I find it weird that on this night of blistering live thrash metal music, my fondest memory is of the vocalist saying “I’ll miss you, guys” to the audience. Like it was some sweet-faced smiling John Mayer type who was bidding us adieu and not Slayer, the maniacs who proudly proclaimed in one of their albums that God hates us all.

Indeed, it was Tom Araya doing the most un-Tom Araya thing: going sentimental (or at least showing a semblance of it). In any other gig that would be downright ludicrous, if not blasphemy. Like aliens had kidnapped Slayer and replaced them with candy-ass clones. This, after all, is Slayer. Slayer and sentimentality don’t belong in the same sentence.

But this was no ordinary gig. It was actually the Manila stop of Slayer’s farewell tour — big emphasis on farewell — and if nobody laughed and smirked when Tom Araya uttered those words, and were instead touched and became dewy-eyed, well, only a poser would not get the significance.

So despite a fantastic night spent with dear people watching one of the most influential metal bands of all time, I still went home heavy-hearted. I knew it was Slayer’s farewell world tour, but it was when Araya said those words at the end of the show that the reality of it sank in. This is it, I thought. Goodbye Slayer. Thanks for three decades of kick-ass metal music, and for including Manila in your stops.

Sucks now that another part of my childhood is gone.