GUEST BLOGGER CHRIS KROVATIN REVIEWS SLAYER'S "WORLD PAINTED BLOOD"

Chris Krovatin is the author of the young-adult novels Heavy Metal & You and Venomous, as well as Revolvermag.com's “Final Six” blog. The latter book was the inspiration for Deadlocke, a one-shot published by Dark Horse Comics. His love of Slayer borders on the unhealthy, and, on occasion, the insane.

World Painted Blood, Slayer’s 11th full-length record, and the second since the return of the original Slayer lineup, is an exercise in looking inward. Each of the 11 tracks seem to be, musically and thematically, about nothing so much as Slayer. Where 2006’s Christ Illusion, their last album, sometimes smacked of a band trying too hard, World Painted Blood sounds comfortable. Tom Araya’s vocals sound earnest; he means what he’s screaming. Jeff Hanneman’s furious guitar tone rips through the faster numbers, but remains strong and unyielding during the album’s more dulcet moments. Dave Lombardo’s drumming sounds incredibly human in its own pummeling way. But in the end, this is guitarist Kerry King’s album—World Painted Blood’s introspective mix of furious rage and chilling atmospherics are King’s signature style, and his influence is splattered all over the record.

Nowhere is World Painted Blood’s self-awareness more prevalent than on the title track, which opens the record. The feedback and reversed vocals of the intro are pure Slayer, and the charging apocalyptic rhythm wastes no time in getting the listener in a Slaytanic mood. The guitar solo in the middle of the song is barely even a lead, more the awesome amalgam of the whinnies and crunches that Slayer solos are famous for. And Araya’s slow, menacing rant seems to embody everything Slayer songs are about—Satan, sin, insanity, warfare, rebellion—and is as creepy and apocalyptic as the rant that closes “Mandatory Suicide” from 1988’s South of Heaven.

The rest of the album follows suit. Thrasher-smashers “Unit 731” and “Public Display of Dismemberment” are as violent as the hideous crimes they detail, and “Snuff” and “Not of This God” use strange vocal patterns and epic lyrical themes to bring the listener right alongside the band on their journey through the end of the world. “Beauty Through Order” and “Playing With Dolls” are eerie doom machines that employ some of the band’s most original guitar and drum work to date. “Hate Worldwide,” meanwhile, seems to be a Slayer battle cry, and, as such, overflows with fist-pumping metal reverence. And though the album has its problems—“Americon” could have better lyrics, and “Human Strain” sounds like it was written for Slipknot—there’s cohesive vision that runs throughout the entire record that makes these errors easily forgivable.

Kerry King has often stated publicly that Slayer will not simply keep playing forever—sooner or later, the band will be over. If so, this would be an awesome album to end a career on (not that this reporter wants it to be the last Slayer album, simply that he would be OK with that). Gruesome yet thoughtful, furious yet intelligent, World Painted Blood is an overall triumph from a band that many write off as over the hill.

Revolver also reviewed World Painted Blood in our November issue, limited quantities of which are still available here. Our “Book of Slayer” special issue, which features a hidden zombie-fied photo of Chris Krovatin (if you can find him), is available here.