Slayer - World Painted Blood - review
Slayer - World Painted Blood - review
Tracklist
01. World Painted Blood02. Unit 731
03. Snuff
04. Beauty Through Order
05. Hate Worldwide
06. Public Display Of Dismemberment
07. Human Strain
08. Americon
09. Psychopathy Red
10. Playing With Dolls
11. Not Of This God
A review by
BitterCOld November 11, 2009
Q: What's the title of the new Slayer album?
A: World Painted Blood.
Q: What's it sound like?
A: What on Earth do you think?
It's pretty much exactly what you think. 10 or so songs clocking in around 40 minutes (11 tracks, 39 minutes and change this go around), some slower paced tracks, one or two creepy psychotic murderer tracks and a couple short but sweet barn burners played at 900 miles an hour (that's 1,448 kph to our metric friends) and lots of, uh, spirited and chaotic solos that make GIT grads cringe.
Slayer is back with balls of steel.
Sure, Tom's voice sounds a little more time-ravaged on occasion, his bass is only slightly more audible than Jason Newsted's on ?And Justice For All after Lars raped it, and Kerry still writes the occasionally self-indulgent lyrics ("my scars - insane/my life - profane"), but the truth is they have been around the block many, many times - hell, they're older than most of your parents are - and they still thrash. Hard.
World Painted Blood is the best they've done, top to bottom, since, and perhaps including, Divine Intervention.
"Beauty Through Order" and "Playing With Dolls" are both the slower, longer, mid-paced tracks that build up over time, similar to older tracks like "Mandatory Suicide."
"Unit 731", "Psychopathy Red", "Hate Worldwide" and the wonderfully named "Public Display of Dismemberment" blaze along rapidly like "Sex. Murder. Art.", "Silent Scream", "Hallowed Point", or pretty much any of tracks 2-8 off Reign In Blood? and are Slayer at close to their ripping best.
And Dave Lombardo is still a beast. A fucking unstoppable beast.
Truthfully, this album, at least to me, is stronger top to bottom than 2006's Christ Illusion - only "Americon" seems like filler, and even classic Slayer albums have had their share of filler tracks, most notably Season In The Abyss ? to borrow from Mugatu in Derek Zoolander, "Blood Red? Expendable Youth? They're the same song! Doesn't anybody notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!"
The single biggest issue I have with it is the production. The same bearded guy who was involved with Metallica's Death Magnetic was involved with this one? and as with the most recent effort of their fellow Big Four compatriots, it is probably the most glaring flaw here as well. It's not as bad as the "turn everything up to 11, if it sounds like shit no one will notice because they'll be deaf" job done to DM, but WPB still is really thin sounding, particularly on low-E chugging riffs and Dave Lombardo's drumwork. As much as I dig what's going on behind the kit, the impact is just not there like it was in, say, "War Ensemble." Dear next thrash band to have he who shall remain nameless involved in the process? if he pokes his head in your studio during the recording process, please tazer his ass, wrap him in duct tape, deposit him in a storage locker with some crazed fan to baby sit him until the album is recorded, printed, shipped, and in stores. I don't even know if he really had a direct impact in either recording, but it is tough to believe it's more than coincidence and he makes a decent scapegoat.
In closing, it's Slayer. What on Earth did you think it would sound like?
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 6 |
Written on 11.11.2009 by
Written on 11.11.2009 by
BitterCOld has been officially reviewing albums for MetalStorm since 2009. Comments page 3 / 3
Comments:
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Posts: 697 Written by vezzy on 06.01.2012 at 17:22 Three years later, it's still a shitty album 
---- Old enough to be your Daddy... speaking of which... you look familiar... do I know your mother???
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Like the bit about Dave Lombardo being an unstoppable beast. Great drummer.
---- The sun shines over The Fool...
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Posts: 176 Written by Cynic Metalhead on 28.07.2012 at 07:34 People don't like to admit that Slayer is still the best oldest thrash band and no other band can raise above them. Jealousy.
---- What goes by is life to be taken The doom calls upon the forsaken
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Posts: 1150 Written by Himedal on 29.04.2013 at 10:55 There are many bands that can raise above them. However, it is true that they are the only one from the "big four" who are still worth a damn. (Although it might influence my opinion on this that I never really liked the other three anyways )
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Posts: 6209 Written by Uldreth on 30.04.2013 at 20:40 Thrash bands? I don't think so 
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Posts: 362 Written by Daniell on 06.05.2013 at 12:39 I love Slayer, but I think that the last few Testament, Exodus, and Overkill albums are better than anything Slayer has released in a long time.
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Posts: 6209 Written by Demonmayonnaise on 10.05.2013 at 20:55 I agree to some extent. "Ironbound" is better than "World Painted Blood", for example. But, first of all, I was referring to young, revivalist bands, while you're mentioning old bands, as old as Slayer. Secondly, Testament is a shitty band that released one great album ("The Legacy") a few decent ones ("New Order", "The Gathering"), and plenty of shitfests, with "Low", Demonic" and "Practice What You Preach" being total and utter crap.
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Posts: 362 Written by Daniell on 10.05.2013 at 22:40 I don't think that "Low", "Demonic", or "Practice What You Preach" were crap. "The Ritual" was a snooze fest. "Souls of Black" isn't good either. But "The Formation of Damnation" and "Dark Roots of the Earth" are both pretty awesome.
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Posts: 202 Written by Cynic Metalhead on 28.07.2012 at 07:34 Totally agree, don't know why people hate this album, for me it is very solid. It is imposible to think in a band releasing the same album they released 30 years ago. I like a lot this one and its previous one, i would give them an 8 to both of them
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| Angel Wolf
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Posts: 5630
The only later day Slayer album that impressed me. I enjoyed it a lot. 
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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I'm a die hard Slayer fan but this album is probably I would say my least favorite. This album sounds like it was really rushed/pushed for a release from the record label when it could have taken the time to be worked on to show more potential. I have seen videos on YouTube of Tom Araya talk about this album and himself didn't sound that exciting about this album and didn't really sell it. The production is horrible. Some of the worse Slayer songs are in this record. I mean if you listen to "Hate Worldwide" live and listen to it on this album, the sound is completely different because Slayer plays this song better live. "Playing With Dolls" is the absolutely worst Slayer song in its discography but that's my honest opinion. "American" is another one that's the worst in their discography. I'm sorry but politics lyrics like "It's all about the mother f*cking oil" is not selling me. For the fans of this album that love this album, I respect your love for it. I just wanted to share my thoughts and feelings about this album just like every metal fan deserves to.
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Posts: 7894 Written by SlayerMike213 on 19.05.2024 at 06:16 Die hard fan here too. Totally agree that this album was, "rushed and condensed. Even band agreed that it sounded out of the touch yet went ahead to produce it. Also a lot to do with Tom's sister batting cancer gave a nod to theme of the album." Took bits from King's interview while laying down the World Painted Blood. Personally, I didn't mind revisiting to WPB with many tracks saved in my playlist.
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