Slayer bashing. What’s up with that these days? If they’re not being hailed as the best metal band ever, it seems they’re everybody’s favorite whipping post. I myself don’t get it. Sure, their output over the past 15 years hasn’t always been of the greatest quality, but they’ve always undoubtedly been Slayer. Through cries of “sellout” and “nu metal rip offs” on Diablos In Musica (obviously the weak link in their storied back catalog, but not completely terrible) and God Hates Us All (a criminally underrated album) to “lackluster” and “phoned in” for their last, Christ Illusion (decent, but not the return to form others claimed it to be), they’ve always maintained their core sound, even if they did experiment a little. Already I’m hearing similar accusations in regards to their newest opus, World Painted Blood, and once again, I just don’t get it. After listening to it nearly 20 times, I can say without a doubt that this is easily their strongest material since 1994’s Divine Intervention.

For starters, Tom Araya sounds better and clearly more pissed than he has in years. His performances on “Snuff”, “Hate Worldwide”, “Psychopathy Red”, and “Not of This God” are downright menacing and outstanding. Some of his vocal patterns (“Snuff”, “Hate Worldwide”, “Public Display of Dismemberment”) are memorable enough to bore into your skull after just a couple spins. Musically, there is a return of ample blitzkrieg speed and intensity – “Unit 731”, “Snuff”, “Public Display of Dismemberment” (check out the absolute drum clinic Lombardo puts on here, blasts and all) and “Psychopathy Red” are stormers that might be the most brutally fast tracks they’ve penned since at least Seasons In the Abyss or maybe even before – and they’re not just fast, they’re altogether great Slayer songs that can easily stand up to the classics.

Though it’s not all raging speed – World Painted Blood is still a well balanced Slayer album. “Beauty Through Order” is a classic “haunting” Slayer track, akin to “Spill the Blood” or “Seasons In the Abyss”, with the eerie and slow buildup in the early parts, gradually working up to a blistering crescendo by tracks end. The title track and “Human Strain” are heavy handed, mid tempo stompers that are much more reminiscent of their more recent works, but work much better than here than in previous attempts.

The album is not without faults though. “Playing With Dolls” is probably the most hideous song I’ve ever heard on any Slayer album, period. The “plink plink plink plink” riff of the verses that attempts to be haunting or eerie just comes out annoying, destroying any listenability the chorus or later parts the song has to offer. “Americon” also comes up a bit short – another mid tempo type track that is short on ass kicking and long on plodding and going nowhere – ultimately, it’s just boring in comparison to the rest of the material here.

Many people will go into listening to this album with their mind made up already on whether they’re going to hate it or love it. For everyone else that may have given up on the band long ago, I’d suggest giving it a fair shot with a clear head – you might just be pleasantly surprised – I know I was.

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