Slayer - Christ Illusion
Let's be honest here. Slayer hasn't had a truly classic album since "South of Heaven" way back in 1988. That's not to say they haven't written some great songs since then but there hasn't been an album that, song for song, can stand up to their early work. "Christ Illusion" is no exception. It has its moments but fails, like so many before it, to be the comeback album fans have been patiently waiting for upwards of two decades. Like the few albums before it, judging "Christ Illusion" is really a matter of deciding how many degrees off from their past masterpieces it is. If your favorite aspects of Slayer's songwriting are the same as mine, it turns out to be quite a few.
Of course there's no huge shift in style and they haven't slowed down a bit so there's no need to start waving the sell out flag just yet. The basic songwriting approach remains the same, fast and furious thrash with a hardcore vibe, but for various reasons Slayer has failed to create more than a handful of strong songs in the five years between albums. Like most of their late period work, there's familiar echoes of Slayer's rich back catalog shining through in various parts of this new crop of tunes but, also like so many of their later period albums, these moments are fleeting. Just as a smile crosses your face as you're thinking "that sort of sounds like Chemical Warfare" or something off "Reign In Blood" you lose it just as quick as they veer off course. The one exception is "Cult" which, despite its slow take off and mediocre slowdown in the middle passage, almost manages to capture the unbridled fury of their best work. So although "Cult" comes close, their inability to write a straight forward groove heavy thrash song to rival their early output remains steadfastly in place here.
I brought up the groove heavy description for a reason. This is the area where I felt most let down. This is the first Slayer album I can remember to not have at least a few big thrash grooves to bite your teeth into. Instead their best rhythm riffs tend to get trampled by overzealous solos which, as any fan knows, are always slight variations of the same theme. One example is part way through "Consfearacy", where my favorite riff of the album pops up only to be overrun by a solo from start to finish. What should have been the centerpiece head banging moment of the song, if not the entire album, is drowned out by whammy bar heavy wanking. Another needless sacrifice is on "Supremist". After a killer teaser riff, a chunky groove just waiting to unleash is wrapped up tight under the cover of more needless solos. Burying their best grooves, a pillar of Slayer's sound, under me-too solos was a huge mistake, weakening otherwise good songs with the most generic and predictable part of Slayer's songwriting style.
The other area I felt let down was the overall sound and direction of the album. For better or worse, this is arguably the first Slayer record to not have a totally distinct sound from the others. From the guitar tone to the songwriting style (right down to the slow spoken word style songs), to the lyrical content, "Christ Illusion" is extremely similar to "God Hates Us All" only not quite as memorable. The guitars are a tad thicker and it's a bit faster in certain areas but if you had never heard "God Hates Us All" and you had these two albums on random shuffle you would be hard pressed to tell the difference beyond the set of superior songs on the prior album.
There are some good songs on here, notably the three mentioned above, but none of these top the best songs on their last album and certainly nothing from their previous work. I'm sure a lot of people will prefer the speed and aggressiveness of some of the songs found here over some past material but the lack of big thrash grooves kills it for thrash hounds like me. So, at least in my book, "Christ Illusion" is going to anchor the bottom rung on the Slayer album hierarchy, regardless if Dave is back behind the kit or not.
Of course there's no huge shift in style and they haven't slowed down a bit so there's no need to start waving the sell out flag just yet. The basic songwriting approach remains the same, fast and furious thrash with a hardcore vibe, but for various reasons Slayer has failed to create more than a handful of strong songs in the five years between albums. Like most of their late period work, there's familiar echoes of Slayer's rich back catalog shining through in various parts of this new crop of tunes but, also like so many of their later period albums, these moments are fleeting. Just as a smile crosses your face as you're thinking "that sort of sounds like Chemical Warfare" or something off "Reign In Blood" you lose it just as quick as they veer off course. The one exception is "Cult" which, despite its slow take off and mediocre slowdown in the middle passage, almost manages to capture the unbridled fury of their best work. So although "Cult" comes close, their inability to write a straight forward groove heavy thrash song to rival their early output remains steadfastly in place here.
I brought up the groove heavy description for a reason. This is the area where I felt most let down. This is the first Slayer album I can remember to not have at least a few big thrash grooves to bite your teeth into. Instead their best rhythm riffs tend to get trampled by overzealous solos which, as any fan knows, are always slight variations of the same theme. One example is part way through "Consfearacy", where my favorite riff of the album pops up only to be overrun by a solo from start to finish. What should have been the centerpiece head banging moment of the song, if not the entire album, is drowned out by whammy bar heavy wanking. Another needless sacrifice is on "Supremist". After a killer teaser riff, a chunky groove just waiting to unleash is wrapped up tight under the cover of more needless solos. Burying their best grooves, a pillar of Slayer's sound, under me-too solos was a huge mistake, weakening otherwise good songs with the most generic and predictable part of Slayer's songwriting style.
The other area I felt let down was the overall sound and direction of the album. For better or worse, this is arguably the first Slayer record to not have a totally distinct sound from the others. From the guitar tone to the songwriting style (right down to the slow spoken word style songs), to the lyrical content, "Christ Illusion" is extremely similar to "God Hates Us All" only not quite as memorable. The guitars are a tad thicker and it's a bit faster in certain areas but if you had never heard "God Hates Us All" and you had these two albums on random shuffle you would be hard pressed to tell the difference beyond the set of superior songs on the prior album.
There are some good songs on here, notably the three mentioned above, but none of these top the best songs on their last album and certainly nothing from their previous work. I'm sure a lot of people will prefer the speed and aggressiveness of some of the songs found here over some past material but the lack of big thrash grooves kills it for thrash hounds like me. So, at least in my book, "Christ Illusion" is going to anchor the bottom rung on the Slayer album hierarchy, regardless if Dave is back behind the kit or not.
