Stardate 11/28/2024 08:38 

When I first listened to this I have to be honest and say that I thought that it was the absolute WORST Slayer release out of their entire discography. But upon repeated listens to and reading over the lyrics this album has seemed to grow on me. I'll always deem 'Reign In Blood' (1986) to be their overall best album ever but 'Christ Illusion' isn't that bad even though to me in the first couple of listens I thought that they sounded tired, lacked innovation, and overall 10 boring tracks.

Some people have blatantly uttered that Tom Araya's vocals are their worst ever. I disagree with that he's 45 and to me still kicking ass with his vocals/bass efforts. He still utters aggressive vocals to these hate filled lyrics written mostly by Kerry King as are pretty much all of the songs. Araya to me will always be a kick ass front-man for Slayer. Not only does he scream relentlessly there is some variety in the vocals in that there are some spoken words and less aggressive throat when appropriate.

Both guitarists sound like they slowed down some on their leads... Jeff Hanneman used to be more technical and I remember reading a Slayer article years ago that he said he wanted it to be written on the songs whose lead was whose so that there wouldn't be any confusion as to who to me was better in this department. Jeff would probably hate to hear that I'm saying this but it seems that he's slowed down some. Kerry is at about the same that he's been but a bit slowed down as well.

The fact that Dave Lombardo is still behind the drum set will always be a great commodity to Slayer because to me he's always seemed to layout the best drum tracks more so than Paul Bostaph ever has been able to put forth. On this release the drum tracks are a bit slowed down just to mesh well with the guitar tracks. He was right though back in the 80's (with a few caveats) when he said that Slayer will never change their style of music.

The guitars here are tuned down some making the tracks seem a little heavier even though the tempos are less intense. There are some songs on here that start off sounding pretty weak which then end up to actually dominate! One example here is the track 'Cult'. It starts off with a muddy slow slightly distorted guitar but ends up being a pretty kick ass song rhythmically. Of course also Araya utters some anti-Christian lyrics on this song as well.

I think that the future of Slayer writing more than 2-3 albums following this release are slim. Araya already uttered his age (45) and that Slayer is going to call it quits soon. 'Christ Illusion' is their 9th studio release so yes they are aging but the legacy of Slayer will always live on. They've for the most part have stayed true to their thrash metal roots and anti-Christian stance on songwriting even though they are not Satanists.

What I'd like to utter lastly would be that with Rick Rubin's help on the production the songs have been well laid out as in most previous releases as well. My favorite tracks would have to be: 'Flesh Storm', 'Skeleton Christ', 'Catatonic' and 'Catalyst'. Get this release and to hear some kick ass thrash metal!!!

Rating: 7½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Death8699
04/07/2007 11:06


Legendary, beloved thrash metal kings from California served dark, insane music for years: Since their inception in 1981 to those dark MTV channel tarnished years of 1990s. The band soldiered on without getting involved with modern humph up to 1998, when they fell, probably due to pressure from their record company or manager, and released the first true modernized album, 'Diabolus in Musica'. While the next album, 2001's 'God Hates Us All', was more brutal, it simply was an empty shell of once all-ravaging band.

Maybe Slayer noticed this, too, because the follow-up 'Christ Illusion' is a return, at least a partial one, to early times of rage and mayhem. I hate the term "comeback album". Well, no band can delete their dirty deeds. Most of them old Californian bands that were the first and second waves of thrash metal, turned into something different at some point. Metallica, Megadeth, Death Angel, Forbidden, and the list goes on... Plus Exodus and Testament on lesser extent. I got a strange trait: I can enjoy these steps out of box like no tomorrow, but I never enjoyed 'Diabolus in Musica' or 'God Hates Us All'. I kind of lost my interest after fine 1994 album 'Divine Intervention'.

Anyway, let's get to 'Christ Illusion'. What a nice title the album carries. It's weird to hear Christian Tom Araya sing lines on 'Cult' such as: "The pestilence is Jesus Christ; There never was a sacrifice; ...; Beware the cult of purity; Infectious imbecility..." And from 'Skeleton Christ': "Because you'll never see the second coming; Life's too short to be focused on insanity; I'll take the devil any day; Hail Satan." These both were written by guitarist Kerry King, who seems to have different opinions, then. Araya writes about insanity, killers and jihad. Araya's voice is almost like it was back in 1980s; maybe not quite as rabid, and high-pitched screams are missing. He has unique tone. He shouts and uses clean voice. He still packs quite a lot of power.

Thinking about the music here, it's a collage of the band's music from 1990s. The sharp guitar tones of King and late Jeff Hanneman are in action here, as is rather unique, organic drumming style of Dave Lombardo. Yes, it was the classic lineup behind this one. The guitars are also more down-tuned at times, losing their nastiness and sounding more muddy (e.g. 'Skeleton Christ'). The modern stop-and-go riffing was applied, among familiar machine-gun shred. Warped "lottery" soloing is present, of course. 'Flesh Storm' heavily reeks of 'Seasons in the Abyss's (1990) opener 'War Ensemble', 'Catalyst' like something from 'Divine Intervention', and then it's time for groovier pieces akin to 'Diabolus in Musica'.

However, the songwriting proves to be stronger than on 'Diabolus...', at least mostly. 'Jihad' features a Rage Against The Machine-y guitar sounds intro, which should have been scrapped. The song gets much better when the fast action begins! Fast is what Slayer handles here better than those mid-paced moments, even though heavy 'Catatonic' proves to be quite a neck-breaker. Its guitar solo has certain 'South of Heaven' era (1988) vibe to it, so the band dug into earlier times, too. 'Confearacy' has some of the best riffs from the band since 'Divine Intervention'; it's so good to notice, that there still was dry powder in these guys. 'Cult' poses that evil guitar melody work, which is not happening much at all in the band's songs. In all, this feels both pleasantly dated and still recurrent.

The production is what's expected: Dry and rawish. The instruments are easily distinguishable. The louder it's played, better it sounds. Slayer's sound never has been my favourite, but those who enjoy it should be happy with this outcome. Distressing, ugly Larry Carroll "evil Monty Python" cover art makes anticipated comeback. Shit, it really didn't feel like it was 2006 when this came out!

Slayer sounds nothing but Slayer (minus the appalling intro of 'Jihad'). And this time around the band really did not disappoint. Surely it's insanely hard to contrast this to old classic albums. On its own it is good, but when comparing, it's just okay. However, this shows that old perpetrators can still do it (unlike Sepultura for a prime example).

Rating: 7 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
12/29/2017 12:15

Related websites:
The official Slayer website :: www.slayer.net
American Recordings website :: www.americanrecordings.com

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Slayer
(USA)

album cover
Christ Illusion
1. Flesh Storm (04:14)
2. Catalyst (03:07)
3. Skeleton Christ (04:22)
4. Eyes of the Insane (03:23)
5. Jihad (03:31)
6. Consfearacy (03:07)
7. Catatonic (04:54)
8. Black Serenade (03:16)
9. Cult (04:40)
10. Supremist (03:51)
= 00:38:25
American Recordings 2006

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