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Nov 3, 20227 min read

Slayer - World Painted Blood (2009)

FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…



On November 3, 2009, Slayer released their eleventh full-length studio album World Painted Blood via American Recordings / Sony Music.


The album was produced by Greg Fidelman and executively produced by Rick Rubin. It is the band's only album produced by Greg Fidelman and the last with guitarist Jeff Hanneman (R.I.P.). With much anticipation for the album after 2006's Christ Illusion, members of Slayer began revealing information about the album beginning in early 2009.


Background:

There were four different sets of artwork released for the album, each of which completed one-fourth of a map that when put together illustrates the earth painted with red. There are eleven tracks on the album, with origins illustrating death and destruction, war, serial killers, and the Apocalypse. It is the band's first studio album to be played mostly in E-flat tuning since Divine Intervention (1994). World Painted Blood is the final Slayer studio album to feature their full original lineup with drummer Dave Lombardo before he departed from the band, and guitarist Jeff Hanneman before his death, both in 2013. It is also the band's final album to be released through American Recordings, as well as the final collaboration between Slayer and label owner Rubin, who had worked with the band as their producer or executive producer since Reign in Blood (1986).


Three singles were released from the album: Psychopathy Red, Hate Worldwide, and World Painted Blood. Psychopathy Red leaked onto the internet over a year before its release, and was released as a seven–inch single on April 18, 2009. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics. It was praised by The A.V. Club, who said that the "resounding success in that regard: It's eclectic, but never self-consciously so." Hate Worldwide and World Painted Blood were both nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 52nd and 53rd Grammy Awards, respectively. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums chart, as well as No. 12 on the Billboard 200 and No. 41 on the United Kingdom album chart.


World Painted Blood marked the first time that the band wrote material in the studio rather than entering the studio fully prepared with lyrics. The fact that they were not prepared made guitarist Kerry King skeptical. King related: "I was kind of thinking, 'Man, this could be the first record in a long time that's got a little bit of filler,'" he acknowledges. "But I think every song came out great. I was concerned some would sound similar, and every one is completely different. It's cool how it worked out." The majority of the lyrics and music were written by guitarist Jeff Hanneman. Kerry King stated: "I like when Jeff writes as much as he did for this record. When you have one guy doing most of the writing you only get one perspective. A lot of Jeff's stuff has a very Punky vibe this time; the stuff I write sounds Thrashy but with a hint of Punk, and when Jeff writes the stuff is more Punk with a hint of Thrash. It works together well." Unlike 2006's Christ Illusion, the band was "under-ready" with their lyrics and music.


The album was recorded in Los Angeles, California with producer Greg Fidelman (as previously noted) from late January and March 2009. There were 13 songs recorded for the album, but only 11 appear on the album. In May 2009, King said of the album: "I think this one has a little bit of everything—more so than anything we've done since Seasons. So I would imagine people are gonna compare it to that one." The band had recorded thirteen songs for the album, seven written by lead guitarist Jeff Hanneman and six by King, although not all of them were included. King later confirmed the album's release date was pushed back to late summer 2009. An article on Slayer's website confirmed the album's name. On August 20, 2009, Roadrunner Records confirmed the track listing. Thom Jurek of AllMusic said the production "takes a different tack altogether for this guitar-manic crew." A listening party for World Painted Blood was held on October 30, 2009 at Duff's Brooklyn in Williamsburg, New York. The event started at 9:00 pm.


During the recording of World Painted Blood, King used B.C. Rich Guitars, Marshall Amplifiers and Cabs, Dunlop strings and picks, EMG Pickups, and Korg tuners. Hanneman used ESP Guitars, Marshall Amplifiers and Cabs, Dunlop strings and picks, Monster Cables, and Shure Wireless System. Vocalist/bassist Araya used ESP basses, Marshall Bass Amplifiers and Cabs, EMG Pickups, Dunlop Picks and accessories, and MXR Effects. Lombardo used Tama Drums, Paiste cymbals, Pro-Mark drum sticks, and Evans drum heads.


Record producer Greg Fidelman said that "the fact that the songs were still new and fresh to them, and they hadn't been playing them for six months in rehearsal, kept the vibe and excitement in the studio very high." Vocalist Tom Araya said that there "are two principal music writers in this band, so you're going to get a combination of speed and heaviness," and later said that the "writing is really aggressive and fast, while Jeff likes things to be fast, but with melodies and grooves. In making this album, we seemed to share the same vision from song ideas to titles; when we get together as Slayer, it just happens, nothing is contrived, it's not thought out, we just do it, and we did that with this new album." Lombardo said that Hanneman's writing and performance had "gone back to this great punk energy, especially with 'Psychopathy Red'."


AllMusic said that it expressed moods such as Harshness, Fiery, Confidence, Rowdiness, Aggressiveness, Rebellious, Cathartic, Anger, and Hostility. It also is categorized in genres like Speed Metal and Heavy Metal. Thom Jurek said "Lombardo's percussion beats "are WAAAAAAAY up in the mix," and said that "you can understand every word, even on the thrashers" about Tom Araya's vocal style. "The guitars are simply further down in the mix and sometimes it becomes difficult to discern Araya's bass. Therefore, the first listen or two to World Painted Blood might be a bit confusing for the seasoned Slayer fan, but that changes quickly, and the sound of those drums blasting in one's head will become a more than welcome presence in the mix."


The album's title track was said by band members to be the continuation of Final Six, which was an outtake from their previous album. Final Six origins deal with the apocalypse. Human Strain deals with apocalyptic origins as well. The track was explained by guitarist Jeff Hanneman to initially be about the human race dying off by a mutative disease. The title of Public Display of Dismemberment refers to the consequences that countries outside of the United States give to citizens for crimes. Tom Araya said that Unit 731 is "very similar to Josef Mengele in the sense that it was a medical unit in the military, which was a Japanese military unit, actually. They did kind of the same thing; they tested the limits of the human body and recorded it for scientific purposes." Playing With Dolls is about a child witnessing a serial killer. Beauty Through Order is about Elizabeth Báthory, the most prolific female serial killer. Jeff Hanneman explained: "I've been meaning to write a song about that for a long time. I couldn't figure out the angle, I was thinking, 'How does a woman write? I can't write like a woman I'm a guy!' Then I just figured, 'Well, she's evil; she has lots of power and killed people.' So I just started writing and the lyrics and they came out." Slayer revealed to Revolver that the track Snuff has no lyrical concept. Psychopathy Red was inspired by the Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo.


Critical Reception:

The album earned generally positive reviews. On Metacritic, it holds a score of 78 out of 100 based on 11 reviews.

"Sounding," said Classic Rock, "like it was recorded in a studio where the amps were set to FUCK YOU rather than 11 and armed with a dual attack of heavy and heaviest, Slayer's 10th studio album offers a remarkable clarity of vision and strength of identity."

"Quite frankly we were beginning to wonder if they still had an album like this left in them," said Greg Moffitt of the BBC. "A few of the songs command the attention with the insistence of old… (The album is) a deliciously wicked ride."

AllMusic's Thom Jurek awarded the album three and a half stars, saying;

"In many ways it could be Reign In Blood Revisited… Some compositions on this new recording have more of the band's early–style melody in them, with lightning flare–up riffs between verses: quick unexpected guitar pyrotechnics; and blast beat power drumming from Dave Lombardo pushing it all into red."

Leonard Pierce of The A.V. Club remarked on the "burden" that "weighs particularly heavy on bands that made their reps with intensity and innovation; Slayer, in particular, was perceived as wandering in the wilderness during the years Paul Bostaph sat behind the drum kit." He rewarded the album with an A–, describing it as "eclectic, but never self-consciously so. It rarely flags in intensity, and it's good enough that if it were inserted in Slayer’s discography right after Seasons In The Abyss — the record it most resembles — it would be an almost seamless transition."


Adrien Begrand of PopMatters gave the album eight out of ten stars, saying;

"It's a slight improvement on Christ Illusion, as more than on any of their previous five albums, the foursome of guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, bassist/vocalist Tom Araya, and drummer Dave Lombardo find themselves revisiting the seminal styles of their 1986–88 heyday."

About.com's Chad Bowar and MusicOMH gave the album four out of five stars.


Blabbermouth's Ryan Ogle gave it 7.5 out of 10 and said;

... it "jumps into fairly aggressive thrash gallop, but doesn't really have that 'straight-for-the-throat' feel you'd expect from track one."

Commercial Reception:

World Painted Blood sold 41,000 copies in the United States in its first week, landing it at number twelve on the Billboard 200. It had sold 160,000 copies in the US as of February 2015. The album peaked at No. 7 in Germany  and debuted at No. 41 on the UK Albums Chart. Hate Worldwide was nominated for Best Metal Performance in 2009, and the title track was nominated for the same award a year later, but lost to Iron Maiden's El Dorado.



Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells


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