Slayer
World Painted Blood

In 2006, "Christ Illusion" created great anticipation among all of us; a reunion with Dave Lombardo, a new album after five years since "God Hates Us All", which for me represents the pinnacle of Slayer in the new millennium, giving a modern, more macabre image of themselves. "Christ Illusion" diverged significantly from its predecessor and ultimately turned out to be a synthesis of what is the Slayer style.

Now, in 2009, we are faced with "World Painted Blood," an album that, honestly, we don't know how to take, and perhaps it was an album not absolutely necessary. But all in all, these are Slayer, one of the groups whose name is synonymous with Metal, so something good must come out with their mark... or not?

I have always been a strong supporter of Jeff Hanneman's tracks, which, in recent works, have always provided a certain originality to his songs, unlike Kerry King, who, despite having written excellent tracks in the past, in recent years often reveals himself to be too one-dimensional and short of ideas. Except for a few exceptions, this album seems to confirm my idea.

The album itself brings no great innovation, even if of the eleven tracks present on the album, few find their originality, others partly evoke past works, while the rest are dull fillers.

Among the tracks that have their originality, there are very few, including "Human Strain" and "Playing With Dolls", which have a character of their own. While others can be interesting Slayer-like tracks such as "World Painted Blood", "Beauty Through Order", and "Hate Worldwide", even though often enough, they fall into banality and repetitiveness. Other pieces we already knew like "Psychopathy Red" and "Americon", which essentially feel like fillers, but perhaps just more catchy than other pieces on the album. Almost all the others are fillers with monotonous riffs, some more or less varied.

The album may seem appetizing to the most die-hard fans, but the fact that on an album with eleven tracks, five or six are salvageable is a clear sign that the band bearing the Metal standard is nearing retirement. They have had a respectable career, but probably if they continue on this path, now at the limits of creativity, they will end up tarnishing themselves.