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Still Reigning

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Still Reigning is a live performance DVD by the thrash metal band Slayer, released in 2004 through American Recordings. Filmed at the Augusta Civic Center on July 11, 2004, the performance showcases the band's 1986 album Reign in Blood played in its entirety with the four original band members on a set resembling their 1986 "Reign in Pain" tour.

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File:Bladebloodbath.png
The "Bloodbath" scene from the movie Blade inspired the DVD.

The finale features Slayer covered in a rain of fake blood while performing "Raining Blood", which led to a demanding mixing process plagued by production and technical difficulties. Kevin Shirley, who produced the DVD, spent hours replacing cymbal hits one-by-one. He publicly aired financial disagreements between himself and the band and criticized the quality of the recording, and as a result was allegedly subjected to death threats. The DVD was voted "best live DVD" by the readers of Revolver magazine, and received gold certification in 2005.

Conception

Reign in Blood became Slayer's first album to enter the Billboard 200 — at 94,[1] and the first to be awarded gold certification.[2] Music critics praised the album; Kerrang! regarded it as the "heaviest album of all time",[3] while Steve Huey of All Music Guide described it as a "stone-cold classic".[4] The positive reception lead to the band's European agent suggest the band play Reign in Blood in its entirety on the Jagermeister tour in 2003 and 2004, under the tour banner "Still Reigning".[5] Original drummer Dave Lombardo, who recorded drums on the album, re-joined the band after departing in 1992, which lead the band to agree to concept, as they regard it as a high-point in their career.[6] Slayer was going to enter the recording studio to record their next album (Christ Illusion). However, the band's producer Rick Rubin insisted the band not enter the recording studio due to problems between Rubin and the band's record label, American Recordings. The band's mananger suggested they record a performance of one of the Jagmiester shows and release it on a DVD, the band agreed.[7]

The final track of the DVD, "Raining Blood", culminates with the band drenched in a rain of fake blood. Hanneman came up with the idea of the blood two years after Reign in Blood's release, but the band lacked the funding to do so.[7] The start of the film Blade (released in 1998) features a "bloodbath" with vampires dancing in a club with blood coming from the roof, via a sprinkler system. The scene revived guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King's interest, and since the band released a DVD the previous year — War at the Warfield — they decided to add something different for the new DVD — raining blood.[7] King also asserted that since Lombardo was not on the previous DVD, this one was going to be important.

Recording

Still Reigning was recorded at the Augusta Civic Center in Augusta, Maine on July 11, 2004. A ten-man camera crew under the direction of Dean Karr was on hand to document the show, backstage action, and exclusive interviews inside the band's tour bus.[8] The interview, "Slayer: In their own words", is a seventeen-minute piece which features the band talking about their early years, influences, writing lyrics, Lombardo's return, and the band's eventual retirement. At one point Lombardo rejected the possibility of a future "good-bye tour" for Slayer. If the band ever realizes they have "lost a step", he states they will simply "call it a day".[9]

The set was converted to resemble the band's 1986 "Reign in Pain" tour, featuring the Slayer eagle and inverted crosses as part of the lighting rig.[10] The stage was also modified to absorb the "blood" and have it recirculate back down upon the band, allowing for easier clean-up and lowering the chance of injury by slipping.[11] The DVD was recorded in 1.85:1 video, causing macro blocking errors such as aliasing and a murky stage when fully lit, although the audio was mixed well according to the IGN review, which featured English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 stereo, with no subtitles.[9]

Production

File:HannemanRainingblood.jpg
A review of the DVD said if Hanneman did not miss the initial downpour of blood, "the guitar might have sounded pretty bad".

Kevin Shirley, who has worked with the bands Iron Maiden and Dream Theater, produced the DVD. He issued a statement describing the demanding mixing process which took place at his New York Studio: "It's OK — some places it rocks hard, and others are a bit sloppy, but I'm sure they won't use the whole concert. It was tough to mix."[8] The following day Shirley apologized for his "unprofessional comment" towards the band, and altered his post on his personal website to read: "The rest of the week I finished mixing a live Slayer set for a DVD, in stereo and surround, and it's great — it rocks hard, but it was tough to mix."[12]

On September 30, 2006, Shirley issued a further statement claiming he had not been paid for his work, and had received death threats from people associated with the band:[13] "I've just mixed a really wonderful band with one of the worst sounding recordings ever. It's kinda disgraceful that they won't spend anything on a decent recording! I won't say who, because last time I commented on a sloppy recording (on this page), they refused to pay me and I got all manner of threats and insults from people associated with the band, so I'd best be quiet!"[13]

The fake blood caused technical difficulties, and soaked the microphone, guitars, and cymbals, which according to Shirley sounded like "coffee mugs being tapped with a spoon".[13] A review of the DVD observed that "If it wasn't for guitarist Jeff Hanneman being out of position and missing all of the blood, the guitar might have sounded pretty bad."[9] Hanneman missed the initial downpour due to a technical problem with his guitar, and was deluged by a light shower when coming back on-stage.[14]

File:LombardoStillReigning.PNG
Lombardo's drum kit covered in blood resulting in the cymbals to sound like "coffee mugs being tapped by a spoon".

Shirley replaced thousands of cymbal and drum hits with those used on previous recordings, the process took several days to complete.[13] After recording the DVD the band used a sprinkler system with diluted water rather than a bucket and blood that was like tar when recording the DVD. King later remarked, "My guitar didn’t like it, that was the last time I played it,"[15] and donated it to the Hard Rock Cafe after the show.[15] Araya felt the same and admitted, "It was messy. I couldn't play because the initial dump at the beginning of the song got all over me. I couldn't hold my pick. I was slapping my bass trying to get sound out of it."[16]

Reception

Originally set for release on September 28, 2004, the release date was pushed back to October 26, 2004.[17] In its week of release it debuted on the Billboard DVD chart at number seven — selling 9813 copies,[18] becoming the band's second DVD to receive gold certification after War at the Warfield, and selling over 50,000 units.[2] The readers of Revolver magazine's 2005 voted it "best live DVD", making it the second consecutive year the band topped the category.[19]

Andy Patrizio of IGN awarded the DVD six out of ten; commenting, "Tom Araya lost his piercing shriek that opens 'Angel of Death' and the end of 'Necrophobic'",[9] praising Lombardo's return by saying the drummer "...hasn't lost a step at all. With barely any breathing time between songs, the underground drum legend shows that an impending 40th birthday (next month) isn't going to slow him down."[9] Patrizio also stated the production was not the highest caliber, as the rapid "MTV-style" cuts were distracting, as was the switch from black and white to color shots.[9] Patrizio ended the review with the comment, "This is what you get for letting Uwe Boll direct your music video", Boll being a heavily criticized film director.[9]

Track listing

  1. "Angel of Death"
  2. "Piece by Piece" (King)
  3. "Necrophobic"
  4. "Altar of Sacrifice"
  5. "Jesus Saves"
  6. "Criminally Insane"
  7. "Reborn"
  8. "Epidemic"
  9. "Postmortem"
  10. "Raining Blood"
    Bonus
  11. "War Ensemble"
  12. "Hallowed Point"
  13. "Necrophiliac"
  14. "Mandatory Suicide"
  15. "Spill the Blood"
  16. "South of Heaven"
  17. Interview - Slayer: In their own words

References

  1. ^ "Artist Chart History". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2007-03-25.
  2. ^ a b "RIAA - Artist Slayer". RIAA.com. Retrieved 2007-02-14. Cite error: The named reference "RIAA - Artist Slayer" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Lostprophets scoop rock honours". BBC News. 2006-08-25. Retrieved 2007-01-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Huey, Steve. "Reign In Blood - Slayer". Allmusicguide.com. Retrieved 2007-01-05.
  5. ^ Fortes, Michael (2007-06-05). "A chat with Tom Araya of Slayer". bullz-eye.com. Retrieved 2007-06-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Huffy, Dave (2004-09-19). "RIFTROCK INTERVIEWS — Slayer". RIFTrock.com. Retrieved 2007-01-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ a b c Davis, Brian. "Knac.com interview with Jeff Hanneman". Knac.co. Retrieved 2006-12-13.
  8. ^ a b "Producer Says New SLAYER DVD Was 'Tough To Mix' Due To Its Sloppiness". Blabbermouth.net. 2004-08-15. Retrieved 2007-02-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Patrizio, Andy (2005-01-11). "Slayer: Still Reigning The landmark metal album performed in its entirety". IGN. Retrieved 2007-02-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "SLAYER To Document 'Reign in Blood' Performance On Upcoming DVD". Blabbermouth.net. 2004-06-08. Retrieved 2007-03-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ Chillemi, Brian. "Slayer Still Reigning". Rockzone.com. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
  12. ^ "Producer Apologizes For 'Unprofessional Comment' About SLAYER Live DVD". Blabbermouth.net. 2004-08-17. Retrieved 2007-02-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ a b c d "Producer KEVIN SHIRLEY Comments On SLAYER's 'Reign in Blood Live: Still Reigning' DVD". Blabbermouth.net. 2004-09-30. Retrieved 2007-02-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ "Slayer to headline this fall's Jagermeister Music Tour; Slayer DVD 'Still Reigning' to be released October 26, 2004". Top40-charts.com. 2004-09-08. Retrieved 2007-03-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ a b Atkinson, Peter (2006-04-24). "Songs about God and Satan – Part 1: An Interview with Slayer's Kerry King". KNAC.com. Retrieved 2007-02-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ "SLAYER Frontman Talks About 'Wall Of Blood', Show Cancellations". Blabbermouth.net. 2004-11-06. Retrieved 2007-03-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ "SLAYER: Raining Blood — Literally". Blabbermouth.net. 2004-07-14. Retrieved 2007-03-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ "Slayer's Still Reigning DVD Sells A Bloody Load of Copies In Its First Week". MetalUnderground.com. 2004-11-15. Retrieved 2007-03-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  19. ^ "SLAYER's 'Still Reigning' DVD Certified Gold". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
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