{"id":12975,"date":"2009-11-03T00:00:19","date_gmt":"2009-11-03T00:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=12975"},"modified":"2015-02-12T17:00:14","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T17:00:14","slug":"album-review-slayer-world-painted-blood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-slayer-world-painted-blood\/","title":{"rendered":"SLAYER – World Painted Blood (2009) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SLAYER
World Painted Blood<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nAmerican Recordings (2009)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Has, after all these years, Kerry King finally got the message? World Painted Blood<\/em> is the only Slayer<\/a> album to affect me since the blood-soaked atrocities of 1990\u2019s Seasons In The Abyss<\/em>. It must be said, although, that their 1994 opus, Divine Intervention<\/em><\/a>, literally smokes in comparison to the drone of Diabolus In Musica<\/em><\/a> (1998), the comical aggression of God Hates Us All<\/em><\/a> (2001) and the poor man\u2019s Reign In Blood<\/em> (1986), namely Christ Illusion<\/em><\/a> (2006).<\/p>\n

With World Painted Blood<\/em>, Slayer finally ups the ante, with Tom Araya and Jeff Hanneman digging in their heels and claws and constructing a batch of formidable tracks, starting with the superb title track.<\/p>\n

\u2018World Painted Blood\u2019 begins with an almost militant, marching drum sound, as Dave Lombardo revisits those Seasons In The Abyss<\/em> alleyways before the band hurtle forth into one of those almost predictable rants. But where this track differs from past outings is Slayer\u2019s ability to darken the mood without merely replicating all that has gone before. The title track features a killer, almost rock \u2019n\u2019 roll lick and Araya\u2019s hellish, debris-spattered narration, as three minutes in the song transforms into some dirty, chaotic dirge. Araya\u2019s distinctive sermon gives the track an almost stark yet poetic feel before the band rush headlong into a deathly rattle, and I\u2019m taken aback, almost drawn into thinking that Slayer have really, and I mean really found their roots.<\/p>\n

Hesitantly I peer over the black wax as it spins and note that \u2018Unit 731\u2019 is a Hanneman number, and while it rattles by with fury at under three minutes it lacks the almost na\u00efve aggression of previous Kerry King numbers, and features some killer lyrics that sound as if they\u2019ve been extracted from the festering remains of Reign In Blood<\/em>. The track also features some of the album\u2019s most maniacal guitars, and again Araya narrates in the distance like a news journalist caught in the crossfire of bullets and bones.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something very different about World Painted Blood<\/em> from the previous non-starters. Maybe it\u2019s the guitar sound that seems to have its claws very much embedded in that 80s style of thrash, or maybe Lombardo has truly settled into his throne, in turn comforting Araya who now, despite still spitting animosity, appears more controlled, even on Kerry King\u2019s \u2018Snuff\u2019 and rather irritating \u2018Hate Worldwide\u2019, which suggests that King still isn\u2019t over his Slipknot phase. But all can be forgiven with King\u2019s clattering \u2018Public Display Of Dismemberment\u2019, which comes crashing through the walls like some jarring Euro thrash machine, the band finding elements of tune beneath those ravaging riffs.<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s on another Hanneman \/ Araya track that Slayer 2009 really comes to the fore. \u2018Beauty Through Order\u2019 simmers with menace, harking back to the seedy days of the Ed Gein-inspired \u2018Dead Skin Mask\u2019 (from Seasons In The Abyss<\/em>), evoking images of cobweb-strewn rooms concealing decomposing corpses and stuffy crawl-spaces. This is Slayer at their most ominous, slowing the pace and yet raising the sickness. \u2018Beauty Through Order\u2019 would not seem out of place amidst the bloody rivers of 1988\u2019s South Of Heaven<\/em><\/a>, such is it class.<\/p>\n

Hanneman\u2019s furious \u2018Psychopathy Red\u2019 batters the listener with hateful speed, as does King\u2019s bombing raid which calls itself \u2018Americon\u2019. But again Slayer resort to their darkest corner with the creepier plod of \u2018Playing With Dolls\u2019, which Hanneman plays a great part in musically, with the sombre salutations of South Of Heaven<\/em> once again coming to mind.<\/p>\n

Despite a brace of average tracks, World Painted Blood<\/em> is the album I\u2019ve waited for since Seasons In The Abyss<\/em>. Slayer finally slow things down and, with the exception of a few lethal injections of speed, find that there\u2019s no longer any need to flog a dead horse. This time around Araya, Hanneman, King and Lombardo have thrown the demands, and the rotten horse, out the window and found a (un)happy medium, without resorting to Kerry King\u2019s nihilistic, yet almost cringeworthy lyrical rants.<\/p>\n

As Tom Araya screams \u201cYou\u2019ll wish you were in hell\u201d<\/em> during \u2018Playing With Dolls\u2019, I find myself quoting the immortal words of AC\/DC vocalist Bon Scott in response, that, well, \u201cHell ain\u2019t a bad place to be\u201d<\/em>. Slayer is back!<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SLAYERWorld Painted Blood American Recordings (2009)Rating: 8\/10 Has, after all these years, Kerry King finally got the message? World Painted Blood is the only Slayer album to affect me since the blood-soaked atrocities of 1990\u2019s Seasons In The Abyss. It must be said, although, that their 1994 opus, Divine Intervention, literally smokes in comparison to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-slayer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12975"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12993,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12975\/revisions\/12993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}