Slayer | ‘World Painted Blood’
A tick list - that’s what it’s come down to. When the biggest bands release new albums, there’s no point weighing up what it all means, and all that babble. The real way to judge it is simpler. How many tracks are class and how many are wick? The answer here is eight to three. So fucking buy it.
It’s fast. That’s the first and most important thing. It’s still Slayer - still very definitely the band we all grew up on, uncorrupted by pretty much any influence that’s come along in the last twenty years. The piss poor ‘Diabolus In Musica’ was a blip. Luckily, their only one real musical shift has been altogether forgotten.
But is that a good or a bad thing? We all want to have our cake and eat it. We complain that they havent developed; we complain when they do develop. The beauty of ‘World Painted Blood’ though is its familiarity. As the band themselves say, it picks up almost exactly where ‘Seasons In The Abyss’ left off.
The title track, which opens the album, lays all the cards out on the table. What’s most immediately impressive is the naturalness of it all. The guitars are so unaffected as to be positively modest. With only the most basic and frugal of distortions, they’re not hiding behind anything - a quarter of a century has made them absolutely watertight, and it’s a lesson in real band dynamic.
So what about these actual tracks - Will we remember any in a year?
You’ll remember the best ones alright.
The reason is that this album is so direct, unflattered and without pretension that it’s extremely difficult to stop playing. ‘Public Display Of Dismemberment’ shows the highs of intensity they’re still capable of, while ‘Snuff’, ‘Hate Worldwide’ and ‘Beauty Through Order’ reinforce the fact that Slayer are a band that simply havent wimped out.
Of course, it isnt all fun and double kick. ‘Human Strain’ sounds lazy, contrived, and full of the kind of lyrics that the band slip into by default these days. It’s passable Slayer at best. ‘Americon’ falls into this trap as well. As a critique of either government or society at large, it is crucified by the likes of ‘Dittohead’, which married the fears of the moment with punishing aggression. ‘Americon’ is sloppy on both counts.
‘Playing With Dolls’ is this album’s ‘Divine Intervention’, ‘213′ or ‘Dead Skin Mask’. The creepy one. It’s slow, brooding and a decent sideways step. But enough of that. Back to the fistbanging. ‘Unit 731′ keeps up the speed, with plenty of Lombardo ride cymbal action and bap-bap-bap snare work that is incredibly satisfying.
Let’s tell it like it is. The lyrics are hammy, and a shade lazy. Of the three filler songs, the riffs are phoned in. But just take a close listen to ‘Hate Worldwide’ again: it’s exemplary. Heavy metal quintessence.
It’s a fantastic thrash metal album, their best of recent years, and one which retains the spirit of the band the way it should sound. Comparing Slayer to the current crop of Thrash revival bands is unnecessary. There is no comparison. Instead, compare this new Slayer album to your most extreme or punishing metal, whatever the genre.
I suspect you’ll find that the honesty of ‘World Painted Blood’, the excellence and unassuming brilliance of a heavy metal band in its simplest form, will still win out. It’s amazing that guys in their forties are still putting out music as hard as this.
They’re to be commended for it: this is the sound of a metal band playing like the hammers. When that band is Slayer, you know what to do.
4.3 / 5 - Ciaran Tracey ::: 25/10/09
Thumped
Metal Ireland
Fastfude
October 26th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
I think I’ll pass, thanks.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:57 am
Looking forward to hearing it myself.
October 27th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
So, Atheos demo gets higher mark than a Slayer album???
Says it all really…
October 27th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
have to agree with ciaran.at least slayer still play metal.they had their experimental album-diabolus and they learned to leave it at that considering the amount of bitching people did about it.i’m looking forward to it.its slayer for fucks sake!!!!
October 27th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Got a copy of this yesterday and it hasnt been off the speakers since. its Slayer, simple as, we all know what we are going to get from them.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Its a great album..why is it that people on here can never say something is great and thats it? Nit picking and acting pretentious just makes you look like you want to write for Terrorizer….
October 28th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
HEard it and it does what it says - its slayer nothing more nothing less. Enjoy.
October 29th, 2009 at 4:24 am
Its shite, last good song i heard from slayer was probably god hates us all.
Sorry but im tired of people using the ‘its slayer’ line as to say, we cant say anything against them because …’its slayer’. I dont care how long you’ve been around or what you’ve done ‘for the scene’, im not buying your cd just because your this or that band, same thing with metallica. Give it up.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:38 am
lol.id say every song on it is prob better than god hates us all so i don’t know what your on about.
October 29th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
slayer are class but they are no megadeth
October 29th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Thank fuck for that.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Am I the only person who thinks Diabolus is a great album?? Definitely gonna check out the new one.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Diablos was my 1st Slayer album, always have time for it! Scrum and Bitter Peace are great tracks.
October 30th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
i like it….all im gonna say is that i enjoy slayer no matter what they do,and i also like diablous….hail slayer
October 30th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Sounds good, although i took the crazy decision to actually get it and listen to it a few times before coming to that conclusion….. unlike most who had it dismissed before even hearing it. Its no megadeth indeed - thank fuck for that!!
Few bits on it are a little different for Slayer i think, but its still metal, its still NOT nu-metal and its still Slayer…
November 1st, 2009 at 3:51 am
To be honest, I don’t really care what it sounds like. Slayer have become a joke in the past decade and a half, and there’s so much good stuff coming out nowadays that I can never keep up with every release that I want to as it is. I’d much rather spend my cash on bands who deserve it and that I still care about.
Fuck Slayer.
November 1st, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Just gave this a spin, nothing really sticks out on it. Would prefer to see them live to hear the older material.
November 1st, 2009 at 5:40 pm
It still blows anything Metallica have done in the past 21years outta the water, which is why I cant figure out why metallica are so popular. No band that has been on the go for the past 25/30 years is gonna hit the nail on the head all the time, but Slayer have NEVER sold out, changed their style or their attitude in that amount of time, and so to produce an album like this after that long on the go, goes to show why metallica, megadeth etc, ust arent fit to even tie their boots!!! SLAYER FUCKING RULES!!!!!! End of!!!!!
November 1st, 2009 at 7:21 pm
SLAYYYERRRR!!! *crushes beer can on forehead*
November 17th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
new slayer album is cat
November 25th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
megadeth piss all over slayer