Slayer in the city

Opening for Slayer must be the pinnacle of any self-respecting hardcore or metal band. Unfortunately, a Slayer audience is extremely hard on bands that don’t cut the mustard. An endless barrage of expletives and middle-finger salutes usually follows until the poor band’s only saving grace—its final song.

Diecast, a five-piece hardcore/metal combo from Boston, handled the task during a recent show at San Francisco’s Warfield Theatre with considerable ease. Showcasing material off its latest CD, Day of Reckoning, Diecast plowed through 30 minutes of well-calculated mayhem. The band’s subject matter—apathy, inner persecution, perseverance, unification—worked well with the crowd.

Singer Colin Schleifer commanded the stage with considerable bravado. Such tracks as the bludgeoning “Disrepair” and “Singled Out” sounded larger than life; unlike most opening bands, Diecast was treated to an extraordinarily good house mix. Drummer Jason Costa, the only long-haired boy of the bunch, looked like a shoe-in for the vacated Slayer drum throne rather than the drummer for an East Coast hardcore outfit. Costa’s warp-speed double-bass patterns and—get this—traditional-style drumming (e.g., Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Art Blakey) were bludgeoning to say the least. Diecast’s dual-guitar assault set the Warfield Theatre ablaze and rocked the house into submission.

This show signaled the temporary return of Slayer’s original skinsman, Dave Lombardo, who’s been busy with spazzcore heavyweight group Fantomas. Opening with “Disciple,” a track from last year’s God Hates Us All, L.A.’s original spawn of Beelzebub and hell’s house band, Slayer, proved that it’s still the progenitor of death metal. Guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, aided by a wall of Marshall stacks, traded leads during such staples as “South of Heaven,” “Mandatory Suicide,” “Hell Awaits” and “Angel of Death,” the night’s closer. Even such obscure tracks from an early EP as “Captor of Sin” and “Chemical Warfare” sounded fresh and alarmingly updated in the live setting.

Perhaps the only disquieting factor was singer Tom Araya’s lack of enthusiasm. Sadly, his father passed away during the tour; the band postponed several dates before its Warfield show. Although Araya didn’t make mention of his recent loss, it was apparent than he wasn’t ready to partake in his usual between-song banter. Fortunately, the enthusiasm of the crowd and the performance of the entire band—Lombardo in particular—more than made up for any of Araya’s facial expressions and sparse rapport with the crowd.

To this longtime Slayer fan, the band’s work ethic and ability to carry on was impressive—as was Araya, who didn’t hide his emotional pain under a death-metal guise.