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Slayer: World Painted Blood Groove Metal, Thrash Metal Sony Records November 3rd, 2009
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Review
What is there that could be said about this album? Why bother even reviewing it? Everyone knows who Slayer is by now, and their die hard fans are going to buy this release no matter what because of the band name that adorns the artwork. One of the most well known acts in metal today, they present to us now what is hinted at as their final album (according to interviews with band members): World Painted Blood. The band has been slowly moving away from a straight forward thrash sound and incorporating more of a Groove element to their sound, and that element is still present, and even moreso on this release. However, that doesn't make this an absolutely terrible album like many an elitist predict. The album starts off well enough with the title track, "World Painted Blood", utilizing an intro to the song to extend the track's length. The music is great, but after a while it starts to feel a bit drawn out. After the enjoyable and fast paced "Unit 731" comes the slower "Beauty Through Order", isn't all that bad a track on your first listen, but it moves so slow and just sounds really bland that it'll be skipped on future listens through the album, not to mention that the first solo just comes out of nowhere and really doesn't fit it at all due to the sudden change in flow. If you have heard the second single off this release, "Hate Worldwide", then you know how Groove heavy this album can get, and that heavy influence does appear on other songs, like "Americon" but most notably the track "Human Strain" which is a mid-tempo track that aims more at being a little more creepy then anything, especially with the simple guitar riffs and singing, yes singing, that appears about two minutes into the track. But, don't despair, there's still plenty of killer tracks on this album. If you're looking for straight forward thrash, you're not going to find much of it here. "Public Display Of Dismemberment", "Psychopathy Red" and "Not Of This God" are the closest to the Slayer we grew up with, but this new incarnation is not that bad and still is pretty heavy. "Unit 731" and "Snuff" are both intense, fast paced tracks, and "Americon" is a very political track that, lyrically, acts as a throwback to the old school days of Thrash with a good Groove to it. If you go into World Painted Blood expecting a Thrash-heavy album, you're going to be seriously disappointed. While it's not a bad album, and has a few old-school songs, the new sound seems to be lacking any real kick to it at times, and the first two solo's on this album sound absolutely horrendous and very hollow. It's still worth a listen, but far from anything you'd hear on the Haunting The Chapel or Hell Awaits. Unless Slayer decides to put out a straight forward Thrash album, World Painted Blood may very well be the time for them to hang it up, as it
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