Slayer - World Painted Blood [2009]

They've obviously gone back to the "less is more" approach for guitar distortion... which is really fucking annoying since the music could be so much more with heavier guitars. "World Painted Blood" really is some of the best songwriting Slayer has done in Decades, and then "Unit" makes me want to forget entirely about the dismal guitar distortion and hail Father Satan that this record exists!! "Snuff" isn't bad, but not as strong as the first two songs. "Beauty Through Order" returns us to the days of the slow-and-fucking-evil songs that were prevalent on Seasons... "Human Strain" just emanates darkness and evil. "Americon" is possibly the only weak song on the album. "Playing With Dolls" uses some of the new-school ideas that they've had and blends them perfectly with South of Heaven-era evil and style. It's wonderful; the writing is excellent. Evil is back in the foreground. It's as if Slayer took everything that I loved about their various styles over the years and very carefully slammed them all together. That said, they also grabbed a couple things that I really don't like about the newer stuff (like the stuff that reminds me of a nu-metal riff). The only real thorn in the side of this album is the guitar production. Yeah, fine, they wanted to be old-school about it, but they went back to the Seasons distortion and that's not really "old-school". So, they ended up with a really weak distortion for an ideal that isn't even correct in the first place. It's easy to look past the production issue, though.

Rating: 8.5

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Slayer - Christ Illusion [2006]

Whoa, no time wasted jumping into the fucking old-school Slayer sound. "Flesh Storm" really feels like something that could've been on Reign in Blood. It's so focused! "Skeleton Christ" is the first song that feels like it's dragging a bit, even though the thrashy sections are wonderful. I'm very happy that Tom's vocals don't sound like they're monotonous anymore. The production isn't quite as punchy and insane as the previous two albums, but it suits Slayer perfectly. There's much more Punk influence in this one as well. There are a few missteps... it's not all that catchy and the shoe-horned nu-metal riffs are as inappropriate as incest. That said, it's a damn good album that recaptures much of what had gone missing in recent Slayer albums.

Rating: 8

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Slayer - God Hates Us All [2001]

It's even more heavy than DiM. Despite the influx of Heavy Metal influence, this still feels very much like a Slayer album. The blisteringly hateful "Disciple" and "God Send Death" set the album on the right path to crush some skulls. One major complaint is that Tom's vocals feel a bit monotone on this album for some reason. It's also less focused on evil and more focused on hatred. "Cast Down" and "Threshold" feel a bit like they're dragging the album through the mud. There are a fair number of really powerful songs on here, but I must admit that the material feels like it has lost some of its potency. Maybe it's the shifting focus to lyrics about hatred instead of evil. Maybe it's the Heavy Metal influence being improperly handled. Not sure, but it has lost a little something.

Rating: 7.75

http://www.slayer.net

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Slayer - Diabolus in Musica [1998]

YES! This is the fucking guitar distortion and production quality that Slayer always deserved! I don't think I'll ever get tired of "Bitter Peace". "Death's Head" is a leap into the groove territory, but it also shows that Slayer is musically expanding and experimenting with their sound. Just in time, too, because I was getting a little tired of being able to predict the entire Slayer album. It's truly dark even when it's a bit more catchy and heavy. Even the really slow sections that feel like someone is being dragged through the mud don't bother me because it's just so fucking black. That's not to say that the album is perfect... it's not. "Stain of Mind" is all weak if the lyrics are disregarded and "Love to Hate" is simply awful in every way. It's very impressive that they've managed to change their sound so much and still make it incredibly dark and keep that Slayer feel. It's a real kick in the nuts to all the other bands that were around at that time with "modern" sounds and purely shit writing. All of that praise aside, this is probably one of the least thrashy album that Slayer has done up to this point, but it certainly is the heaviest by far.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.slayer.net

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Slayer - Divine Intervention [1994]

Well, they've mostly fixed the guitar distortion problem from the last album. The first thing I noticed was how much punch the bass drum has. "Killing Fields" has an amazing start, but it's followed by some pretty questionable transitions. Very angry, though. "Sex, Murder, Art" makes the album feel a bit more like a Slayer song. "Fictional Reality" is the first weak song on the album. "Dittohead" is a fun speed metal song for the majority of the song. "Divine Intervention" is a slow evil pounding before "Circle of Beliefs" takes a jackhammer to your face. This is much more of a continuation from Seasons. There are some really great songs, and some that are flat and boring. The evil has been diluted a bit, replaced with violence that reflects the punk phase that Slayer was in when making this album. Though, "213" really recaptures that evil feeling that was prevalent in the earlier stuff, but with a more modern twist.

Rating: 7.75

http://www.slayer.net

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Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss [1990]

The production is much more clear now. However, the guitar distortion is quite weak for the style of music. It works well when they aren't palm-muting, though. "War Ensemble" is, of course, a planet-powered kick in the nuts. "Blood Red" drops some of the energy, but keeps most of the evil attitude. "Spirit in Black" brings back the energy in the form of more mid-tempo Heavy Metal, eventually giving way to string-busting thrash. "Expendable Youth" drags quite a bit, but then "Dead Skin Mask" kicks in with some hardcore fucking slow evil shit. This is quite a mixed bag, songs like "Hallowed Point" and "Spirit in Black" have that thrash feel that I love, but there are also songs that are slow and evil as fuck as well as ones that are more up-beat Heavy Metal oriented. There are quite a few flops, especially when looking at the previous two albums from Slayer. However, the biggest problem by a light year is the weak-as-paper guitar distortion. You kind of get used to it, but fuck, every time they palm-mute it's just powerless.

Rating: 7.75

http://www.slayer.net

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Slayer - South of Heaven [1988]

One hell of an evil start with "South of Heaven". It's so obvious that they've perfected the hell-spawned metal writing. Fuck, I had forgotten how awesome "Silent Scream" is. On top of that, I had forgotten how fucking evil "Live Undead" is. Sure, things slow down a bit, but damn it's dark. "Behind the Crooked Cross" and "Mandatory Suicide" slow things down a bit and push everything into the evil heavy abyss where demons shall shred the listener's flesh for all of eternity. "Ghosts of War" returns the album to thrash brutality before "Read Between the Lies" drops things into catchy and heavy hammering. "Cleanse the Soul" and "Dissident Aggressor" decline a bit on the evil. So, the album as a whole is quite a bit less thrashy than RiB, but it's definitely as evil and there are quite a lot of catchy riffs thrown in the mix. However, the energy isn't quite as strong.

Rating:

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Slayer - Reign in Blood [1986]

"Angel of Death", the song that got me in to Slayer. What's there to say? It's evil; there isn't a single riff that is anything but awesome; heavy; energetic; chaotic. It's been many years since I listened to this album, and it's wonderful now to almost rediscover how awesome this album was. "Piece by Piece" is another brilliant thrash piece. It's very obvious when listening to this album that it has set the stage for Death Metal with it's brutal lyrics about death and the damn complicated guitar riffs. It's astonishing that Araya can pull off such chaotic and rapid-fire lyrics and still articulate with such excellence. This album is still great by today's standards and there isn't a weak song within. It's shockingly ahead of its time and the prototype for Death Metal. Nit-picking: it's a bit two dimensional; very little variation throughout the album.

Rating: 8.75

http://www.slayer.net

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Slayer - Hell Awaits [1985]

Evil kick-off to the album. In fact, it's all evil, all the time. This album really shows that Slayer has settled in to their new more thrash-based sound like a comet settles into a planet. Every song is an old-school thrash masterpiece. However, the production really needs work. The guitars feel dead and their distortion is quite week. The bass has very little actual bass to it and sits more in the mid-high frequency range.

Rating: 7

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Slayer - Haunting the Chapel [1984]

"Chemical Warfare" is one hell of a great kick-off to this album. This is definitely the "missing-link" in slayer's stylistic transition to what they would be for the next few decades. The production is pretty good. It feels alive and it's not weak at all. Certainly my favorite of the early Slayer albums. This is one of the wonderful things about EPs, the band can focus on making an awesome album from start to finish instead of a long album.

Rating: 7.75

http://www.slayer.net

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Slayer - Show No Mercy [1983]

Damn, it's been at least a decade since I regularly listened to this disk... time to see if it still holds up to how I used to perceive it. Some songs are very pure and others are more watered down. However, all of the songs are good. The production is... to be expected from this period and considering that it's their first release, it's not bad. There's definitely a sense of evil that comes cropping up every once-in-a-while, but since this is their first album it's not the focus. In fact, this album doesn't have much of a focus especially when referring to the guitar riffs.

Rating: 6

http://www.slayer.net

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