September 11, 2001 - God Hates Us All

It's a triple release day! On the same day as my last two releases and over three years since "Diabolus In Musica", Slayer released their ninth album "God Hates Us All" on September 11, 2001. After their last album was generally slower, this album marks a return to their more traditional thrash metal style, which is definitely a plus in my opinion! This album was actually scheduled to be released two weeks later, but after the devastating 9/11 attacks, Slayer rushed to have the album officially released on September 11. Let's check out the latest from Slayer!

The album kicks off with a short intro track called "Darkness Of Christ" and it has a bunch of hard to understand talking going on, overtop of a very quiet but otherwise typical Slayer riff with lots of fast guitars by Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman and of course some furious drumming from Paul Bostaph. Tom Araya shouts out the name of the album a couple times and then the volume picks up as they move into the next track "Disciple". It's a nice and heavy main riff and Araya yells a typical verse overtop. The yelling of "God hates us all!" turns out to be the chorus for this song and while it's a little repetitive, the super fast and thrash-y guitars keep your attention and sound pretty cool. After a few furious rounds, including a short but awesome solo, they quiet things down to almost nothing, Araya starts up a cool new bass riff and this sets the stage for a slow but plenty heavy breakdown to finish off the song. It's great to hear Slayer back to their thrash-y best, and the breakdown sounds great to heavily end things. Track 3 is "God Send Death" and they do a nice job of starting off slow at the start of the verse, ramping up to a more Slayer pace for the latter half, and then finishing with a nice and heavy chorus, all while Araya nicely yells overtop. It's a formula that works pretty well and after a couple rounds of it we reach back-to-back-to-back solos! The first one was pretty sweet as it is, but the other guitarist follows it with an even better one, and then the first guitarist plays another face-melting solo as Slayer show they absolutely still have it! Phenomenal triple solo and then a nice heavy chorus to finish it off. Up next is "New Faith" and words don't do proper justice already as I say they play another heavy and solid main riff. Things aren't thrash fast, but it's still a solid pace and a similarly solid chorus. Araya proceeds to yell at the top of his lungs and he sounds like he's straining a bit in his older age, but still pretty good honestly! It's another pretty good metal tune! Track 5 is "Cast Down" and both guitarists sync up for a very loud and heavy main riff that nicely chugs to a catchy pace. Araya sings a nice fast verse overtop a cool guitar riff, but they never really stray from these two riffs leaving things sounding good, but easily the worst song so far; it just wasn't Slayer levels of exciting! Up next is "Threshold" and it's got a groovy main riff that is both heavy but also a little bouncy! It sounds pretty cool with some nice heavy guitars and bass and the grooviness continues into a cool chorus as well. The song is just two and a half minutes, but Araya yells nicely the whole way through and it's a pretty cool little song! Track 7 is "Exile" and Araya is once again yelling a lot and the lyrics are on this one are very hateful and angry with lots of swearing. It sounds like an old school Slayer riff and I do say I like it very much! The first guitar solo is pretty awesome, then they do a great segue to a cool new riff and then the other guitarist starts his solo, which is also pretty awesome! This song is just non-stop violence and anger, some classic Slayer stuff, and that's what I'm here for! The next track is "Seven Faces" and after a creepy opening they settle into a slow but chugging and heavy main riff. Araya's vocals are not as loud and awesome on this one, but the lyrics are dark and creepy and things sound not very thrash, but still solid. There's still a short guitar solo, but it's mostly a slower song. Track 9 is "Bloodline" and it's got another slow main riff, but of course things sound pretty heavy and solid. The chorus is honestly pretty tame for Slayer, but after another round they step it up with a faster new riff that is pretty cool, including a typically solid solo, before closing out with another bland chorus. An alright song, but not one of their best. Up next is "Deviance" and Araya plays a creepy bass riff to start us off before they settle into another slow main riff with some distorted and creepy guitars as well. The chorus is nice and heavy with Araya yelling nicely but they nail the creepy vibe in the verse maybe a little too well! These past three songs were all more like their last album, and they are good, but it's just not fast enough! Track 11 rectifies that with "War Zone" and this aggressive, in your face style is what I want from Slayer! Bostaph plays some fantastic fast drums in the chorus and this is a short song, but easily one of the better ones on the album. The next track is "Here Comes The Pain" and it's got a nice epic opening with some cool distorted guitars and it ramps nicely into a chugging main riff that is actually pretty catchy! It's simple for Slayer, but the drums and guitars both sound solid and this is Slayer's version of a single. After a pretty epic guitar solo they nicely break down into a cool new guitar riff with Bostaph playing a bunch of great drum fills. This leads perfectly into another pretty sweet guitar solo and this is a very complete song that is epic and cool the whole way through. The final song on the album is "Payback" and words don't do justice to the furiosity of this last song! It's super fast, super violent, super heavy metal that just relentlessly beats you over the head! It's pretty awesome! Probably my favourite song on the album honestly! What a way to end the album!

That is the end of "God Hates Us All" and I thought it was a good, but not great album from Slayer. It definitely had it's highlights, but it was also a little too similar to their last album "Diabolus In Musica", which is not a good thing. I thought it was better than that one, but still nowhere close to "South Of Heaven", so 7th place will have to do. Can Slayer pull themselves out of this mini-rut? We'll see!