Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 21/08/06
Label: American

Charles Shaar Murray once wrote that judging a guitar solo on how fast it's played is like judging a novel by how fast it was typed. Armed with this observation, one could damn 95 per cent of all heavy metal records, and though a few purists might spare Slayer's mid-'80s meisterwork "Reign In Blood", few could raise an argument in support of the ridiculous "Christ Illusion".

Talk to any metal fan and they'll enthuse about Slayer being "the heaviest" metal band, reminding you of "Spinal Tap"'s opening sequence, where Marty DiBergi solemnly proclaims the Tap "England's loudest band". Anyone looking for evidence that there's more to Slayer than sheer volume would struggle to find it in "Christ Illusion", a record that continues the work of 2001's "God Hates Us All" in seeking to bring religion to its knees by bellowing lots of crass slogans composed, it seems, with the help of a rhyming dictionary. Take the first track, "Flesh Storm", which offers this biting insight: "It's all just psychotic devotion / Manipulated with no discretion." Sure. If you're going to exhibit psychotic devotion, you should at least do so with some discretion. That makes sense.

The problem Slayer face is this: if you insist on trying to impress the listener with your cleverness, it helps if at least one of you has read some books and can form whole sentences. All the evidence suggests "Christ Illusion" to be the work of pseudo intellectuals: no opportunity to misuse a multi-syllabic word is missed; the vocal delivery is pompous and bombastic; and none of the songs offer a message deeper than "We don't like religion very much" or "We don't like war (but have a pornographic interest in its imagery)". If you seek thought-provoking discourse on the evils of religion, stay the hell away from this record and watch a Richard Dawkins documentary instead.

But what about the music, man? After all, the vocalist is always the most dispensable member of a heavy metal band and lyrics generally a mere afterthought, even if their author does fancy himself as the new Aleister Crowley. Sadly, however, Slayer ran out of musical ideas a long time ago. "Christ Illusion" for the most part consists of leaden, grinding sludge devoid of any urgency or malevolence. There's lots of breakneck stick-work from original drummer Dave Lombardo, who in 2002 rejoined after 10 years away, and every track is adorned with a dizzyingly convoluted guitar solo that is likewise delivered at lightning speed. But then you think back to Murray's famous observation and you wonder: so what?

    by Niall O'Keeffe