SLAYER: World Painted Blood

Produced by Greg Fidelman
Released October 30, 2009

It may come as a surprise to some readers of this blog to learn that Slayer has never been one of my favourite bands. I've never failed to see them live when I've had the chance, I still wear a shirt I got from their 1998 tour, I've always checked out their albums (although I skipped about the last decade's worth and apparently haven't missed that much), and I won't deny their influence on metal and outright awesomeness at what they do. It's just that whenever I've had to think about a list of ten or twenty bands that I like most, Slayer has never featured. Hell, I even suggested that Reign in Blood might not actually be the greatest thrash album of all time. So my approach to a new Slayer album isn't the same as it would be to, say, a new Alchemist CD. That is, I don't go into it really anticipating anything one way or another. And with that said, after one listen through of World Painted Blood, I found myself really digging it enough to spin it a second time right away.

Of course there's going to be a section of Slayer's fanbase who will argue that they've once again failed to deliver, but there's always that element that seems to expect too much, especially when it comes to the idea of blokes in their late 40s being able to pull off the same rebellious energy they had in their early 20s. The truth is, there's something almost intimately familiar about World Painted Blood that people who over-analyse or over-expect are going to miss. Whether it's Tom Araya's frenzied unsung shouting (especially in "Psychopathy Red" when he sounds like he's gone insane), the bursts of guitar savagery in places you don't expect them to be, Dave Lombardo's Heruclean drum fusillade or lyrics that shamelessly veer from the meaningless, cartoonish violence of "Beauty Through Order" to surprisingly incisive social commentary like "Americon" without any sense of irony, World Painted Blood has it all.

This is the most brutal Slayer album in ages: "Psychopathy Red" is absolutely crushing and in its frantic riffing "Unit 731" ends up sounding a little like "Reborn". There's a non-linear structure apparent in a lot of the tracks, with unexpected time- and tempo- changes and haphazard arrangements that also recall their earlier days. Yet for every neckbreaking thrash assault like "Snuff" or "Hate Worldwide" there's a mid-paced groove track like "Beauty Through Order" and "Human Strain" with their interesting uses of dynamics and control, or "Americon" that almost has a rock feel. Near the end is "Playing With Dolls", an experimental track that doesn't quite come off and one that will perhaps be the most contentious inclusion on an album that in every respect really is a mixed bag. Production-wise, the drums are forward in the mix, just to remind everyone that the key to Slayer's relentless assault is Dave Lombardo's furious and precise timekeeping. The solos of course are nothing special and the themes are mainly comic book violence and the usual serving of Kerry King's Christbaiting bullshit, but no one ever listened to Slayer for lyrical depth.

World Painted Blood seems to be aiming for the middle ground between Slayer's classic thrash period and their later groove era. Fans who only like their old stuff will only like about half the album and fans of their last few albums will like the other half. Everyone else will probably take it or leave it, even though this is easily the best Slayer album since Divine Intervention.

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

Rating: 78%