One day in 1989 my brother Carl came home with a pile of records for me, his friend was selling some of his albums and my brother decided to buy them for me as a surprise gift - How awesome is that?!
It was kind of weird because Carl was into Hip Hop, Rap, Electro and later on The Underground Rave Scene and there was me into Heavy Metal...
Still he knew I'd probably like them and definitely appreciate the gift so he handed me a pile of vinyls:
Iron Maiden - Live After Death.
Iron Maiden - Somewhere in Time.
The Clairvoyant - 12" Single.
Suicidal Tendencies - Trip at the brain 12" Single.
Ozzy Osbourne - Bark At The Moon.
W.A.S.P - Inside The Electric Circus.
Nuclear Assault - The Plague.
Metallica - Master of Puppets.
Metallica - ... And Justice For All.
Sepultura - Beneath The Remains.
Sacred Reich - Surf Nicaragua.
Stars on Thrash (various LP).
Megadeth Peace Sells ... But Who's Buying?
Judas Priest - Killing Machine.
And what was to become my favourite LP of all time...
Slayer - Reigning Blood!!
As soon as that album started I was hooked, Slayer became my favourite band and have remained so ever since.
Next time I was in a record shop I went straight to the Heavy Metal Section marked S...
My fingers frantically flicked through the titles until I found the "Slayers".
I came home that day with Show No Mercy, Live Undead, Hell Awaits and Haunting The Chapel (E.P) all of which I'd been coveting since I saw them on the back of the Stars on Thrash LP...
To say I was happy with my purchases would be an understatement and the songs didn't let me down either, over the years I have of course added to my Slayer collection - including a signed copy of South of Heaven on vinyl!
Three years later I saw them live at Monsters of Rock at Donnington along with Iron Maiden, who where headlining, Wasp and Skid Row (for the second time) by then my love for Slayer was totally sealed, and along with it my Vinyl and Cassette collections grew!
I was absolutely gutted last year when they announced their Final Tour but luckily for me I have an awesome boyfriend who got us tickets to see them in Cardiff.
*Side Note - Paul and I met one lunch time when we were in Comp' and a mutual "Metal Head" friend introduced us... Paul's first words to me were "Do you like Slayer ?"
Ever the lady I replied "Fuck Yeah!!" and we spent the rest of lunch break together... and every other one after that.
We went to as many local gigs after school and at weekends as we could and had a great time, until I stupidly ended it, moved away and went to college.
I always regretted it but we lost touch and the years went by then one day out of the blue I got a message on Facebook - 24 years later!
We met up, fell in love all over again and went back to gigging and spending as much time together as we can! *
So it was fitting to go and see Slayer's Final Tour with him by my side, and being Slayer it was of course awesome... And being a girl and knowing that this is the end of the band I left elated by the music and buzz of being there and in tears because that was the last time I'll ever see them live!
At the beginning of this year I read that Slayer had teamed up with Super7 to make an action Figure of the cute little Minotaur that adorned the cover of their first album - Show No Mercy...
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| https://www.slayer.net/discography |
Well of course I was going to have to get one!
Around the same time I decided to quit smoking a shitty habit I've been a slave to for over 30 years, the release of the ReAction Figure coincided with the one month anniversary of my quitting so it was a given it was going to be my "Well done Me!" gift to myself, as I had to get it on preorder it gave me more incentive to keep going.
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| Super7.com |
When he arrived, I was even happier with him than I thought I would be, for me when it comes to ReAction Figures they normally are so bad in a quirky way that they are awesome, although my Slayer one is just prefect!
The only issue I have with him and these figures in general is to do with the packaging - in order to take the figure out and have a pose and play, you have to destroy the packaging as it comes in a bubble backed with cardboard.
The artwork on the pack is so faithfully reproduced, the back has the track listing from the album and a really cute photo of the figure surrounded by "Hellfire"!
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| Super7.com |
Because I love the artwork so much, I can't bring myself to try to remove him from it, which is pretty sad really as I'd love to play with this little guy and pose him next to my Trooper Eddie, Bark at the moon and The Osbourne's Ozzys and Welcome to My Nightmare Alice Cooper.
He's the smallest of the bunch, standing about 7 inches tall and for now will remain in his packet... But as he still looks great propped up next to them anyway so it's not all bad!!
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| Slaaaayer Graffiti - Artist Unknown |
That's enough of my ramblings for now, until next time...
Hugs,
