Gerion рецы с метал-архивс.ком. Как видишь, реакции неоднозначные
Here we go again... – 15%
Written by droneriot on August 5th, 2006
Ex-squeeze me? A-baking powder? If this is supposed to be Slayer's return to the roots then we might as well accent the black album as the peak of Metallica's career, and my name is Willie Nelson, emperor of China and guardian of the seventh dimension. Shalom aleichem! Now hush to the chalkboard and write your one hundred "I really got to be kidding", because a commendable effort Slayer's newest offering most certainly is not, but as far from it as I am from being assigned to be the first astronaut on Jupiter's icy moon Europa. And bear in mind that for every future occurance of you claiming that reintroducing a few lead riffs again and laying off on the vocal distortion equals a revival of past glory I will personally slap your wrists with the ruler until they're red and blue. Thank you for your kind understanding, now let us proceed with the excruciatingly painful analysis of yet another album that should not be (pun intended).
Oh Slayer, you certainly shocked some of us with the dubious indulgences of your past two albums. Yes, of course, some of us managed to give you the benefit of the doubt, that you actually weren't just in it for the money but that you were genuinely inspired by the heaviness of the more aggressive sides of Nu-Metal, after all, downtuning, chunky one-chord groove thumping and distorted angsting are quite heavy on an extremely superficial level, and you always were quite a superficial band, right? Too bad giving you the benefit of the doubt didn't improve your past two efforts the least bit. And hey, you actually caught on to that and thought with Dave Lombardo back on board you'd go back to what you once excelled at and decided to release an album with angry undistorted yelling and actual Thrash leads again. But in all your excitement, wasn't there something you forgot? Oh whooops, yes, that's it, before releasing an album you actually have to write one first. How embarrassing. How easy some things just slip from an aging mind, eh? That's almost like going to work in the morning and discovering you forgot to put on any clothes. Now you are probably slapping yourselves in the forehead asking yourselves how the hell you could forget about that songwriting part, but now it's too late, the album is pressed and on its way into the stores, for everyone to hear that instead of writing new songs you accidentally recorded yourselves rehearsing old riffs again that you already used before, jamming in one or two slight variations here and there. But hey, not to worry, you have several advantages that might help salvage this accident after all. First, your old riffs still kind of work, and even if we have already heard them over fifteen years ago in far better songs they still do their job in one part or the other. Second, there is this whole new legion of kids that wouldn't know any Metal history past the release of "Vulgar Display of Power" you will most certainly be able to win over with this. And third, having a whole new set of lyrics over your old riffs might help obscure the blatant (and – as I'm still giving you the benefit of the doubt – hopefully accidental, as I described) self-recycling of this album. Of course, you managed to replace the viciously infernal themes of Satan and torture with some half-witted social commentary that makes Michael Moore look like advanced philosophy in comparison, but they are new lyrics, and that you at least managed to write anything new should count for something, eh?
Truly, I wish Slayer the best of luck in selling a million copies of this nonsense to the clueless teenage generation of today, it certainly is superficial enough, and what do these kids care that it's entirely worthless artistically? I myself will go on getting drunk listening to Jeff Hannemann's home demo, remembering the good old days when there was still some spirit left in Slayer.
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Welcome Back!! – 80%
Written by devilX on August 4th, 2006
During an interview conducted recently, Kerry King mentioned how Judas Priest is one of his favorite bands. He brought up how he didn't approve of the direction the band took on the album "Point of Entry", but when they returned to form on "Screaming for Vengence", all was forgiven. This was an obvious sign to me that Kerry was referring to his failed abortion known as "God Hates us All" and that he would right the ship with the latest Slayer release. For the most part, the bald angry bastard was right. I place "Christ Illusion" on the level of King's other masterpiece, the ugly "Divine Intervention". No, this is not a return of "classic" Slayer even though the legendary Lombardo is back to lay down the albums foundation. "Classic" Slayer is a band firing on all cylinders, Jeff "Heiniken" and Tom Araya are no where near as great as they used to be. Hanneman's song writing has been MIA in a drunken haze for years , and Tom vocals at times are comparable to a cat being ran over by an 18 wheeler . At this point, Kerry King IS Slayer, and he really fucking came through with this one. There are no songs that are total throwaways, some times there are annoying reminders of GHUA here and there, but for the most part King keeps that style in the shitter where it belongs.
Highlights
Flesh Storm – Opening riffs smack you right in the face, sort of in the same way that War Emsemble does. There's some great thrash breaks when the chorus comes in and when it finishes. Worthy opener you'd expect from Slayer.
Jihad – Not particularly devastating in the riff work, but catchy as hell vocals highlight this unique song concept. This is the only song on the album that really screams "Hanneman" . Solid solo into a spoken word outro that will convince you to join Al Qaeda upon first listen.
Consfearacy – Maniacal, thrash, workout. Nuff said.
Supremist – An interesting song for Slayer, it has Black Metal tendencies mixed with some devastating thrash riff work. The solo also fucking owns. Gets really ugly at the end, in a good way.
Slayer/Thrash fans in general, do I really have to say it? Get the damn album you pansies.
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Thrash Metal Lives On – 94%
Written by Absit_Omen on August 3rd, 2006
Sometime last week I was listening to some Reign In Blood tracks I have on my computer, and my friend noticed over msn, and informed me he had downloaded the latest Slayer album. I swiftly demanded the link and honestly prepared myself for an average album (hoping for something better than God Hates Us All to say the least), but was quite surprised with what I'd heard. Christ Illusion is the Slayer I've come to love. I don't know if I'd rank it equal to Reign In Blood or Seasons In The Abyss, but it's running closely behind such classics.
Still the same lyrical content, but with a vast improvement from the past few albums. Tom Araya is by far my favorite thrash vocalist and this album has reminded me why. He's kept his voice perfectly preserved over the years. He's still got the same thrashy speed, and the same shrieks. Not so much like Angel Of Death, but still incredible. Drums have made a massive improvement as well for anybody that's wondering about that. As well as that they can still dish out some badass solos on guitar. It's pure and complete thrash music.
This album is almost too good to be true after God Hates Us All. A must buy for any Slayer fans or just thrash metal fans in general. Slayer has proved that it's possible to keep it going strong after a career that spans over two decades.
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The best Slayer album in 12 years – 84%
Written by CannibalCorpse on August 2nd, 2006
Yeah, what we got here is the best album since Divine Intervention. Indeed, we all know Slayer's recent mallcore infested abominations, but Christ Illusion is the first step into the right direction.
The preceding single "Cult" showed a few good glimpses of the album, but didn't do it the deserved justice. "Cult" tended to sound like a watered down Divine Intervention at times, which obviously bothered many, even though it was an improvement over the quite hideous God Hates Us All.
Now, excuse me for not waiting until the album is released (which would be another week or so) but I tend to be careful with modern Slayer releases. Well, so I'm glad I bothered to check it out. Read on to find out exactly why.
The album starts with "Flesh Storm". Well, what an adequate title. It begins with a feedback, slowly fading into quite a thrash riff! No, it's not as fast as Reign in Blood, but it would easily fit onto Divine Intervention. Hey, who's drumming here? It sounds damn fine! Yeah, if you didn't hear it already, you must've been living under a rock for quite some time – Dave Lombardo is back. Now, I really enjoyed Paul Bostaph's drumming on Divine Intervention, but it's always nice to see some legends back in the band. Another improvement you'll be able to hear instantly is Tom Araya's voice. No stupid fucking around with dumb effects anymore, just an angry yell we haven't heard since...Seasons in the Abyss? Yeah. That's is quite an accomplishment for the old fellow.
The fast thrash riff leads us into a slower groovy riff with catchy vocal lines on top before the thrash reappears, but with a nice and short typical Slayer-solo added this time 'round! The song reaches it's climax with the solo on about 2:40. I'm sure you haven't heard solos like that in ages. It's fast, semi-melodic and still whammy-bar driven like in the early days. The song had quite an impact on me when I heard it first. No signs of mallcore to be found.
I was still afraid that they could let me down with the second song, "Catalyst". Well, I stopped worrying when I heard the intro. "Catalyst" starts with another nice thrash riff and leads into another short and pretty swell solo section. Hey, we only heard 5 minutes of new Slayer so far, and already 3 solos? Impressive. The song switches between nice single note thrashing and a few brooding, headbangable riffs. Catchy as fuck. Araya's vocals are very nice again, especially the passage starting around 2:20 is so catchy "You know what I know, no matter what you say, you've been beaten today, like every other day..." Trust me, you'll sing along with him after the second listen.
You shouldn't forget that Slayer released crappy albums before this. So you can't expect that their songwriting skills are suddenly entirely flawless again. A testament for this is sadly the next song:
"Eyes of the Insane"
From the beginning, something just doesn't sound right (except for Dave's drumming, which is especially stellar here). The song is very slow but it already becomes boring after the riff gets repeated for more than once. The real problem starts with what's supposed to be half of a "chorus". The "riff" underneath consists of a few rapidly changed power chords, which get repeated over and over. Maybe that is still a reminder of Kerry King's Slipknot worship before God Hates Us All was released. The only keeper in the song is the nice solo in the middle. As long as you ignore the supporting "riff" underneath. The song is not AS horrible as it might sound, but it's definitely a lot weaker than it's two preceding songs.
Too bad that the next weak song follows immediately after it. "Jihad" might already be known to some, because it could be heard somewhere (forgot where, to be honest). "Jihad" is better than "Eyes of the Insane". But not by a great margin. It consists of some faster half-thrash riffs. Half– thrash in the sense that the rhythm starts like thrash but ends on groove notes. Might work for early Pantera, but not quite for Slayer. It picks up towards the end and a nice solo comes in, while the ending is just a lead guitar riff with march drumming below and a speech sample on top. A mediocre song.
Luckily, Christ Illusion picks up again with the next song, "Skeleton Christ".
Its main riff is very groovy and headbangable and transcends into another thrash riffs shortly later, before the main riff returns with a short solo on top. They really brought back the solos on here. The song remains fairly strong until a nice riff changes the song quite a bit. It's again very catchy and the melody's quite infectious until another solo forces it's way into the song, and again – it's very welcome. The song ends with a nice groove and screaming leads on top. Nice finish.
Then it's time to THRASH again. "Consfearacy" starts in a high-speed manner and breaks into a fast solo almost immediately. Classic Thrash, Slayer style. The riffs in this one are among the best that the album has to offer; I'd say it's the most brutal and straightforward thrasher we heard yet on this album. Solo after solo follows, the riffs never slow down. The song is fast throughout, almost reaching Reign in Blood speed. No, I'm not kidding. "Consfearacy" surely's going to be another fan favourite.
Another midpaced track follows, but don't worry, "Black Serenade" is done right. The song's vocal lines and riffs are some of the catchier ones in the Slayer catalogue. Sometimes they switch into some serious thrashing, which happens mostly when a solo approaches. Like the one shortly after the minute mark. Great stuff. The overall speed reminds one of the slower tracks on Seasons in the Abyss for a bit.
"South of Heaven" follows. Oh, wait! No, the track is called "Catatonic". The lead guitar work on the song's intro could've been taken from "South of Heaven". You remember the "evil" atmosphere those leads had? Well, these are quite similar.
The riff that comes in at 2:30 sounds great alone already, but when Dave's drum patters follow shortly after, it really sounds HUGE. Then, another evil harmonized riff and "South of Heaven" calls again. The riff at 3:20 is moshpit worthy. If your neck doesn't break at this time, it probably never will. Three solos in this song. All are worth the praise. Great track.
"Cult" starts rather unspectacular. Then when the first "real" riff starts it sounds quite nice, but it's a bit watered down afterwards. A somewhat punkish interlude follows but turns into a second-rate thrash riff afterwards. Nowhere close to the riffage in the other thrash assaults we heard so far. The soloing is the best part of the song. Not the best solos on the album, but about average, which is quite good on this album. The song crawls along without any particular standouts, until the riff under the solo at about 3:20. The solo rules, as well as the riff underneath it. The song's worth it because of that short passage. Why this one was chosen as the initiate single is beyond me, but I'm glad they didn't take "Eyes of the Insane" or "Jihad" instead.
Well, but they kept the best goddamn song for the end. "Supremist" could have been on Reign in Blood. I'm not kidding. Listen to the damn thrash riff. It's fast as fuck, but something unique in the Slayer catalogue comes right after afterwards. The great riff is repeated again – with blastbeats underneath. I can't remember that Slayer had used this technique before (please correct me IF they did, but I don't think so), but it fits SO DAMN well into song! Some slower passages follow afterwards, mainly power chord driven, but very well done with great drumming in support. If that wasn't enough, a thrash break follows at 1:35, and it's devastating. It makes your neck snap and is followed by one of the best solos on the whole album and you can't help but get off your chair and thrash around like a maniac. After the solo, Tom screams "Must men take control of the weak!?" which leads us into a great slower, headbangable passage with soaring leads on top of it. It lasts until the end and closes the album in the best way possible.
The production is very nice overall. The online version of "Cult" had the guitars and drums toned down and the vocals and bass too upfront, which made a few fans afraid of how the production would turn out. Don't worry, it's a lot better than I expected. It's powerful, yet dirty and raw enough. Very fitting for a Thrash Metal release. I'd say it reminds me of typical 1990 thrash album production, which is indeed very fine.
What else is to say about Christ Illusion? Well, my expectations were easily topped and finally, these four guys seem to be in good shape again and don't sound like they want to retire anytime soon. I can only hope that Slayer will continue to release albums in this vein.
Overall, Christ Illusion is a mandatory listen for anyone who abandoned Slayer after Divine Intervention and for any thrash metal fan, be it modern or not. It's not flawless ("Eyes of the Insane" and "Jihad" come to mind) but shows many signs of their former glory.
Recommendations:
Flesh Storm, Catalyst, Consfearacy, Catatonic and Supremist.
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