Slayer // Amon Amarth // Anthrax // Mastodon // Hatebreed // Neckbreakker // Finsbury Park // London

Slayer // Amon Amarth // Anthrax // Mastodon // Hatebreed // Neckbreakker // Finsbury Park // London

Opening act Neckbreakker gave the crowd a taste of Danish death metal with their twenty minute set. Previously known as Nakkeknaekker, the five-piece played several songs from debut Within the Viscera(2024). Donning North Face raincoats, the drummer and vocalist were dressed for the weather on the day as the latter shouted “circle pit” at every opportunity he got. Every now and then, mothers going round and round were plastered across the screens left and right of the stage, showing how into the music many were.

The young band’s sound is rooted in old school death metal with a modern edge, the vocals among other elements often giving them a death core feel. Wearing a Black Sabbath tee with the self-titled cassette side one and two tracks on the back, the redheaded guitarist was clearly paying homage to Ozzy and co. as he shredded away.

A fine display of neck-breaking OSDM with a twist from the Danes!

Neckbreakker set list:

Face-Splitting Madness
Putrefied Body Fluid
Shackled to a Corpse
Horizon of Spikes

Photography by Artur Tarczewski

Review by Kira Levine

Accept’s ‘Balls to the Wall’ was the entrance song for Hatebreed, which served as a precursor of an event that happened mid-set. “London, let’s have a ball! What do you say?” Frontman Jamey Jasta yelled as soon as he emerged onstage, answered by thousands of cheers. ‘I Will Be Heard’, unrelenting and anthem-like, compelled the crowd to raise their fists, horns and voices. Hands down one of the most motivating songs of the afternoon. ‘Perseverance’ was dedicated everyone present for showing up at Finsbury Park to witness the stacked lineup.

Those seeing Hatebreed for the first time were welcomed “to the crew” and officially recognised as being ‘As Diehard as They Come’. Frank Novinec on guitar was given a shoutout as he played the opening riff. Shadows Fall’s Matt Bachand replaced lead guitarist Wayne Lozniak, as he stepped out of the European tour to have surgery in the US. He was diagnosed with a non-cancerous tumour following Hatebreed’s appearance at Download Festival in June. Wishing his bandmate a smooth recovery, Jasta continued by acknowledging the “most metal weekend in the history of heavy metal music” and shared that he thought “tomorrow should be a national day of rest” in honour of the events.

Two big, black “balls of death” bounced around above people’s heads during ‘In Ashes They Shall Reap’, Hatebreed’s very own spin on the wall of death which was popularised in the nineties by fellow American hardcore band Sick of It All. “If you see anybody standing still, you give them a little bit of that Slayer motivation in the pit!” Jamey shouted from the stage. Energetic chants of “No sleep! No rest!” from the vocalist gave fans one final push as they were ‘Looking Down The Barrel of Today’. Crowdsurfers continued to land in the photo pit well after the song had reached its end, demonstrating how amped many were throughout the thirty-five minute set.

Hatebreed set list:

1. I Will Be Heard

2. To the Threshold

3. Tear It Down

4. Perseverance

5. As Diehard as They Come

6. In Ashes They Shall Reap

7. Proven

8. This Is Now

9. Destroy Everything

10. Looking Down the Barrel of Today

Photography by Artur Tarczewski

Review by Kira Levine

Mastodon made their first appearance in London without founding guitarist Brett Hinds, who left the band earlier in the year. His replacement is Canadian musician Nick Johnston, who has previously toured with acts like Between The Buried And Me and Plini. With psychedelic animations that brought their progressive take on metal to life visually, they were welcomed to the park as many sang along to the words of ‘Tread Lightly’.

‘Motherload’ completed the duo of tracks taken from Once More ‘Round The Sun and was dedicated to the mother of singing drummer Brann Dailor, who passed away from cancer back in February. A respectful round of applause could be heard as a picture of the two appeared onscreen at the end of the song.

Ahead of ‘Pushing the Tides,’ singer-bassist Troy Sanders reminded the crowd that the “greatest heavy metal concert” took place last night “in your country”, having performed as the opening act with Mastodon at the Back to the Beginning show in Birmingham on the Saturday. The third song in the set featured keyboards that added depth and futuristic synth sounds from João Nogueira. The Hunter’s sole representative ‘Black Tongue’ had many horns in the air as the vocalists delivered lines such as “You will run out of time” and in the second half of the set, Bill Kelliher’s riffs got heads banging during ‘More Than I Can Chew’.

Mastodon’s debut show in London was at the Underworld with High on Fire over twenty years ago and Sanders reminisced how the attendees embraced them and thanked the English capital. ‘Blood and Thunder’ teleported everyone from Finsbury Park to their concept album Leviathan, which is based on American writer Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick.

A fascinating fifty minutes from the North American purveyors of heavy prog!

Mastodon set list:

1. Tread Lightly

2. The Motherload

3. Pushing the Tides

4. Crystal Skull

5. Black Tongue

6. Megalodon

7. More Than I Could Chew

8. Mother Puncher

9. Steambreather

10. Blood and Thunder

Photography by Artur Tarczewski

Review by Kira Levine

Another band who supported Ozzy and the mighty Sabbath in Birmingham were thrash living legends Anthrax. Now, these guys have been around for as long as the headliner and their performance was met with the most excitement from the fans out of all the support bands.

Songs from Among the Living dominated the set, with the title track leading the way. ‘Caught in a Mosh’ was an apt choice as it describe the scene perfectly as many were circle pitting and moshing their way through the crowd.

Dozens had already been launched over the rails by the time ‘Metal Thrashing Mad’ arrived, helping the specialised security to get their steps in as they rushed non-stop to break falls. ‘I am the Law’, about fictional character Judge Dredd grabbed the attention of all the comics book fans present, it’s high energy nature getting everyone moving.

Then came a double whammy of covers in the shape of Trust’s ‘Antisocial’ and Joe Jackson’s ‘Got the Time’, the latter very well-received as attendees screamed the lyrics “ticking in my head” back to Joey Belladonna.

Drummer Charlie Benante stopped ‘Indians’ in the middle of a “war dance” sing over safety concerns. Once it was clear all was fine the song was started over again from the beginning, showcasing some amazing stick work.

An amazing old-school American thrash set from Anthrax, giving everyone eighties nostalgia.

Anthrax set list:

Blues Brothers Intro (The Blues Brothers Band song)

1. Among the Living

2. Caught in a Mosh

3. Madhouse

4. Metal Thrashing Mad

5. I Am the Law

6. Antisocial (Trust cover)

7. Got the Time (Joe Jackson cover)

8. Indians

Photography by Artur Tarczewski

Review by Kira Levine

Direct support came from Sweden’s Amon Amarth. The stage was flanked with an inflatable grey “stone” viking axeman and swordsman, with a horned helmet in the centre housing the drum kit. As these props were being set up, the exciting from fans was palpable and many took their phones out to document the impressive decorations.

‘Guardians of Asgard’ kicked things off, the opening riff instantly recognisable and got bodies bouncing. It seemed like many really felt like they were protectors of the Nordic realm of deities as they screamed “we’re the guardians…” along with Johan Hegg, all in all a feel-good start to their set.

The rhythm section — courtesy of Jocke Wallgren and Ted Lundström — on ‘Crack the Sky’ is really powerful and got a lot of people grooving to the Beserker track.

Non-album track ‘Put Your Back Into the Oar’ saw a row pit started on Johan’s command, with fans rowing away through part of the song.

‘Raise Your Horns’ gave all drinkers of mead an opportunity to raise their drinks up to the sky in appreciation of the catchy tune, before the band disappeared themselves behind the drum kit to have brief a beer break.

On their return, Amon Amarth played ‘Twilight of the Thunder God’ which rained riffs and a lightning speed solo down on Viking metal fans, thanks to guitarists Johan Söderberg and Olavi Mikkonen. London successfully raided by the Swedes!

Amon Amarth set list:

1. Guardians of Asgaard

2. Shield Wall

3. Deceiver of the Gods

4. Crack the Sky

5. Find a Way or Make One

6. Put Your Back Into the Oar

7. The Way of Vikings

8. First Kill

9. Raise Your Horns

Encore:

10. Twilight of the Thunder God

Photography by Artur Tarczewski

Review by Kira Levine

The last time Slayer played in the U.K. before they retired in 2019 was Download Festival in that same year. Their previous London show was even earlier than that, in 2018 at Wembley Arena, so thrashers were understandably over the moon to see them return after so long. Just three days earlier, hey played the thirty-five thousand capacity Blackweir Fields in Cardiff. Though it was the bigger of the two British shows, London’s Finsbury Park, that sold-out forty-five thousand tickets to metal fans.

A black textile bearing Slayer’s logo in white was draped in front of the stage to hide the set-up process became tangled on one side so not only did it now fully show the band logo, any one on the left could still see the behind the fabric.

After this kerfuffle, the crowd jeered and the show started ten minutes behind schedule.

A video played on the screens beginning with Slayer logos, then some archive and interview footage that seemed to make the previous blunder a distant memory as the park was filled with deafening cheers.

Like Amon Amarth’s pyrotechnics before, the flaming inverted cross and other displays of fire and lights were not as impactful as they would have been in total darkness. Though fans were still loving every minute, revelling in title tracks such as ‘South of Heaven’ and ‘Seasons of the Abyss’, the latter’s album dominating the set list.

Well over a hundred people dived into the photo pit after sailing on hands raised in worship of thrash metal. Not to mention the myriad mosh and circle pits that broke out all over the park.

They played tribute to Black Sabbath by covering ‘Wicked World’, with Tom Araya playing his bass without a plectrum, which resulted in massive applause from the audience.

Metalheads somehow conserved some energy for the last three songs. Intense number ‘Postmortem’ featured a reprise of a track a couple of songs before, followed by fan-favourite ‘Rain In Blood’, featuring aggressive guitar work from Kerry King and Gary Holt and the usual set closer ‘Angel of Death’, which contained some insane drumming from Paul Bostaph.

Twenty tracks from the thrash titans that proved why one must scream Slayer, not simply say it.

Slayer set list:

Delusions of Saviour