Slayer - Christ Illusion
Published by Charlie Parker
10-08-2006.
It has been six years since Slayer’s last album and while that didn’t set the word alight, unlike any of the other thrash bands still on the go people still universally seem to look forward to Slayer records. You couldn’t say the same for Anthrax, Megadeth or even probably Metallica anymore. Perhaps more than ever folk are wanting to hear this record, featuring as it does Dave Lombardo back behind the drum kit since 1990.
The stupidly named Christ Illusion is an old fashioned machine gun paced metal album with no nods to any modern traits of production or sound. Apart from the slow churning build up to Cult, the pace is whiplash fast. Teeth rattling riffs are the order of the day, with some surprisingly tuneful squawls of guitar solo work smothered on top, most memorably used in the gnashing opener Flesh Storm and the extended screech at the end of the afore mentioned Cult.
Over these pounding buzz monsters you get the usual tirade of Slayer’s singer Tom Araya, now he’s no Paul Weller, and when your music is as blunt as a cosh to the head, why wrap up your meaning in fancy words when you can just shout what you mean. the 9/11 themed Jihad has something interesting to say but it gets lost in the general roar of the metal instrumentation around it.
Only the vague mood piece Eyes of The Insane does not feel right, as if it’s unfinished, with no real drive behind it. With all the speed and rage of most of the record, the Sabbath like Catatonic is a good bluesy thrash number and change of pace, this number is not slow but it’s slower.
Apart from these it‘s all Kitt on turbo, most notable of the speed blitz of Catalyst.
Easily their best album for years, Christ Illusion maybe a rather precise distillation of what Slayer are and what people want to hear from them but is that such a bad thing after a string of less and amazing records? This is a Slayer record, and a good one rather than a bad or less than great one.
Out 21st August on Warners, out now via legal download sites http://www.slayer.net/.
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