Slayer - World Painted Blood (#1)
The almighty Slayer. The band that pushed the boundaries of extreme thrash metal with their 1986 thrashterpiece "Reign In Blood" have somewhat split opinions amongst fans with their more recent outputs, with some hailing them as mastrworks and some viciously slamming them as half-baked attempts a reliving former glories. Whilst 2006's "Christ Illusion" was far from spectacular, it was still a giant leap in the right direction and a solid release, which is more than can be said about this new release "World Painted Blood".
I'm not going to lie, this album is terrible. What went wrong in the three year gap between albums? The songs sound like they were written in about five minutes whilst the band was sat in their rehearsal space - it almost sounds like they couldn't be bothered anymore. Tracks like "Hate Worldwide" and "World Painted Blood" plod along with extreme repetition, a far cry from say, 'Flesh Storm' from the last album. Some riffs are repeated far too often (see the title track) and a lot of these riffs are completely boring in the first place. Oh, and the guitar tone is possibly the worst I've heard in a long time too - wheres the bottom end? Wheres the crunch? What the hell were they thinking!?
Kerry King seems to have been let loose here too, with nearly every solo consisting of a whammy-wanking mess. The few leads that don't use constant divebombs aren't that memorable or... well, good in any way either, and it all seems like it was put together very hastily. However, there are a small number of ever-so-slightly redeeming features here - the track 'Americon' has a very good groove going for it and a nice catchy riff, 'Playing With Dolls' has a pretty awesome intro which leads into another good groove, and the single 'Psychopathy Red' manages to somewhat bring back memories of when Slayer were in their prime. But the few decent riffs outside of these three songs get ruined by the repetition and the album's shoddy tone and production, resulting in an album thats the musical equivilant of afterbirth.
I know I'll get a vicious backlash for this review, but I'm telling it how it is. "World Painted Blood" is an appalling excuse for an album, and I think that since Slayer struggle to offend people with their lyrics and subject matter anymore they decided to offend us with this album in general. Die-hard Slayer fanboys will absolutely love it just because its Slayer, but for everyone else I'd seriously recommend avoiding "World Painted Blood". Its almost (ALMOST) at the same musical low as "St. Anger" and one of Slayer's worst releases, second onl to 1998's "Diabolus in Musica". Three semi-decent tracks do not make an album worthy of purchase, though if you're eally that curious then go ahead and buy it - but don't say I didn't warn you! Stick wih "Hell Awaits" and "Seasons in the Abyss" instead.
I'm not going to lie, this album is terrible. What went wrong in the three year gap between albums? The songs sound like they were written in about five minutes whilst the band was sat in their rehearsal space - it almost sounds like they couldn't be bothered anymore. Tracks like "Hate Worldwide" and "World Painted Blood" plod along with extreme repetition, a far cry from say, 'Flesh Storm' from the last album. Some riffs are repeated far too often (see the title track) and a lot of these riffs are completely boring in the first place. Oh, and the guitar tone is possibly the worst I've heard in a long time too - wheres the bottom end? Wheres the crunch? What the hell were they thinking!?
Kerry King seems to have been let loose here too, with nearly every solo consisting of a whammy-wanking mess. The few leads that don't use constant divebombs aren't that memorable or... well, good in any way either, and it all seems like it was put together very hastily. However, there are a small number of ever-so-slightly redeeming features here - the track 'Americon' has a very good groove going for it and a nice catchy riff, 'Playing With Dolls' has a pretty awesome intro which leads into another good groove, and the single 'Psychopathy Red' manages to somewhat bring back memories of when Slayer were in their prime. But the few decent riffs outside of these three songs get ruined by the repetition and the album's shoddy tone and production, resulting in an album thats the musical equivilant of afterbirth.
I know I'll get a vicious backlash for this review, but I'm telling it how it is. "World Painted Blood" is an appalling excuse for an album, and I think that since Slayer struggle to offend people with their lyrics and subject matter anymore they decided to offend us with this album in general. Die-hard Slayer fanboys will absolutely love it just because its Slayer, but for everyone else I'd seriously recommend avoiding "World Painted Blood". Its almost (ALMOST) at the same musical low as "St. Anger" and one of Slayer's worst releases, second onl to 1998's "Diabolus in Musica". Three semi-decent tracks do not make an album worthy of purchase, though if you're eally that curious then go ahead and buy it - but don't say I didn't warn you! Stick wih "Hell Awaits" and "Seasons in the Abyss" instead.
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
American Recordings
Reviewer: Dave Ingram Jr.
Nov 7, 2009
Nov 7, 2009
Next review:
Ouroboros - A Path To Extinction
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