American Recordings/Sony Music (2009)
As far as I’m concerned, the almighty Slayer have never put out a terrible album in their 25 plus years of existence, so with the release of new CD “World Painted Blood” it came as no surprise to me that this recording is yet another masterful and brutal Slayer album.
While some Slayer albums are better then others, every single one seems to barely contain any throwaway tracks and plenty of headbanging ammunition. The very first song on this CD, the album titled “World Painted Blood” is a crushing, groove ridden mid tempo track that finds the band in top notch form and instantly reminding the listener that these guys aren’t ready to retire anytime soon. Tracks 2 and 3 “Unit 731” and “Snuff” find the band cranking out their more signature, lightning fast death/thrash treatments, where both songs possess plenty of scorching and psychotic guitar solos, Tom Araya’s bellowing trademark screams and Dave Lombardo’s completely perfect drumming. In fact, drummer Dave Lombardo is at the top of his game on this CD. Not only on past Slayer recordings, but also on this release, Dave lays forth some of the most technical and complex drum fills and time signatures I’ve ever heard. Dave is a total master technician on the drums and in my book one of the best drummers in all of metal as far as I’m concerned (not to mention a totally nice guy being that your fellow writer here got to meet Dave Lombardo outside of a venue by his tour bus back in the summer of 1995 when his side project Grip Inc. was touring the states with Morbid Angel).
After quite a few listens it really dawned on me that “World Painted Blood” is a very diverse album along the lines of lets’ say “Seasons Of The Abyss” where you have your fair share of slower songs, faster songs, etc… The songwriting duties on this release were split half and half between Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman and it’s very apparent that both individuals have really grown as songwriters over the years. Lyrics as usual touch upon topics regarding serial killers or warfare, however those sort of topics fit the vibe of Slayer’s music just fine. Seriously, do you expect Slayer to tackle such subject matter like connecting with Jesus and sharing ice cream with your girlfriend?
Worth mentioning too is the fact that the production on this release is clear, polished yet slightly raw which helps add to the overall heavy feel of these songs. Interesting enough engineering and production duties was handled by Greg Fidelman who happened to be behind the boards for Metallica’s “Death Magnetic”.
Whether you’re a Slayer fan or not, be sure to indulge your senses with this CD and trust me, it will not be a waste of your time if you are in need of a powerful metal fix.
www.slayer.net
www.myspace.com/slayer
www.sonymusic.com
Composed by Alex Beltane