Full Review by The Riff Report Blog – July 5, 2025
Stage: Back To The Beginning Main Stage
Band: SLAYER (USA – THE RETURN. THE RECKONING.)
Time: 00:66am – after midnight, after reason, after mercy ⚰️
🧨 “SLAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYERRRRRR!” – THE WAR CRY HEARD ‘ROUND BIRMINGHAM 🗡️
They said they were done. They said the final tour in 2019 was the end. But you can’t kill what refuses to die.
SLAYER returned to Villa Park like horsemen of the apocalypse, ripping through the Midlands with a set so savage, so relentless, so gloriously evil, it felt like the ground split open and Beelzebub himself started headbanging.
This wasn’t a reunion. This was a resurrection through blood and riffs.
🔥 THE SETLIST – NO FILLER. JUST KILLERS.
- South of Heaven
- Disciple (first pit went full zombie apocalypse)
- War Ensemble 🪖
- Show No Mercy
- Jihad
- Seasons in the Abyss (crowd sung the solos. Solos, mun!)
- Dead Skin Mask
- Hell Awaits 🔥
- Postmortem
- Chemical Warfare
- Repentless
- Raining Blood (walls of death so big they formed their own postcode)
- Angel of Death (yes. They ended with that. And yes. It tore time in half.)
🎤 TOM ARAYA – THE PROPHET OF PAIN RETURNS ⚔️
Tom walked on stage, stared at the crowd for 10 full seconds, then whispered:
“Did you miss us?”
And then Rained Blood. Instantly. No build-up. No mercy. Just chaos.
His roar is aged like whiskey and war crimes – weathered, wrathful, and still utterly iconic. And during “Dead Skin Mask”? He looked almost… emotional? Nah. Probably just thinking about the bodies. 🩸
🎸 KERRY KING & GARY HOLT – THE TWIN RIFF REAPERS ⚔️🎸
Kerry King‘s beard looked like it had absorbed five more souls since retirement.
He riffed with such fury, strings were shredded, and at one point, he headbutted his own amp. Legend.
Gary Holt brought that Exodus venom, soloing like a possessed wizard with a chainsaw made of rust.
During “Chemical Warfare,” the entire arena was one massive circle pit. A guy rode a bin lid like a shield. Kerry just nodded.
🥁 PAUL BOSTAPH – DOUBLE KICK DEVASTATION 💥
Bostaph played like he was trying to wake the devil.
Every blast beat during “Angel of Death” hit like a bomb dropped directly on your kneecaps.
At one point, even the drum riser started vibrating, and the tech just backed away slowly. Right call.
🧷 THE CROWD – A FERAL, SWEAT-DRENCHED, PATCH-COVERED RIOT
Villa Park became a metal battlefield.
Battle jackets from the ’80s. Patches for bands that probably don’t even exist anymore. Pints flying. Fists pounding.
At least 3 separate circle pits merged into one mega-mosh vortex during “War Ensemble.”
We saw a lad doing push-ups in the pit. WHY? Because Slayer.
Someone lit a flare. Security tried to grab it. Crowd moshed the flare away. Glorious.
🕯️ THE MOMENT – “SEASONS IN THE ABYSS” = THE SOUND OF OUR SOULS UNFOLDING
That eerie intro. That descending riff. That entire stadium singing the lyrics like it was a hymn to the gods of rot.
Actual tears from a grown man in a Slayer kilt.
We all stood in the abyss together. We all screamed into it. And it screamed back. 🎶
🧨 FINAL VERDICT: SLAYER NEVER DIED. THEY JUST WENT TO HELL TO REFUEL.
This wasn’t just a comeback. This was a reckoning. A show so heavy, it cracked reality.
Slayer proved why they’ll always be at the altar of extreme music.
No gimmicks. No ballads. No apologies. Just blood, speed, and eternal fury.
Score: 14/10 Scorched Souls and Broken Necks 🔥🧠
Mood: Purged. Possessed. Perfectly ruined.
Diolch, Slayer. Next time, don’t leave it so long. Or do – we’ll still be here, screaming your name in the dark. 🩸
