Slayer’s latest effort harks back to the days of old Slayer, proper Slayer! Of all the metal acts out there, except Overkill, Slayer have kept the truest to their roots, yet a couple of their recent..ish albums did miss the target slightly. Things started to turn back in the right direction with the release of Christ Illusion however and I for one have been eager with anticipation for their follow up.
Signs were good, Psycopathy red was released a long time before the album and only one word could be used to describe it, “SLAYER!!!” the came Hate Worldwide, which in my opinion is the weakest song on the album, but if you like thrash, it still beats pretty much anything that’s been released by anyone since around 1993.
Playing with Dolls
A short film by Slayer fan Mark Brooks, was announced on their website, the trailer was awesome and the song in the trailer, the title track to the new album, simply breathtaking. The full video (18 mins of a guy cutting women up) is probably a bit over the top, but hey, this is SLAYER and it is an interesting concept, getting in the mind of someone like that, this stuff happens and unfortunately it’s often taboo.
World Painted Blood
I’ve held off reviewing the album until the initial excitement wore off, and so that i could get to know it enough to review it fairly.
The way the album opens is just paving the way for what’s to follow, it grabs your attention and is like ‘dude this album is going to tear your head off’ from the first listen you just want more, The intro, the changes in tempo, the (rather strange for slayer) solo, the outro, it’s just one of those songs, like ‘seasons in the abyss’ a one off, a stroke of genius.
it continues into Unit 731 a song about the Japanese army unit of the same name, it’s gruesome and the music is fitting, an onslaught of thrashing guitars and thundering drums, next step Snuff which keeps up the pace of it’s predecessor but adds a more personal and demented twist. It’s followed by "Beauty Through Order" a more ritualistic slayer song, not as thrashy as the others but still very very dark.
The speed kicks back into gear with Hate Worldwide, but as mentioned before this is really the weakest part of the album, though in no means is it anywhere near as weak as the weakest parts of Death Magnetic or Endgame. Public display of dismemberment is next, very similar to Divine Intervention, it’s very direct and the lyrics are, nice and sinister.
Human Strain is really the closest to any of their more recent material but with a ‘Seasons’ vibe it’s really the most catchy, (if you can call a Slayer song catchy) song on the album. Americon just seems to get lost in the grand scheme of things, on it’s own it’s a great song and similar to Jihad. probably it just gets forgotten because it’s followed by the almighty Psycopathy Red.
Then the album quietens, slows down and hush hush, the eerie ‘Playing With Dolls’ builds up, hailed as the new ‘Dead skin Mask’ it does not disappoint and has probably the best title of any song i can think of.
The tempo returns to blistering pace for the closing track ‘Not of this God, think Reign in Blood…
once it’s finished, quickly press play and start from World Painted Blood again!
I give it a whopping 12/10 it’s a fantastic album and the best for well over a decade, keeping the trend of old bands putting out good albums, well decimating that trend really and shows just how far James and Dave still have to go to get back to their best.
