The companion concert LP to the thrash legends' 2019 short film of the same name,
Repentless Killogy: Live at the Forum in Inglewood, CA includes the band's entire August 5, 2017 performance at the prestigious L.A. venue. Recorded during the tail-end of the band's tour in support of
Repentless, their 12th and supposedly final studio album, the 21-track set commences with a searing rendition of that album's opening cut "Delusions of Saviour" before tearing through bona fide
Slayer -- and heavy metal -- classics like "Angel of Death," "Raining Blood," "Spill the Blood," and "Disciple." Featuring a lineup consisting of
Kerry King,
Tom Araya,
Paul Bostaph, and
Exodus'
Gary Holt, who took over guitar duties from co-founder
Jeff Hanneman after his death in 2013, this final iteration of
Slayer -- the band embarked on a two-year farewell tour beginning in 2018 -- is just lethal, especially when considering the fact that they were (collectively) over 220 years old at the time of recording. The unwaveringly gory short film consists of the three revenge-centric videos from
Repentless -- "You Against You," Pride in Prejudice," and "Repentless" — assembled and expanded into a narrative that concludes with
Slayer taking the stage. It's a fitting introduction, as the film touches on nearly all of the group's earthly obsessions (Nazi-horror, Satanism, serial killers, Grindhouse cinema, decapitation, etc.), and adds an element of schlocky, though unwaveringly violent exposition that threads itself neatly into the band's pyrotechnics-heavy stage show.
Slayer's top-tier status in the pantheon of metal is uncontested, and
Repentless Killogy, with its unmitigated ferocity, ample amounts of viscera, and uncompromising vision, will do nothing to tarnish that reputation. ~ James Christopher Monger