Slayer, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Behemoth, & Testament @ The Budweiser Stage, Toronto (May 29, 2018).

   Tonight history was made in Toronto as Slayer played their last show in the city on their final world tour  with Lamb of God, Anthrax, Behemoth, and Testament for support. To celebrate the occasion Mr and Mrs Squatch went down to The Budweiser Stage to witness the end of an age. The night opened up with local beauties Panzerfaust shredding a killer set at the Riverside Bar inside the venue. Right from the time the doors opened the place was packed with Testament delivering a killer set to start off the main event. Testament were on point delivering a short but packed set full of old and new favourites. Behemoth and Anthrax took the stage next over the next hour or so, turning the Budweiser Stage into a complete madhouse with both bands performing dialed sets.

   After lots beers and some causal thrashing with friends, Lamb of God took the stage and cranked the dial to max capacity almost ripping the railings off the lawn sections with moshing metalheads. Lamb of God opened with Omerta and continued to play a mix of all their fan favourites throughout their set. A highlight for me was the crowd contribution during Walk With Me In Hell and Laid to Rest with everyone in the venue screaming along! With the crowd now completely amped, the anticipation was almost palpable leading up to the main event. As the sun went down, Slayer took the stage and began an onslaught of thrash metal fury of which I will not soon forget. The band opened with some tracks off their latest album but soon started to burn the place down with gauntlet of material from their early days with tracks like Black Magic and Chemical Warfare as well as the title tracks and singles from most of their albums. While I was left wanting more at the end of the show with no encore, they ended the show in style with a fantastic tribute to Jeff Hanneman with the band absolutely crushing Angel of Death while flying the Hanneman flag. And with that Slayer took one last bow on the Lakeshore of Toronto under a full moon on a perfect night.

   While I am still hoping for a reunion  tour in a few years, Slayer did a fantastic job with their final show in Toronto. The bill was absolutely stacked and they put on one hell of show. The crowd left he show completely buzzing with echos of "SLLAAYYYEEERRR" being heard from all edges of the venue and surrounding streets. Cheers to all the crazy folks I clashed with in the mosh pit on the hill! Cheers to all the bands for a wicked night and a huge final thank you to SLAYER for all the killer music and shows throughout the years. It doesn't feel right that they have wrapped up. I hope to see a lot more from them as time goes on. Check out some pictures from the night below!

SLAYER

LAMB OF GOD

ANTHRAX

BEHEMOTH

TESTAMENT

PANZERFAUST

-Heavy Metal Sasquatch out!

Metal Yeti's Best Metal Albums of 2015 & 2016! /,,/

   It's easy to get caught up in the fast pace lifestyle of the Anthropocene. Time goes by and fantastic metal albums come and go. We are bombarded with new material on social media feeds and through 140 character sales pitches.  It is because of this reason that this year I wanted to do something a little bit different. Instead of restricting myself to 2016 I've decided to take a look at some of the unforgettable material that came out over the past couple years.

   A lot has happened in the world of metal in two years time. There has been a slew of new talented bands on the rise, and a number of veteran bands have come out of the metalworks with phenomenal new albums. The big four of thrash showed us why we call them that with all bands putting out fantastic new material. Chris Adler seemed to join every band he could get his feet on. Cory Taylor and Robb Flynn had a lot to say, to a lot of people, about a lot of things. While the whole time, Japan was having some interesting ideas of their own. Mad respect and rest in peace to Christopher Lee, Lemmy, Phil Taylor, Bowie, Nick Menza, Jimmy Bain, Shawn Chavez and every other metalhead we lose as the clock ticks on.

   Here are my top 50 albums of 2015 & 2016! \m/ These are my favourite and most listened to albums from the past few years so if you haven't checked any of them out, take some time out of your busy schedule and give them a goddamn listen!  Cheers everybody and here's hoping that the next few years offer up some more magnificent metal for our headbanging pleasure! /,,/


1. Vektor - Terminal Redux (2016)
     - Progressive Thrash Metal 

 
2. Gorod - A Maze of Recycled Creeds (2015)
    - Progressive/Technical Death Metal

3. Sylosis - Dormant Heart (2015)
    - Melodic Death Metal

4. Scarab - Serpents of the Nile (2015)
    -  Death Metal

5. The Offering - Codex Mystirium (2016)
    - Death/Thrash Metal

 6. Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls (2015)
     - Heavy Metal 

7.  MegaDeth - Dystopia (2016)
    - Thrash Metal

 8. Be'lakor - Vessels (2016)
    - Melodic Death Metal 

9. Skeletonwitch - The Apothic Gloom (2016)
    - Thrash/Black Metal

10. Obscura - Akróasis (2016)

    - Progressive/Technical Death Metal

11. Amon Amarth - Jomsviking (2016)
    - Melodic Death Metal 

12. Kataklysm - Of Ghosts and Gods (2015)
    - Melodic Death Metal

13. Gojira - Magma (2016)
    - Progressive Death Metal

14. Black Crown Initiate - Selves We Cannot Forgive (2016)
    - Progressive Death Metal

15. Cattle Decapitation - The Anthropocene Extinction (2015)
    -Deathgrind

16. Metallica - Hardwired... To Self Destruct (2016)
    - Thrash Metal

17. Devin Townsend Project - Transcendence (2016)
    - Progressive Metal

18. Lamb of God - Sturm Und Drang (2015)
    - Groove Metal 

19. Between the Buried and Me - Coma Ecliptic (2015)
    - Progressive Metal 

20. Tesseract - Polaris (2015)
    - Progressive Metal

21. Nile - What Should Not Be Unearthed (2015)
    - Technical Death Metal

22. Anthrax - For All Kings (2016)
    - Thrash Metal

23. Anaal Nathrakh - The Whole of the Law (2016)
    - Grindcore / Black Metal

24. Venom - From The Very Depths (2015)
    - Black/Speed Metal

25. Animals As Leaders - The Madness of Many (2016)
    - Progressive Metal

26. Dark Funeral - Where Shadows Forever Reign (2016)

    - Black Metal

27. Pyrrhon - Running out of Skin (2016)
    - Technical Death Metal

28. Carach Angren - This Is No Fairytale (2015)
    - Symphonic Black Metal

29. Slayer - Repentless (2015)
    - Thrash Metal 

30 . Testament - Brotherhood of the Snake (2016)
    - Thrash Metal 

31. Northlane - Node (2015)
    - Metalcore

32. Motorhead - Bad Magic (2015)
    - Heavy Metal

33. Gorguts - Pleiades' Dust (2016)
    - Technical Death Metal

34. Erimha - Thesis Ov Warfare (2015)
    - Black Metal

35. Insomnium - Winters Gate (2016)
    - Melodic Death Metal

36. Aborted - Termination Redux (2016)
    - Death Metal

37. Killswitch Engage - Incarnate (2016)
    - Metalcore

38. Jungle Rot - Order Shall Prevail (2015)
    - Death Metal

39. Black Tusk - Pillars of Ash (2016)
    - Sludge Metal

40. Katalepsy - Gravenous Hour (2016)
    - Brutal Death Metal

41. Gruesome - Savage Land (2015)
    - Death Metal

42. Gruesome - Dimensions of Horror (2016)
    - Death Metal

43. Virvum - Illuminance (2016)
    - Death Metal 

44. Children of Bodom - I Worship Chaos (2015)
    - Melodic Death Metal

45. Intronaut - The Direction of Last things (2015)
    - Progressive Metal

46. Black Fast - Terms of Surrender (2015)
    - Progressive Thrash Metal

47. Soulfly - Archangel (2015)
    - Groove Metal

48. Anvil - Anvil is Anvil (2016)
    - Thrash Metal 

49. Cryptopsy - Tomb of Suffering Tome 1 (2015)
    - Death Metal

50. Black Sabbath - The End (2016)
    - Heavy Metal

- Honourable Mentions: Khemmis, Meshuggah, Grave, Protest the Hero, Brujeria, Scale the Summit, Opeth, Dream Theater, Grand Magnus, Rotting Christ, DevilDriver, Allegaeon, Neurosis, and Dark Tranquility!

- Hope you enjoyed the list. I'm sure there's something on this here you will enjoy. m/
Have a happy thrashy new year! mXm/