Slayer is one the world's most popular and influential heavy metal bands, so it's a little surprising that their home video material has been so unimpressive. 1995's concert video Live Intrusion showcased a lackluster performance, and 2003's War at the Warfield was similarly underwhelming. If you've ever seen Slayer in concert, you know that when the band is firing on all cylinders, they are absolutely devastating. For a band known for its amazing concerts as well as a truly awesome live album Decade of Aggression, the substandard home videos have been very frustrating. However, Still Reigning goes a long way to fixing the problem. It's still not a perfect DVD, but it is by far the best home video release Slayer has ever done.

The DVD was filmed on one of the band's recent tours, in which their played their classic Reign in Blood album in its entirety. Although I don't have any real quarrel with Slayer's recent concert set lists (except for the stubborn insistence on playing "Stain of Mind", even though it's easily one of the weakest songs they've ever done), it's nice to be able to hear the band play forgotten classics like "Piece by Piece" and "Epidemic". For the finale, the band is showered with a rain of fake blood, which looks kind of cool, although not worth the amount of hype that it's received. Yes, blood actually rains on Slayer. So what? The music is the real draw here.

What is really nice about this DVD is that unlike Live Intrusion and War at the Warfield, the band puts on a great show. On previous releases they sounded kind of sloppy and tired; here, they're actually putting forth some effort. There's nothing like actually seeing Slayer live, but not since Decade of Aggression have they released something that comes close to reproducing the experience.

To top things off, a documentary about the band has also been included on the DVD. All four members get a chance to talk abut the band, and we get to see the preparations for the show. It's nothing spectacular, although it is much, much better than the idiotic "Fans Rule" documentary on War at the Warfield.

Although I like the DVD, I still a few complaints. For one thing, it's missing part of the show. The live rendition of Reign in Blood was the encore of the show; why not include the rest of it. Five other songs from the show are included as "bonus tracks", but it simply doesn't make any sense to not include the rest of them. Or why not just throw in an old concert from the Reign in Blood tour; I'm sure they could scrounge something up. With all the material that could have gone on this DVD, there's no excuse for the band not to include it.

After War at the Warfield and last year's rather pathetic excuse for a box set, it's difficult to get excited about any new releases from Slayer. However, Still Reigning is the first quality release from the band in some time. It's not perfect, but at only 15 dollars, it's definitely a DVD any Slayer fan should consider purchasing.