 |
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
New Slayer album has a raw, old-school feel
The Advocate
As a huge fan of nearly all forms of music, but specifically heavy metal, I try to find something good about everything I listen to. Fans of Slayer have come to realize this band will always be the same, which is both a good and bad thing.
Their newest release, “World Painted Blood,” does nothing to dispel that fact.
As the undisputed AC/DC of speed metal, Slayer’s music has stayed roughly the same over the years, but this album seems to be something of a return to their roots. “World Painted Blood” has a very raw sound that brings back memories of “Hell Awaits” and “Seasons in the Abyss.”
The album begins with the title track, which is a moderately paced song. Rather than starting the album in the balls-out manner that most of their material is based on, the band takes a different route that ends up working a listener into the album as opposed to throwing them directly into it. I like the approach, but I suspect many fans of South Florida-based metal (like Cannibal Corpse) would simply appreciate being thrown into the fray.
Like most Slayer albums, only a few songs can be listened to at a time before a headache starts to accumulate. Not to say there isn’t a time and place for all-out thrash (lifting weights for instance, or swinging a heavy object at a person’s kneecap), but often variation is good. The standouts of the album are, without doubt, the title track, “Human Strain,” “Psychopathy Red” and a quietly savage song called “Playing with Dolls.”
Hopefully, on their next album, the band will stop allowing guitarist Kerry King to solo. They are, and have been for years, the biggest detriment to this band’s awesome, unadulterated aggression.
The Advocate reserves the right to not publish comments based on their appropriateness.