At her slaytanic majesty’s request, the new Slayer album is finally out. Many bands have attempted to play faster – usually to comedic effect – but when it comes to sheer heaviness, finesse and relentless single-mindedness, Slayer remain the true destructors.
‘World Painted Blood’ lives off the tension between raving chaos and the most rigid discipline. On breakbone thrash tracks such as ‘Psychopathic Red’ or straight-up hardcore punkers like ‘Snuff’, the band toe the party line by offering a roller-coaster ride through arbitrary tempo changes and precise metallic sculptures, once again reaffirming their status as the devil’s prime musical architects. Elsewhere, there are ‘Seasons In The Abyss’ style hints at melody – just enough to add some subdued Sabbath spookiness, but not enough to repel Slayer fundamentalists.
Ever since Slayer’s inception, rumours were that the band held right-wing sentiments. ‘Americon’, a monolithic mid-tempo grinder, is a lyrically basic if heartfelt attack on US imperialism that sets the record straight.
‘World Painted Blood‘ may not touch Slayer’s classic thrash trilogy (‘Reign In Blood’, ‘South Of Heaven’, ‘Seasons In The Abyss’), but after 26 years in the biz, the four Californian horsemen of the apocalypse have effortlessly created the best metal album of the year – as if to show the new blood how it’s done just before the new decade rolls in.
Not only are Slayer arguably the metal genre’s most extreme proposition – they also count among the greatest rock outfits of all time. ‘World Painted Blood’ is further testament to their majestic credentials.
TRACK:
Slayer – Americon
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Guest post by the elusive and talented Zuri Z.
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