Slayer - World Painted Blood

Rating:

* * * *

There are considerable comparisons to be made between Slayer's tenth album and 1986's

Reign In Blood

- one of the best, if not the best, metal album ever made.

The blood of the title is one obvious similarity, even though "reign in blood" is a far more powerful image than doing a spot of painting with the thick red stuff.

Musically, songs like

Psychopathy Red

and

Snuff

are two of the best examples of how it harks back to '86 with drummer Dave Lombardo's excitable yet pummelling beats, frantic and frilly guitars smashing head on with chunkier, more harrowing and heavy riffs, and singer/bass player Tom Araya's diatribes ("killing is my future, murder is my future") still as potent. However, the essential ingredient

World Painted Blood

lacks is the imposing presence that emanated from

Reign In Blood

. Not surprising really, considering back then these four blokes were in their early to mid-20s, and the world's tolerance levels for this sort of music was far different.

Yet

World Painted Blood

is still powerful stuff. And as Slayer's recent live show in Auckland showed, they might be getting older but slowing down is not an option.

The title track possesses the most catchy and memorable galloping guitar riff they've come up with in years; the forboding beginning of

Human Strain

is chest-beating brilliance; and

Beauty Through Order

is a Slayer ballad if there is such a thing, as it rumbles and lurches into a smouldering groove.

Only

Americon

is forgettable, with a lethargic pace and Araya spouting on about living in a "land of deceit".

Come and live in New Zealand then.

World Painted Blood

gets better with further listening too, and starts becoming addictive - you won't be able to step out the door without a shot of

Snuff

, or

Hate Worldwide

.

Scott Kara