by Michael LelloWeekender Editor
From 1986 to 1990, Slayer unleashed an unholy trinity of albums: “Reign in Blood,” “South of Heaven” and “Seasons in the Abyss.” Since then, the band has remained truer to its thrash-metal roots than Big Four comrades Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax, but some old-school fans nonetheless drifted away. With “World Painted Blood,” those listeners would be wise to return.
While 2006’s “Christ Illusion” was a study on modern-day holy wars and religious zealotry, “World Painted Blood” is, for the most part, prophesies about the end of the world. From the muffled voices, sinister guitars and military drums that signal the opening of the album on the title track to the boiling blasphemy of closer “Not of this God,” the four-piece presents a chilling preview of the apocalypse. Unlike some previous Slayer albums, though, the music is not played at a breakneck pace from start to finish. Instead, drummer Dave Lombardo slows the beat here and there. Tom Araya occasionally trades in his bloodcurdling yell for more standard singing. And guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman play leads that blend the duo’s patented ferocity with a newfound sense of melodic drive and direction.
What makes the album so effective is the contrast between “Reign in Blood”-style speed metal (“Unit 731,” “Public Display of Dismemberment,” “Psychopathy Red”) and more “South of Heaven”-ish mid-tempo fare (the title track, “Beauty Through Order,” “Human Strain,” “Playing with Dolls”). Fast and heavy parts seem faster and heavier thanks to the inclusion of slower, darker passages, and vice versa. Araya is key to this; in the brilliantly devilish “Playing with Dolls,” his vocals simmer from casual to a crazed, intense wail by song’s end.
The lyrics, especially Hanneman’s, predict a bleak, pestilence-ridden end to humanity, but there are other themes: “Unit 731” is about the Japanese’s sadistic World War II human experiments in the vein of “Reign’s” “Angel of Death”; “Psychopathy Red” recounts the grisly work of Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo. Most of this is fair social commentary, but some of the King-penned anti-Christian sentiments might cross the line for some listeners, like “You call him the messiah/ I see a pariah” and “I’ll be the one to bring Christ to his knees/ Crucified then ridiculed again” (both from “Not of this God”).
Despite some of the new twists on the Slayer sound, “World Painted Blood” is not an album that strays far from the classic template, and that’s a good thing. Greg Fidelman’s production might be a bit raw, but there’s no denying the dynamism and brutal impact of the record, especially on tracks like “Beauty” and “Dolls.” It’s the best Slayer album since “Seasons in the Abyss.”
Rating: W W W W
