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Slayer's "Christ Illusion" hit & miss |
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Written by SEAN TIERNAN
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Tuesday, 26 September 2006 |
“Go ahead and write up that new Slayer disc, if you could. That would be great.” That’s the e-mail I received, and I have spent the better part of a week trying to change it in my own mind to “go ahead and write up that Seasons in the Abyss disc, if you could. That would be great.” Because that is something I could not only do, but enjoy at the same time. But I will do my best.
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Slayer
|  Entertainment
 Art
"Christ Illusion"
(American Recordings)
Released August 8, 2006
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Christ Illusion, the eleventh studio release from southern California-based thrash metal titans Slayer, hit stores this past August as possibly the most highly anticipated metal release of the year. The new album is the first release since the return of not only Slayer’s original drummer, Dave Lombardo, but also the return of famed producer Rick Rubin, whose last work with the band was on the 1998 release of “Diabolus in Musica.”
The album starts out strong musically with the shredding guitar of Kerry King, followed by a killer opening line - “Take a deep breath `cause it all starts now…” but then it gradually loses steam from there. “Flesh Storm” proves to be one of the better tracks on what I would call a rather lackluster album. You may want to forward about three tracks to pick up the next song that really shows Slayer’s skill at making a socio-political statement and at the same time kicks in your front teeth. “Jihad,” track five, is a perfect example of this. It’s Tom Araya and Jeff Hanneman’s own interpretation of the last moments of one of the September 11th 2001 hijackers who crashed the planes into the Twin Towers. Again and again, the references to the futility of religion smack of the old “Hell Awaits” Slayer that made me a life-long fan mixed with the extremist Muslim belief that killing yourself in the name of god is an honor. “God will give victory to his faithful servant, when you reach ground zero you will have killed the enemy, the great Satan.” It’s what separates Slayer from the fly-by-night bands in the metal scene.
The rest is pretty much your run-of-the-mill Slayer album. Heavy guitar riffs, the trademark mid-song solo by King or Hanneman, great drums from Lombardo - it’s like he never left - and the usual growling ferocity of Tom Aryay’s vocals and bass. If you’re a Slayer fan, you will be able to appreciate what they have done for a staggering eleventh time, not to mention the countless live, and compilation-type recordings on the market. I was just hoping for them to really come out and show a new generation of metal fans what Slayer is all about, and I don’t think this is what I got.
If you’re a Slayer head, buy it for the archives, and for those who are thinking about listening to Slayer for the first time, start at their beginning. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
