Christ Illusion is the tenth studio album by the Thrash Metal band Slayer. On this it sounds like they have come back full circle to their best sides. Well, almost full circle because there’s no way in hell the greatest albums from the band can be topped or replicated. But Christ Illusion comes close. You can clearly hear the same kinds of scales and harmonies as on Seasons in the Abyss and South of Heaven. Or disharmonies if you will.
Dave Lombardo is back in the band and I think you can tell from the rhythm section. It’s more varied than the last few albums and that goes for all the other instruments as well. In Thrash Metal the guitars are of course central and they also uses more variation and riffs that just superfast pedal notes.
Most of the songs are penned by Kerry King while just a couple comes from Jeff Henneman. Tom Araya has been credited from contributing lyrics to the Hanneman songs, the rest is King’s work. I really like Christ Illusion. It smells of the heyday but it doesn’t some across all the way through. I guess If I listened to it as much as the earlier albums there would be song sticking out some more than they really do at the moment.
But even if there’s not that “hit” quality as on Slayers peak, it comes close and I really think that this is a step in the right direction. The music is interesting again and there’s even a controversy on par with Angel of Death. Jihad is a song about 9/11 from the of a terrorist. I would have guessed that it almost stirred up as many feelings as Angel of Death. I, personally, think it’s an interesting perspective. It’s point of views storytelling and it dosn’t necessarily say anything about any religious or political views.
