The almighty Slayer released their eleventh (and possibly their last) studio album, World Painted Blood this month. It’s one of the better Metal releases this year.
Slayer was of course one of the “Big Four” thrash metal bands from the 1980’s, and continues to be an icon for just about anyone even casually into heavy music. But their legacy goes beyond how cool their logo looks on a t-shirt. Any metalhead will acknowledge Slayer as one of the most influential extreme metal bands of all time, and affirm that their 1986 masterpiece Reign In Blood debuted onto the Billboard 200 at #94 despite virtually no radio play, and set the pace for the entire burgeoning death metal genre.
In May of 1992, after the 1991 album Seasons in the Abyss, drummer Dave Lombardo quit the band. He didn’t return until 2002, and eventually recorded their previous effort, 2006’s Christ Illusion. Slayer sounds like exactly what they were for that album: A band who just got their one and only definitive drummer back after over 20 years without him. Musically Christ Illusion was refreshingly fast and undeniably heavy, but the songwriting wasn’t impressive and the lyrics fucking sucked. Hard. The album might’ve sold well and Slayer may have won a Grammy, but what does that honestly say about it? We heard it for what it was; Slayer getting back into the swing of things. Out here in the real world, the album fell flat on its face and will certainly not withstand the tests of time. Hardcore Slayer fans already wanna forget that it happened at all.
Fortunately, World Painted Blood is not another Christ Illusion. It isn’t incredible, but it’s definitely better in every way. The record is shorter, faster and well… Slayer! The lyrics are overall better than anything they’ve written in a long time, the riffs are memorable again. I must say that I think the album would be a lot stronger without Americon and Playing With Dolls. But when was the last Slayer record that only had two weak songs?
The album starts off with a very Slayer, practically old-school “creepy intro” that leads into the title track. The next two songs, Unit 731 and Snuff are bona fide thrashers that really take you back. After those we come to Beauty Through Order. The song starts off evil-ballad style a-la Seasons In The Abyss, and builds up to another helping of speed and solos that fit perfectly, then breaks down with an old ‘classic Slayer’ constant 8th-note ride cymbal pattern over a slowly down-picked guitar riff. I have to say, I didn’t see it coming at all. It really makes a good Slayer song great, especially at the end of 2009. The icing on the cake is that the song’s lyrics are about the first known female serial killer.
Another song I can’t help but mention, is the colossal Public Display Of Dismemberment. It’s two minutes and thirty-four seconds long, has an awesome breakdown, and at its fastest moments the beat is a bomb-blast. Yes. A Slayer song with a bomb-blast (not the only one on the album that does, too) that fits perfectly. It’s quickly and easily landed itself on my list of all-time favorites.
Unfortunately, singer/bassist Tom Araya isn’t certain if this will be the last Slayer record or not. World Painted Blood is the last record of their deal with executive producer Rick Rubin, and apparently discussion about the band’s future is now on the table. I can’t say that I know how to feel about that. It comes down to whether or not the members of the band feel like it’ll be worth it. If they can’t put out another album on this level, I think this is a great place to call it quits as far as recording goes. It sounds like they’ve still got it.
World Painted Blood
November 3, 2009
American / Sony Music
1. World Painted Blood
2. Unit 731
3. Snuff
4. Beauty Through Order
5. Hate Worldwide
6. Public Display Of Dismemberment
7. Human Strain
8. Americon
9. Psychopathy Red
10. Playing With Dolls
11. Not Of This God
