Send "Slayer " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 World Painted Blood is the best album to come from the Big Four of Thrash (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax) since the 1990s. That's not saying much, as their prime was the 1980s. Since then, three of those bands flailed about: Metallica went the radio route, Megadeth tried to do the same, and Anthrax turned to hard rock. Slayer, on the other hand, remained Slayer. They kept their core ingredients: spiky tonalities, no-frills thrash laced with punk, and lyrical obsessions with serial murderers and blasphemy. But after 1990's Seasons in the Abyss, the Slayer team underwent turmoil. Drummer Dave Lombardo left, producer Rick Rubin reduced his participation to executive production, and cover artist Larry Carroll didn't get called back. The band fell off for several albums, generating a few great songs and a lot of filler. The return of Lombardo on 2006's Christ Illusion helped right the band somewhat.Now Slayer are fully functioning again-- and it's hard to believe that a 27-year-old band can be this intense. World Painted Blood races through 11 tracks in 40 almost fat-free minutes. Slayer haven't written a great slow song since "Seasons in the Abyss", but the few that are here break up the album nicely. The rest of the record is fast and finely controlled. Hooks peek through often, and the interplay between guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman is lively. Their trademark whinnying-horse solos are intact, and Lombardo still pushes the beat hard. "Unit 731" features some of his best drumming ever, with delightfully crackling fills. An extremely dry mix practically brings the listener into the room next to the band. This performance aspect is crucial to Slayer's success. Unlike, Metallica, whose drummer Lars Ulrich is inconsistent live, or Megadeth, who have settled into a monotonous precision, Slayer have retained their organic energy. They are one of the most electrifying musical units working today. This upfront sound is double-edged, however. It's thrilling to hear the band in such close audio quarters. But as a result, it loses some mystique. The production quirks of past albums helped give Slayer an aura. Hell Awaits, for example, indeed sounded hellish due to an excess of reverb. The tedious sludge of Diabolus in Musica had a certain charm. Although Rick Rubin's production on Slayer's classic trilogy (Reign in Blood, South of Heaven, Seasons in the Abyss) was dry, the songs still had a smoke-rising-in-the-distance quality. Now the band is aurally inches away from one's face. Additionally, the band has turned its attention from the underworld to the real world. "Americon", for example, condemns the U.S.' blood-for-oil foreign policy. Slayer being timely is not Slayer being timeless. But the way they're still playing, they sure sound like it....full text |
| Rayvanhornjr |
| Few bands are bound to a standard as much as Slayer. There's a reason their bloodthirsty fans are more loyal to their cause than New England Patriots fans. Slayer has consistently delivered a familiar--and largely winning--product now over the course of 26 years. Of Slayer's thrash and death metal contemporaries who can at least match their tenure in the business, none can stand toe-to-toe with this group in terms of prolonged intervals of speed. Is Slayer the fastest band on the planet? Well, they were years ago but even S.O.D. stepped on the gas just a tad more, albeit never matching the finesse nor claiming dibs for the greatest thrash album of all-time as Slayer did with Reign in Blood....full text |
| Heavymetal |
| Slayer has announced that their 10th studio album World Painted Blood will be released on Tuesday, November 3 in North America, and on Monday, November 2 to the rest of the world. "As we're so excited about World Painted Blood," said the band's Dave Lombardo. "We wanted to do something special for the packaging, and have been working with some really cool ideas. They've taken time to get just right, and with our headlining the Mayhem tour for most of the summer, it's just taken that much longer to get all these great ideas exactly the way we want them." There will be three different editions of World Painted Blood: a limited edition CD with multiple CD covers, a deluxe edition CD/DVD, and a high-quality, 180-gram vinyl edition. "We hope our fans will like everything about World Painted Blood as much as we do," Lombardo continued. "Recording this new album has been one of the greatest experiences we've had as a band. We were together during the writing process more than we had been for past albums, we worked more collectively, everyone's suggestions and ideas were heard and considered, and that camaraderie is definitely heard in the new album....full text |
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