Still Reigning
Encyclopedia
Still Reigning is a live performance DVD
by the thrash metal
band Slayer
, released in 2004 through American Recordings. Filmed at the Augusta Civic Center on July 11, 2004, the performance showcases Slayer's 1986 album, Reign in Blood
, played in its entirety with the four original band members on a set resembling their 1986 "Reign in Pain" tour. Still Reigning was voted "best live DVD" by the readers of Revolver
magazine, and received gold certification
in 2005.
The DVD is notable for the finale, which features Slayer covered in stage blood while performing the song "Raining Blood
", leading to a demanding mixing process plagued by production and technical difficulties. The DVD's producer Kevin Shirley
, spent hours replacing cymbal
and drum hits one-by-one. He publicly aired financial disagreements he had with the band and criticized the quality of the recording, and as a result was allegedly subjected to threats and insults from people associated with the band.
—at 94— and their first to be awarded gold certification
. Music critics praised the album; Kerrang!
described it as the "heaviest album of all time", while Steve Huey of Allmusic wrote that the album was a "stone-cold classic". The positive reception led to the band's European agent John Jackson, to suggest that the band play Reign in Blood in its entirety on the Jägermeister tour of 2003 and 2004, under the tour banner "Still Reigning". Original drummer Dave Lombardo
, who recorded drums on the album, re-joined the band in 2001, after departing in 1991. This influenced the band's decision to play the album in its entirety, as they had the original members and all members regard the album as a high-point in their career. The band was going to enter the recording studio to record their next album (Christ Illusion
). However, the band's producer Rick Rubin
insisted the band not enter the recording studio due to problems between himself and the band's record label, American Recordings. The band's manager suggested they record a performance of one of the Jägermeister shows and release it on a DVD — the band agreed.
The final track of the DVD, "Raining Blood
", culminates with the band drenched by stage blood. Guitarist Jeff Hanneman
came up with the idea of the blood two years after Reign in Bloods release, but the band lacked the funding to do so. The beginning of the film Blade
(released in 1998) features a "bloodbath" with vampires dancing in a club with blood coming from the roof via a sprinkler system. The scene revived Jeff Hanneman and guitarist Kerry King
's interest, and since the band released a DVD the previous year — War at the Warfield
— they decided to add something different for the new DVD — raining blood. King asserted that since Lombardo was not on the previous DVD, this one was going to be important. Due to the short length of the DVD, director Dean Karr
chose an additional bonus six songs from the same show as he thought certain members excelled in the performances.
on July 11, 2004, prior to the 2004 Ozzfest
. A ten-man camera crew under the direction of Dean Karr was on hand to document the show, backstage action, and exclusive interviews inside the band's tour bus. The interview, "Slayer: In their own words", is a seventeen-minute piece which features the band talking about their early years, influences, writing lyrics, Lombardo's return, and the band's eventual retirement. At one point Lombardo rejected the possibility of a future "good-bye tour" for Slayer, and states if the band realize they have "lost a step" they will "call it a day".
The stage was converted to resemble the band's 1986 "Reign in Pain" tour, which featured the Slayer eagle and inverted crosses as part of the lighting rig. The stage was modified to absorb the "blood" and have it recirculate back down upon the band, which allowed for easier clean-up and lowered the chance of injury by slipping. The DVD was recorded in 1.85:1 video, which caused macro blocking errors such as aliasing
and a murky stage when fully lit, and the audio featured English Dolby Digital
5.1 and 2.0 stereo, with no subtitles.
Kevin Shirley
, who has worked with the bands Iron Maiden
and Dream Theater
, produced the DVD. He issued a statement describing the demanding mixing process which took place at his New York Studio: "It's OK — some places it rocks hard, and others are a bit sloppy, but I'm sure they won't use the whole concert. It was tough to mix." The following day Shirley apologized for his "unprofessional comment" towards the band, and altered his post on his personal website to read: "The rest of the week I finished mixing a live Slayer set for a DVD, in stereo and surround, and it's great — it rocks hard, but it was tough to mix."
On September 30, 2006, Shirley issued a further statement claiming he had not been paid for his work, and had received threats and insults from people associated with the band: "I've just mixed a really wonderful band with one of the worst sounding recordings ever. It's kinda disgraceful that they won't spend anything on a decent recording! I won't say who, because last time I commented on a sloppy recording (on this page), they refused to pay me and I got all manner of threats and insults from people associated with the band, so I'd best be quiet!"
The stage blood caused technical difficulties as it soaked the microphone, guitars, and cymbals, which according to Shirley sounded like "coffee mugs being tapped with a spoon". A review of the DVD observed that "If it wasn't for guitarist Jeff Hanneman being out of position and missing all of the blood, the guitar might have sounded pretty bad." Hanneman missed the initial downpour due to a technical problem with his guitar, and was deluged by a light shower when coming back on-stage.
Shirley replaced thousands of cymbal and drum hits with those used on previous recordings; the process took several days to complete. After recording the DVD, the band used a sprinkler system with diluted water rather than a bucket with blood that was like tar
when recording the DVD. King later remarked, "My guitar didn’t like it, that was the last time I played it," and he donated it to the Hard Rock Cafe
after the show. Vocalist Tom Araya
felt the same and admitted; "It was messy. I couldn't play because the initial dump at the beginning of the song got all over me. I couldn't hold my pick. I was slapping my bass trying to get sound out of it."
chart at number seven — selling 9,813 copies. It became the band's second DVD to receive gold certification on July 20, 2005, after War at the Warfield, which received gold certification a year earlier for sales in excess of 50,000. The readers of Revolver magazine
voted it "best live DVD" in 2005, making it the second consecutive year the band topped the category.
Slayer received a positive reception when performing at the Augusta Civic Center. On finishing half the set list
, the band briefly left the stage and returned to play the 28 minute album, Reign in Blood as an encore. On the final song, "Raining Blood" the lights were turned off and Slayer members were deluged by two buckets of stage blood. According to King, the crowd went quiet for a few seconds until they realized the blood was part of the show. King thought Araya looked like a psychotic mass murderer, which contributed to the crowd's reaction. Following the two large drops, stage blood mixed with water was used so it looked like it was "raining blood".
Andy Patrizio of IGN
awarded the DVD six out of ten commenting, "Tom Araya
lost his piercing shriek that opens 'Angel of Death
' and the end of 'Necrophobic'", praising Lombardo's return by saying the drummer "...hasn't lost a step at all. With barely any breathing time between songs, the underground drum legend shows that an impending 40th birthday (next month) isn't going to slow him down." Patrizio stated the production was not of the highest caliber, as the rapid "MTV
-style" cuts were distracting, as was the switch from black and white to color shots. Patrizio ended the review with the comment, "This is what you get for letting Uwe Boll
direct your music video", Boll being a heavily criticized film director
.
Bonus material
Production
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
by the thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
band Slayer
Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...
, released in 2004 through American Recordings. Filmed at the Augusta Civic Center on July 11, 2004, the performance showcases Slayer's 1986 album, Reign in Blood
Reign in Blood
Reign in Blood is the third studio album and the major label debut by the American thrash metal band Slayer. It was released on October 7, 1986 through Def Jam Recordings. The album was the band's first collaboration with record producer Rick Rubin, whose input helped the band's sound evolve...
, played in its entirety with the four original band members on a set resembling their 1986 "Reign in Pain" tour. Still Reigning was voted "best live DVD" by the readers of Revolver
Revolver (magazine)
Revolver is a bi-monthly rock and heavy metal magazine published by Future US. Before covering heavy metal, rock & hard rock solely, it was a more mainstream oriented magazine. The magazine is structured in a manner similar to publications such as Spin while covering many avenues within the heavy...
magazine, and received gold certification
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
in 2005.
The DVD is notable for the finale, which features Slayer covered in stage blood while performing the song "Raining Blood
Raining Blood
"Raining Blood" is a song by the American thrash metal band Slayer. Written by Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King for the 1986 studio album Reign in Blood, the concept deals with religion, specifically said to be about overthrowing Heaven...
", leading to a demanding mixing process plagued by production and technical difficulties. The DVD's producer Kevin Shirley
Kevin Shirley
Kevin Shirley is a music producer and mixer for many artists, such as the bands Journey, Iron Maiden, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Joe Bonamassa, Marya Roxx, Dream Theater, Tyler Bryant, Mr. Big, and Europe.-Biography:...
, spent hours replacing cymbal
Cymbal
Cymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...
and drum hits one-by-one. He publicly aired financial disagreements he had with the band and criticized the quality of the recording, and as a result was allegedly subjected to threats and insults from people associated with the band.
Conception
Reign in Blood was released in 1986 and was Slayer's first album to enter the Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
—at 94— and their first to be awarded gold certification
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
. Music critics praised the album; Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
described it as the "heaviest album of all time", while Steve Huey of Allmusic wrote that the album was a "stone-cold classic". The positive reception led to the band's European agent John Jackson, to suggest that the band play Reign in Blood in its entirety on the Jägermeister tour of 2003 and 2004, under the tour banner "Still Reigning". Original drummer Dave Lombardo
Dave Lombardo
Dave Lombardo is a Cuban American heavy metal drummer best known for his work with American thrash metal band Slayer. He has performed with Slayer on seven albums, including their groundbreaking 1986 release Reign In Blood and their 2006 release Christ Illusion, for which he received critical praise...
, who recorded drums on the album, re-joined the band in 2001, after departing in 1991. This influenced the band's decision to play the album in its entirety, as they had the original members and all members regard the album as a high-point in their career. The band was going to enter the recording studio to record their next album (Christ Illusion
Christ Illusion
Christ Illusion is the tenth studio album by the American thrash metal band Slayer. Released on August 8, 2006, the album received generally favorable critical reviews, and it entered the Billboard 200 at number 5—the band's highest U.S. chart position to date...
). However, the band's producer Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...
insisted the band not enter the recording studio due to problems between himself and the band's record label, American Recordings. The band's manager suggested they record a performance of one of the Jägermeister shows and release it on a DVD — the band agreed.
The final track of the DVD, "Raining Blood
Raining Blood
"Raining Blood" is a song by the American thrash metal band Slayer. Written by Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King for the 1986 studio album Reign in Blood, the concept deals with religion, specifically said to be about overthrowing Heaven...
", culminates with the band drenched by stage blood. Guitarist Jeff Hanneman
Jeff Hanneman
Jeffrey John "Jeff" Hanneman is a rhythm/lead guitarist and founding member of the American thrash metal band Slayer. Hanneman grew up in Los Angeles in a family of war veterans, and his fascination with warfare is attributed to his upbringing...
came up with the idea of the blood two years after Reign in Bloods release, but the band lacked the funding to do so. The beginning of the film Blade
Blade (film)
Blade is a 1998 vampire superhero action horror starring Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, loosely based on the Marvel Comics character Blade. The film was directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. Blade grossed $70 million at the U.S. box office, and $131.2 million worldwide...
(released in 1998) features a "bloodbath" with vampires dancing in a club with blood coming from the roof via a sprinkler system. The scene revived Jeff Hanneman and guitarist Kerry King
Kerry King
Kerry King is an American lead and rhythm guitarist. He is best known as the lead guitarist and cofounder of American thrash metal band Slayer. He co-founded the band with Jeff Hanneman in 1981 and has been a member ever since...
's interest, and since the band released a DVD the previous year — War at the Warfield
War at the Warfield
War at the Warfield is a concert video by Slayer which was released on July 29, 2003, through American Recordings. Recorded at Warfield Theatre in San Francisco, California on December 7, 2001, it is the band's second video album. The DVD's contents were announced by MTV on July 25, 2003...
— they decided to add something different for the new DVD — raining blood. King asserted that since Lombardo was not on the previous DVD, this one was going to be important. Due to the short length of the DVD, director Dean Karr
Dean Karr
Dean Karr is an American photographer and music video, commercial, and film director.-Official biography:Director/Photographer Dean Karr's signature style, often copied but never...
chose an additional bonus six songs from the same show as he thought certain members excelled in the performances.
Recording and production
Still Reigning was recorded at the Augusta Civic Center in Augusta, MaineAugusta, Maine
Augusta is the capital of the US state of Maine, county seat of Kennebec County, and center of population for Maine. The city's population was 19,136 at the 2010 census, making it the third-smallest state capital after Montpelier, Vermont and Pierre, South Dakota...
on July 11, 2004, prior to the 2004 Ozzfest
Ozzfest
Ozzfest is an annual festival tour of the United States featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne, both of whom also organize each yearly tour with their son Jack Osbourne...
. A ten-man camera crew under the direction of Dean Karr was on hand to document the show, backstage action, and exclusive interviews inside the band's tour bus. The interview, "Slayer: In their own words", is a seventeen-minute piece which features the band talking about their early years, influences, writing lyrics, Lombardo's return, and the band's eventual retirement. At one point Lombardo rejected the possibility of a future "good-bye tour" for Slayer, and states if the band realize they have "lost a step" they will "call it a day".
The stage was converted to resemble the band's 1986 "Reign in Pain" tour, which featured the Slayer eagle and inverted crosses as part of the lighting rig. The stage was modified to absorb the "blood" and have it recirculate back down upon the band, which allowed for easier clean-up and lowered the chance of injury by slipping. The DVD was recorded in 1.85:1 video, which caused macro blocking errors such as aliasing
Aliasing
In signal processing and related disciplines, aliasing refers to an effect that causes different signals to become indistinguishable when sampled...
and a murky stage when fully lit, and the audio featured English Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
5.1 and 2.0 stereo, with no subtitles.
Kevin Shirley
Kevin Shirley
Kevin Shirley is a music producer and mixer for many artists, such as the bands Journey, Iron Maiden, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Joe Bonamassa, Marya Roxx, Dream Theater, Tyler Bryant, Mr. Big, and Europe.-Biography:...
, who has worked with the bands Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
and Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...
, produced the DVD. He issued a statement describing the demanding mixing process which took place at his New York Studio: "It's OK — some places it rocks hard, and others are a bit sloppy, but I'm sure they won't use the whole concert. It was tough to mix." The following day Shirley apologized for his "unprofessional comment" towards the band, and altered his post on his personal website to read: "The rest of the week I finished mixing a live Slayer set for a DVD, in stereo and surround, and it's great — it rocks hard, but it was tough to mix."
On September 30, 2006, Shirley issued a further statement claiming he had not been paid for his work, and had received threats and insults from people associated with the band: "I've just mixed a really wonderful band with one of the worst sounding recordings ever. It's kinda disgraceful that they won't spend anything on a decent recording! I won't say who, because last time I commented on a sloppy recording (on this page), they refused to pay me and I got all manner of threats and insults from people associated with the band, so I'd best be quiet!"
Shirley replaced thousands of cymbal and drum hits with those used on previous recordings; the process took several days to complete. After recording the DVD, the band used a sprinkler system with diluted water rather than a bucket with blood that was like tar
Tar
Tar is modified pitch produced primarily from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America. Its main use was in preserving wooden vessels against rot. The largest...
when recording the DVD. King later remarked, "My guitar didn’t like it, that was the last time I played it," and he donated it to the Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of theme restaurants founded in 1971 by Americans Peter Morton & Isaac Tigrett. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain. In 2006, Hard Rock was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and...
after the show. Vocalist Tom Araya
Tom Araya
Tom Araya is a Chilean musician, best known as the bassist and vocalist of the American thrash metal band Slayer...
felt the same and admitted; "It was messy. I couldn't play because the initial dump at the beginning of the song got all over me. I couldn't hold my pick. I was slapping my bass trying to get sound out of it."
Reception
Still Reigning debuted on the Billboard DVDBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
chart at number seven — selling 9,813 copies. It became the band's second DVD to receive gold certification on July 20, 2005, after War at the Warfield, which received gold certification a year earlier for sales in excess of 50,000. The readers of Revolver magazine
Revolver (magazine)
Revolver is a bi-monthly rock and heavy metal magazine published by Future US. Before covering heavy metal, rock & hard rock solely, it was a more mainstream oriented magazine. The magazine is structured in a manner similar to publications such as Spin while covering many avenues within the heavy...
voted it "best live DVD" in 2005, making it the second consecutive year the band topped the category.
Slayer received a positive reception when performing at the Augusta Civic Center. On finishing half the set list
Set list
A set list, or setlist, is a document that lists the songs that a band or musical artist intends to play, or has played, during a specific concert performance...
, the band briefly left the stage and returned to play the 28 minute album, Reign in Blood as an encore. On the final song, "Raining Blood" the lights were turned off and Slayer members were deluged by two buckets of stage blood. According to King, the crowd went quiet for a few seconds until they realized the blood was part of the show. King thought Araya looked like a psychotic mass murderer, which contributed to the crowd's reaction. Following the two large drops, stage blood mixed with water was used so it looked like it was "raining blood".
Andy Patrizio of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
awarded the DVD six out of ten commenting, "Tom Araya
Tom Araya
Tom Araya is a Chilean musician, best known as the bassist and vocalist of the American thrash metal band Slayer...
lost his piercing shriek that opens 'Angel of Death
Angel of Death (song)
"Angel of Death" is the opening track on the American thrash metal band Slayer's 1986 album Reign in Blood. The lyrics and music were written by Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman and are based on Nazi ″physician″ Josef Mengele, who conducted human experiments at the Auschwitz concentration camp during...
' and the end of 'Necrophobic'", praising Lombardo's return by saying the drummer "...hasn't lost a step at all. With barely any breathing time between songs, the underground drum legend shows that an impending 40th birthday (next month) isn't going to slow him down." Patrizio stated the production was not of the highest caliber, as the rapid "MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
-style" cuts were distracting, as was the switch from black and white to color shots. Patrizio ended the review with the comment, "This is what you get for letting Uwe Boll
Uwe Boll
Uwe Boll is a German director, producer and screenwriter, whose work includes several films adapted from video games. He finances his own films through his Boll KG production company. He is often cited as the worst director of all time.-Early life:...
direct your music video", Boll being a heavily criticized film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
.
Track listing
Reign in Blood live- "Angel of DeathAngel of Death (song)"Angel of Death" is the opening track on the American thrash metal band Slayer's 1986 album Reign in Blood. The lyrics and music were written by Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman and are based on Nazi ″physician″ Josef Mengele, who conducted human experiments at the Auschwitz concentration camp during...
" - "Piece by Piece"
- "Necrophobic"
- "Altar of Sacrifice"
- "Jesus Saves"
- "Criminally Insane"
- "Reborn"
- "Epidemic"
- "Postmortem"
- "Raining BloodRaining Blood"Raining Blood" is a song by the American thrash metal band Slayer. Written by Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King for the 1986 studio album Reign in Blood, the concept deals with religion, specifically said to be about overthrowing Heaven...
"
Bonus material
- "War Ensemble"
- "Hallowed Point"
- "Necrophiliac"
- "Mandatory Suicide"
- "Spill the Blood"
- "South of Heaven"
- "Slayer in Their Own Words" (interview)
Personnel
Slayer- Tom ArayaTom ArayaTom Araya is a Chilean musician, best known as the bassist and vocalist of the American thrash metal band Slayer...
– bass, vocals - Jeff HannemanJeff HannemanJeffrey John "Jeff" Hanneman is a rhythm/lead guitarist and founding member of the American thrash metal band Slayer. Hanneman grew up in Los Angeles in a family of war veterans, and his fascination with warfare is attributed to his upbringing...
– guitar - Kerry KingKerry KingKerry King is an American lead and rhythm guitarist. He is best known as the lead guitarist and cofounder of American thrash metal band Slayer. He co-founded the band with Jeff Hanneman in 1981 and has been a member ever since...
– guitar - Dave LombardoDave LombardoDave Lombardo is a Cuban American heavy metal drummer best known for his work with American thrash metal band Slayer. He has performed with Slayer on seven albums, including their groundbreaking 1986 release Reign In Blood and their 2006 release Christ Illusion, for which he received critical praise...
– drums
Production
- Dean KarrDean KarrDean Karr is an American photographer and music video, commercial, and film director.-Official biography:Director/Photographer Dean Karr's signature style, often copied but never...
– director - Arthur GorsonArthur GorsonArthur Gorson, also known as Arthur H. Gorson is a film and record producer. He also has experience as a cinematographer, screenwriter, cameraman and composer. As a record producer, he produced over 20 albums for major labels with artists such as Golden Earring, Phil Ochs and Tom Rush. His...
– producer - Rick Sales – executive producer
- Nick John – executive producer