Still Reigning

Reign in Blood was released in 1986 and was Slayer's first album to enter the Billboard 200—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". ==Recording and production==

Still Reigning was recorded at the Augusta Civic Center in Augusta, Maine, 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 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. 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 when recording the DVD. King later remarked, "My guitar didn't like it, that was the last time I played it," ==Reception==

Still Reigning debuted on the Billboard DVD chart at number seven — selling 9,813 copies. 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.{{cite web | title = Slayer: Still Reigning The landmark metal album performed in its entirety. | author = Patrizio, Andy | publisher = IGN | date = January 11, 2005 | url = http://dvd.ign.com/articles/579/579116p1.html | access-date = July 10, 2024 ==Track listing==

;Reign in Blood live • "Angel of Death" • "Piece by Piece" • "Necrophobic" • "Altar of Sacrifice" • "Jesus Saves" • "Criminally Insane" • "Reborn" • "Epidemic" • "Postmortem" • "Raining Blood" ;Bonus material • "War Ensemble" • "Hallowed Point" • "Necrophiliac" • "Mandatory Suicide" • "Spill the Blood" • "South of Heaven" • "Slayer in Their Own Words" (interview) ==Personnel==

;Slayer • Tom Araya – bass, vocals • Jeff Hanneman – guitar • Kerry King – guitar • Dave Lombardo – drums ;Production • Dean Karr – director • Arthur Gorson – producer • Rick Sales – executive producer • Nick John – executive producer ==Certifications==