Talking Points Memorandum Re: Slayer’s Christ Illusion

by paul r jaissle

August 8th, 2006, saw the release of the newest album by noted thrash metal band Slayer, their first in 5 years. Since most music fans disregard Slayer as yet another group of testosterone-fueled metal thugs who appeal to speedfreaks or juvenile delinquents, its important to remind readers that Slayer, much like AC/DC, the Ramones and Motorhead, are a wholly unique musical group who have spent their 20+ year career tirelessly perfecting their own brand of speedy, evil sounding thrash metal that is both reliable and endlessly exciting, this sentence never seems to end.

Anyway, in order to fully appreciate Slayer and their many joys (some of which actually appear on their newest album), the following points should be considered:

--Christ Illusion is Slayer’s first album with the complete original line-up since 1990’s Seasons in the Abyss. Seasons, incidentally, was also the last consistently interesting album the band released.

--Drummer Dave Lombardo returned to the band after leaving in the early 1990s, which is great since his presence was sorely missed on the albums the group recorded without him.

--Slayer’s last album, God Hates Us All, was released on September 11th, 2001. This fact has absolutely no bearing on the new album, but every single review of it seems to mention it. Conspiracy? Definitely.

--While God Hates Us All was, aside from a few tracks, a record devoid of guitar riffs that sounded like an attempt at the sort of chugging metal-core that the kids love these days, Christ Illusion sticks closer to the sort of angry, speedy thrash that the group perfected on 1985’s Hell Awaits and 1986’s Reign in Blood. Both of those albums remain landmark heavy metal recordings that any self-respecting music fan with even the slightest passing interest in metal should own and play at full volume every morning or while sacrificing a virgin on the alter of a desecrated church.

--Musically, Christ Illusion is the band’s strongest album since Seasons in the Abyss, but that should be expected now that Lombardo is back in the band. However, Slayer has finally figured out how to combine the thrash of the older albums with the sounds of newer (not nu) metal bands they’ve been touring with. While the results don’t always work, they are better than the riff-less attempts on God Hates Us All.

--Lyrically, Slayer are still Slayer. The songs here never stray from the traditional topics of war and religion, but they are much more blunt and seem to have lost interest in the sort of cartoony, Venom-style Satanism that made Reign in Blood a party favorite. Interestingly, the straight forward nature of the lyrics reveal a Slayer that is not only anti-religion, but anti-war and anti-government more so than on their previous albums.

As far as the individual tracks are concerned, they are as follows:

--“Flesh Storm” is reminiscent of the classic “War Ensemble” on Seasons: a graphic description of the violence of war that shows just how stupid and tragic blind allegiance really is. As singer Tom Araya (who sounds better on this album then he has in years) explains at the end, “Here the only law is men killing men for someone else’s cause,” Slayer may be fascinated by violence, but they realize the tragedy of war. Damn, bleedin’ heart liberals.

--“Catalyst” is apparently a track left over from God Hates Us All. Sounds like it. It’s fast and thrashy, sure, but ultimately not very memorable.

--“Skeleton Christ” demonstrates how to combine the classic Slayer sound with newer metal ideas. After a mid-tempo (for Slayer) martial beat and thrash speed chorus, the song shifts to a big, slow, chugging metal riff that is simplistic, but oh so effectively heavy. Lyrics? “I laugh at the abortion that is Christianity/I’ve seen the works of God/I’ll take the Devil any day, Hail Satan.” It’s a love song.

--“Eyes of the Insane.” Another anti-war song. This one’s about post-traumatic stress disorder. Musically, it aims at the sort of slow, moody “evil” sound. Not really great, but Lombardo’s furious drum work at the end of the song keep it interesting.

--“Jihad” is the token “controversy” song. Much like “Angel of Death” on Reign in Blood, which offers a first-person account of Nazi death camp atrocities, “Jihad” looks at the September 11th attacks through the eyes of the plane hijackers. What’s actually more interesting than that is the music, which again alternates from a break-neck speed chorus to a slower, punishing riff while Tom shouts “This is God’s war!” The song ends with a martial snare beat while Tom Araya recites the words of Mohammad Atta, but really the lyrics and attitude could easily apply to the Amerikan war on Afghanistan and Iraq as well. Oh, and there’s lots of those manic, atonal guitar solos like on Reign in Blood.

--“Consfearacy,” along with “Jihad” is one of the better songs here. Just as fast as the thrash of Reign in Blood, but with enough experimentation to avoid sounding like a re-tread. Dave Lombardo’s drumming takes center stage here, with big swelling drum fills that propel to chorus. It’s a pretty straightforward anti-Bush song, although the line “I hate the shit economy/It might as well be sodomy” might be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.

--“Catatonic” sounds like its title suggests: slow and monotonous.

--“Black Serenade” is an attempt at the slow, eerie sound of the classic “Dead Skin Mask.” And it’s about a serial killer, just like that song. But, it is much less spooky or memorable than “Dead Skin Mask.” Not terrible, an interesting chorus. I’m glad Dave is back in the band, because normally boring tracks like this are worth sitting through to hear his always unique drum fills.

--“Cult” is the album’s first single. Starts with a cool clean guitar riff before Dave kicks the song into a slow groove that eventually breaks into a thrashy riff as speedy as anything on Reign in Blood. The lyrics seem to be about some superstitious cult called Christianity (I think Mel Gibson made a movie about it): “Religion is hate/Religion is war…The pestilence is Jesus Christ/There never was a sacrifice…I’ve made my choice: 666.” It’s another love song.

--“Supremist” is the strongest track on the album: the fastest riff on any Slayer album I’ve heard (Dave Lombardo is actually playing a blast beat at one point!) builds in speed and anger until the whole thing breaks into the slowest, heaviest riff on the album. Again, Slayer prove that you really can teach old metal-heads new tricks without sacrificing what made them great in the first place. One big, cathartic slab of metallic brilliance.

Christ Illusion is certainly a far cry from the classic Slayer thrash of old, but that was 16 years ago, and this album is at least as interesting as any other metal band out today. If you’re a Slayer fan who hasn’t pick this up yet, I recommend it. If you’re not a Slayer fan, buy Reign in Blood first, then try this one. Not a great album, but a lot more memorable than I was expecting. Possible ratings would be 7.5 on a 10 point scale, 666 on a 1000 point scale, or 3.5 pentagrams out of 5.