patiently to buy memorabilia from the merch stand. And all of these by periodically screaming "SLAYER" on top of their lungs.

The lights went off and the SLAYER logo was projected at the curtain in front of the stage under the "World Painted Blood" intro making my hair to raise on the back of my neck. The curtain fell and there we had it: the four SLAYER members just standing with the trademark metallic eagles on the back of the stage building the overwhelming atmosphere all the band's fan know very well. Tom approached the mic stand and "World Painted Blood" kicked off SLAYER setlist. This was not a surprise for me since I knew that SLAYER threw a couple of new songs to get warmed up for the following "Seasons In The Abyss" mayhem. And what a loud and clear sound that was! This was the best sound I ever had at a SLAYER concert. I mean it was massive giving you the impression that you were listening to a CD at the maximum level. And this was the answer to my initial thoughts that the US band had nothing up its sleeve when it comes to live performances.

"Hate Wordwide" came next and it was obvious that the new tracks were better than the studio recordings. After this track Tom paused looked at the crowd and simply asked: "Are you ready?" Of course we were and we all screamed as loud as possible the killer lines: "Warrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" And so it happened; a huge and violent in the SLAYER way was formed following the neck snapping tempo of "War Ensemble". The light show topped off the band's solid performance turning the entire stadium red as "Blood Red" followed giving absolutely no time for the audience to breath.

As in Belgium Tom had a wide smile on his face proving that perfect health condition he has been after the neck surgery delivering the vocals with the classic –screaming-till-my-head-hurts vocals. Should I mention the solid guitar duo of King-Hanneman? Of course I shouldn't because I don't think that there is a single metalhead out there (the age has nothing to do I this) who is not aware about their guitar work and the characteristic tremolo solos that go with their performance. The same goes for the drum beast called Lombardo who did his think sitting behind the elevated kit. The band chose to follow exactly the album's track orientation by even following the duration of the pauses between songs. For example after the end of the dark and death chilling "Dead Skin Mask" "Skeletons Of Society" was next following the fading away guitar note. You have to listen to the album to 100% understand my point here.

Listen to the entire "Seasons In The Abyss" felt like a 'best-of' setlist featuring songs that I personally have never listened in past SLAYER shows. So, getting in the same gig "Spirit In Black", "Expendable Youth" and "Seasons In The Abyss" made this concert something to remember for many years in the future.

The end of "Seasons In The Abyss" found me 100% satisfied and I swear I would not compliant if the concert ended that moment. But SLAYER had more juice in their batteries and after the short break the distinct riff of "South Of Heaven" filled the stadium making the fans scream even louder. The crosses projected on the back gained the –proper– upside-down after the vocals have entered making the track sound even more blasphemous. Again without pause the sounds of a thunder storm made it clear to us that "Raining Blood" was next and again the mosh pit was on fire and there were many metalheads into the crowd surfing activities. "Aggressive Perfector" was the last before the end that came with the obvious selection: "Angel Of Death". This was the best way for the band to conclude an excellent live performance paying the proper respect to such a massive album. After this thrash attack everyone left UIC Pavilion feeling totally satisfied from a band that has more to offer and still remains on the Thrash throne!

SLAYER setlist:

1. "World Painted Blood
2. "Hate Worldwide"
3. "War Ensemble"
4. "Blood Red"
5. "Spirit In Black"
6. "Expendable Youth"
7. "Dead Skin Mask"
8. "Hallowed Point"
9. "Skeletons Of Society"
10. "Temptation"
11. "Born Of Fire"
12. "Seasons In The Abyss"
13. "South Of Heaven"
14. "Raining Blood"
15. "Aggressive Perfector"
16. "Angel Of Death"

(photos by the Necrophiliac)