Metal Reviews

Well, I listened to Christ Illusion just now on Myspace and would now like to post a Track-By-Track review of the album. And forgive me if it isn't very in-depth since this IS my first time listening to it.

Flesh Storm - Wow! This has to be one of the best Slayer songs in years. A lightning-fast tempo, some great vocals, and killer guitar work result in a Slayer song that finally matches their work pre-Divine Intervention.

Catalyst - Here's where things start to go awry. The riffs are good and the song is fairly fast. But then Tom Araya opens his mouth. His screaming in this song sounds so forced it's almost laughable. It's not bad enough to ruin the song, but certainly enough to take notice.

Eyes Of The Insane - A "heavy metal march," if you will. This is probably the most nu-metal sounding song on the album with its slightly "rappy" groove. Though to be fair, Criminally Insane off RIB had a similar groove - except much better. Decent song, if nothing truly spectacular.

Jihad - Okay, if you hated God Hates Us All, you'll definitely hate this song. It sounds almost EXACTLY like Cast Down. And since Cast Down wasn't one of the better songs on GHUA, that isn't necessarily a good thing. On the plus side, I do like its breakdown towards the end. Particularly, Tom's vocals during that breakdown are surprisingly good.

Skeleton Christ - Fortunately, things pick back up with this South Of Heaven-esque song. A nice, almost jazzy guitar melody gives way to a riff that sounds very similar to the heavier riffs in Spill The Blood. The guitar solo is great (reminds me of the solo in Silent Scream), as are Tom's verses. Great all around song.

Consfearacy - Another great! There are tons of key-changes and at least 16 different riffs crammed into this 3 minute songs. Dave Lombardo's drumming absolutely kills, as do Tom's vocals. Excellent song!

Catatonic - Here's where we get back into the GHUA groove. And as with the previous two GHUA-style songs, this one falls into the "not bad but a little bland" catagory. It's just too slow and plodding after the previous song. And Tom's vocals are a little boring. Listenable, but nothing I'd want playing in my head on a regular basis.

Black Serenade - Now we're back to the Diabolus In Musica style. And being one of the few people who liked that album, this is not a bad thing. A nice groove during Tom's verses and two surprisingly good solos (remeniscent of a mix between the solos for Bitter Peace, God Send Death, and Dittohead). Good song.

Cult - I've already posted my thoughts on this song numerous times. But I'll post them again. Excellent opening riff. One of the best on the album. Then Dave's drumming comes in and the song sounds a bit like Anthrax's Keep It In The Family. The the song speeds up and Tom's vocals come in. His (well actually, Kerry King's) lyrics are stupid, but his actual screaming is pretty good. Nice Divine-Intervention style solo in the middle.

Supremist - This is probably the first time Slayer's ever used blast beats. That alone warrants some points. I like the way the song shifts between fast and furious and slow and heavy (it even sounds almost tribal in parts). Unfortunately, the slower groove towards the end is a rather disappointing conclusion as it basically brings us back to that whole God Hates Us All style of mid-tempo groovers with little variation and heart.

Overall, despite my criticisms, I'm very pleased with the new Slayer album. There are a lot of great songs, a lot of decent songs, and no real "bad songs." It seems like Slayer wanted to make this album a sort of retrospective of everything they've done since Reign in Blood - a little bit of every album from then on can be heard throughout the music (unfortunately, God Hates Us All seems to be the album most referred to). One minor complaint I have is the album's shortness. After making us wait almost FIVE YEARS for a new album, you would think Slayer would have more than just ten rather short songs. Surely, this isn't all they've written over the last five years. Nonetheless, this is a solid Slayer album and certainly an improvement over God Hates Us All.

Overall Score: 86/100

Killing Songs: Flesh Storm, Skeleton Christ, Confearacy.

I love the lyrics to Cult. They're so endearingly predictable, and so blatant that they pass "cheesy" and swing right the way back round to "teh awesome!". It's like "you think YOU hate religion? WELL SLAYER HATES IT WAY MORE THAN YOU, YOU LOSER. YOUR RELIGION HATRED IS PUNY COMPARED TO KERRY KING'S, WEAKLING. YOU MAY AS WELL PACK YOUR BAGS AND HEAD OFF TO BIBLE CAMP RIGHT NOW, JUST SO SLAYER CAN COME AFTER YOU AND CALL YOU A WHORE. THEN THEY WILL SHOVE A CRUCIFIX RIGHT UP YOUR ASS".

well your review was pretty good and as i said in the other thrad, I can not wait until Tuesday.

Wort!

I hate the way that nowadays metal bands have to be thoughtful imaginative inventive and technical to be accepted. Give me some speed stupidity and a good mosh riff anyday. Oh, and a nice old solo.

I couldnt agree with you more. I think with Slayer being so mainstream popular nowadays, and then releasing this good old school (at times) sounding cd we could see a even brighter future for thrash...

I have to admit this: I have never listened to a full Slayer album. There was this complete jackass in high school and our convos would go like this.

Me: Ever heard of Savatage, just recently gotten into them, pretty good shit. *Hands him discman and plays Commissar*

Him: *After 5 seconds* fuckin gay, it has a piano, gay y shit muh fugga shit gay shit ass titty fuck gay gay gay. SLAYER!! RAARRR!! SLAYER!!! DUNNNN DUND UND UND UDJD N SLAYER BITCH LISTEN TO.... SLAAAAAAAYERRRRRRR!!!!

After so many situations like that it seriously turned me off of ever listening to this band, I know its silly to think like that, but this guy pissed me off soooooo much.

Anyways, I did hear a few random songs from GHUA, thought they sucked.

And now I bring you to the point of this post, I just listened to the whole new album by Slayer and I like it, its not great, buts its good. My score upon first listen would be 6.5/10.

EDIT: Killing songs: Flesh Storm, Cult, Supremist.

savatage rocks. owns. pwns. kicks butt. whatevers. new yorks.

Aweseome story. Now go listen to Reign in Blood, fag.

or South of Heaven or Seasons in the Abyss or even older Show No Mercy or Hell Awaits, can't go wrong with any of those.

If Slayer could have dropped the core-ism of GHUA but kept the agression and mixed it with the good riffs of this album it could have been monumental. Still not very bad, but not very good either.

Dave Lombardo doesn't really show his full capacity in this album, which sucks.

I don't get it. Slayer's lyrics have always been pretty stupid, if not slightly cool on occasion. Araya's vocals have always had one setting. He's never been a showcase for dynamics! And Lombardo doesn't write any of the music, don't let the speedy double-bass make the riffs seem "old school." I'm at work now so I may have the wrong song, but isn't it "Catalyst" that has the riffs that sound like System Of A Down's "Sugar?"

Either way, I think this album is a great album. A solid 80 or 85/100.

God, when I first heard Savatage it was the song "Gutter Ballet." Leeeeeeee probably heard "Hall Of The Mountain King" first, but "Commisar?" You guys are young! :shock:

Ha.

Yeah, started getting into metal in 2001 when I was 16. Hall of The Mountain King is my fav Sava album however if that means anything.

Anyways, so I dont derail this thread into a convo about a better band I will say this: Slayer.