Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2012
After heading in a lighter direction with last year’s headliners Limp Bizkit and Whitesnake, Japan’s leading metal fest returns to the fold with hoary headbangers Slayer. One of the Big Four thrash metal acts, Slayer looked like it was on the ropes after guitarist Jeff Hanneman last year contracted—appropriately—a flesh eating bacteria. But with Hanneman on the mend the warhorse is back in the studio with a new disc due out in 2013. Joining Slayer are the likes of Helloween and Japan’s own Dir En Gray among 15 bands that will represent more than three decades of metal over three different stages set up in a vast arena.
