The Beat Surrender

Bonus – an album by someone I’ve heard of and loved for years. “Christ Illusion” is the ninth album from Slayer, a set of big hairy blokes from America. Slayer were first in my headphones (they didn’t have them earphones) when my hair was only just creeping over the collar…I was still on the cider down the park at the time. I’ve been off work on holiday for a couple of weeks, but I still ended up listening to this out in my garage; it’s hard nasty sh*t – to be played in a dark place, away from children.

How’s it sound then? Well, as always, Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman have their guitars tuned to evil. They’ve a great way of making a guitar moan without the screeching you get from less experienced guitarists – some of the solos are frightening.

Vocals are provided by Tom Araya. This man’s voice is big and angry, always has been. He’s one of the pioneer vocalists of mainstream Death Metal and I’m sure there’s many a young spotty singer cries himself to sleep out there wishing he had Tom’s rasp and lung capacity. Keep smoking the Marlboros lads…no, the red ones. Lyrically, Slayer have got an awful lot to say and none of it’s nice. Yet it’s not all ‘skulls and Satan’, if that’s what you’re thinking – in fact there’s a lot of political comment on this album.

Dave Lombardo makes a welcome return to the drum kit on ‘Christ Illusion’. I was instantly impressed by his awesome drum work; pick any track on the album and try air drumming along to it. You’ll get tired, lost or fed up before the end of the song, I guarantee it. God help you if you end up in a pit banging your head to this stuff. Lombardo fits drumrolls into little gaps you didn’t even realise were there – because he can. He’d rip your arm off arm wrestling – and he’d definitely win a shin kicking contest.

Due to this combination of skills, Slayer have managed to come up with some real quality songs on “Christ Illusion”. Track 5 ‘Jihad’ is a case in point. Try sing along to this one though; you can forget your 4:4 time, I think this kicks off in 37:12 time…it’s complex, is what I’m trying to say. It kept slipping away from me, anyway.

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