JUSTIN’S METAL REVIEWS W/C 9/11/09
SLAYER / WORLD PAINTED BLOOD
The release of a new Slayer album is
always cause for a celebration, especially when it’s a good as this one, its
been 26 years since the first Slayer album came out, when Thrash was a new
genre and Slayer were one of the originators, after all these years the band
are not just turning out CD’s for the sake of it, they still sound as good as
ever and what’s more surprising, just as hungry.
The bands Thrash Metal is just as
aggressive, neck breaking and as full of angst as ever and the guys show no
sign of letting up, just listen to the glorious track “Public Display Of
Dismemberment”, tight, fast, antagonistic, with neck breaking riffs that would
get the most hardened headbanger Thrashing away like they were fitting. If your looking for a slower, more
deliberate, mid paced track then the
chopping riffs of “Human Strain” is what you’re looking for, the title track
“World Painted Blood” is nearly six minutes long but somehow still retains an
urgency that is undeniable. The biting,
social, political and religious commentary is still very much in abundance
here, check out the lyrics of “Americon”, “Not Of This God” or “Snuff” to see what
I mean.
Its good to know that Slayer 2009
are still very much a driving force in Metal and I for one hope that it will
continue, even though Tom Araya and Jeff Hannerman are far from being teenagers
they can still show the younger guys how is should be done, you can be sure
that I will be playing this to death on my Pipeline and Hfm Metal Mayhem shows
for some time to come, album of the year? Watch this space, there is not one
track on here that doesn’t deserve to be, this is without doubt the best Slayer
album for some time, ESSENTIAL BUY for any self respecting Metal fan.
WEBSITE http://www.slayer.net
TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 40 mins + 11
THRASHTASTIC TRACKS
If your looking for Technical Death
Metal that has no equals then look no further than this new CD by American band
Nile, everything we have come to know and love about the band are here in
abundance.
What sets Nile way above the
competition is the bands obsession with Egyptology, it give the band a focus
point the makes all of their albums have a cohesion that is often lacking in
others, just listen to the totally uncompromising opening track “Kafir”, just
short of 7 minutes of bone crushing Metal, obsessive, brutal and a pummelling
double bass sound that just dissent know when to quit. Throughout the album there are touches of
pure genius, like using traditional instruments and Egyptian chanting that just
adds so much authenticity to tracks like “The Eye Of Ra”, “Utterances Of The
Crawling Dead” or the superb “Permitting The Nobel Deed To Descend To The
Underworld”, no other band could do this and remain totally convincing, the
really do care that they get all the background information right, this even
goes as far as the booklet, that not only includes the lyrics to all the song s
but actual text translated into English that explains the background behind
songs like “Hittite Dung Incantation” so you know where it came from and the
thoughts behind them.
If you love Death Metal and don’t
know much about Nile, this their 6th album is a very good place to
start and that’s why it gets the Justin Case seal of approval and if you have
caught any of my shows on Hfm or Pipeline you will already have heard several
tracks.
WEBSITE http://www.nile-catacombs.net
& http://www.nuclearblast.de
TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 57 mins + 10
TRACKS