It was the evening that metal fans, not very spoiled on the plains of Abraham in the 2020 decade, had been waiting for a long time and Slayer allowed them to let off steam by submitting them to a bombardment in rule powered by almost all the classics of his repertoire.
He reigned a special feverish, Friday, in the Haute-Ville de Québec. On Grande-Allée, at the end of the afternoon, the old metal maniacs ended up with a happiness that they did not try to hide.
At the opening of the doors on the plains, before 6 p.m., we already heard “Slayer, Slayer” in the field and the sweater that the group specially created for its visit to Quebec was very popular among the spectators.
Slayer lovers were ready.
Photo René Leclerc/QMI Agency
They were also around 50,000, if we trust that the Mastodon singer, in the first part, advanced for this first visit to the Kings of Thrash Metal at FEQ and their only concert in Canada, nothing less, in 2025.
Ride the tension
Slayer, we understood, likes to be desired. After their retirement in 2019, they took five years to announce their meeting, only for a handful of concerts. In 2025, it’s six and not one more.
On the plains, they also delayed the satisfaction of festival -goers. At 9:30 p.m., the American quartet launched a documentary video which lasted a good five minutes, followed by a long musical introduction which raised the tension to its maximum in a flowerbed ready to explode at any time.
Flames and Thrash Métal made a good time during the Slayer concert.
Photo René Leclerc/QMI Agency
South of Heaven launched hostilities, but it was from the next one, Relentlessthat serious things have started. From memory, the plains of Abraham, even during the Metallica passages, had been subjected to music as aggressive and rapid as that of Slayer.
The level of decibels was comparable to that observed during the Slipknot concert, in 2019. In other words, hello tinnitus.
Without respite
The worldly people are obviously not too much their thing, the members of the group limited the addresses to the public, to whom they have musically gave any respite. From the first portion of the concert, we retain the demonic chain Jihad/War Ensemble Among the most exciting moments.
The only survivors of the original formation, the singer-bassist Tom Araya and the guitarist Kerry King, were at the center of all the attacks, the first by his vocal power and his strident cries, the second, his big muscles well in sight, by his combative and agile play.
Kerry King
Photo René Leclerc/QMI Agency
Halfway through, smile, Tom Araya announced that the group was going to play a love song. No one believed it and as in fact, we rather heard Dead Skin Maska song no more relaxing than the others about a serial killer who dressed with the skin of his victims.
Range, go!
La Or s’agite
After an hour of this infernal rhythm, Slayer swung the exhilarating Seasons in the Abyss And on the plains, the excitement has reached its height. Even more than mosh pits have been formed everywhere, even in the gold section, of which the amorphic reputation has already raised the ire of Kendrick Lamar and Dave Grohl.
On screen, during Hell Awaits et 213we could better appreciate the contribution of guitarist Gary Holt while drummer Paul Bostaph remained a discreet, but formidable efficiency.
It then became madness when the hymn Thrash Angel of Death sounded, the mosh pits becoming more and more large and, we presume, stunning.
The work accomplished, the guys had a good time on the stage to salute the public and launched guitar peaks. “Thank you very much for being part of our lives and we are grateful to be part of yours,” said Tom Araya, hands attached.
The note of Journal : 4 out of 5 stars.
Mastodon: 13 years after the storm
Troy Sanders, from Mastodon.
Photo René Leclerc/QMI Agency
Apparently that an invitation to play in Quebec, it cannot be refused. “One of the best organized festivals is probably here in Quebec. We come each time that we are invited because you are always amazing, you present yourself, I swear that you are one of the best audiences in the world, “said Troy Sanders, the Mastodon singer, during their mid -evening performance.
The festival -goers did not want to contradict him so much that during the furious interpretation of Crystal Skullthere were at least five mosh pits in operation in the general admission zone.
Meanwhile, on the stage, the Atlanta’s progressive metal group resumed with brutal efficiency where it was forced to leave, in 2012, when a storm had interrupted their concert at the Parc de la Francophonie, their last visit to the summer festival.
Mastodon had chosen to play one or two titles of almost all his albums, keeping for the final the excellent Blood and Thunder, delivered after Sanders had implored to be able to return to Quebec from next year.
Sandveiss: Secret too well kept from Quebec
Lug Bourgeois, by Sandveiss.
Photo René Leclerc/QMI Agency
Logically, a Quebec group that plays for the second time on the plains of Abraham in the first part of a prestigious headliner should enjoy a certain fame.
Sandveiss, who opened the metal evening ten years after doing the same during the visit of Megadeth, remains a secret too well kept in Quebec, and in Quebec by extension.
However, this is a quartet of which the impactful stoner rock melodies, which can evoke both Queens of the Stone Age (I and Wait and See) or Black Sabbath (perfect recovery of Children of the Grave) would have opened larger doors to them in another era, when heavy rock joined a wider audience.
Today, this heart project of four enthusiasts who have other jobs in life was entitled to another form of recognition when they received this other call from the FEQ.
It was not a favor that was given to them. In 45 minutes on Friday, they proved that they deserved this opportunity.
