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To anyone that knows me and my tastes in metal, the fact that I’m reviewing a Slayer album may cause any number of reactions. I make no secret of the fact that I find Slayer the most overrated metal band around and nor do I make a secret that I generally find their genre of metal, thrash, not to my tastes at all. There are only a few thrash bands that have ever caught my attention and Slayer certainly isn’t one of them. So why do this review? Have I converted? Am I out to attack the band? It's a no in both cases - in short I’ve been put up to it, and I’m going to try to be as neutral as possible with what I say about the Slayer album picked for me to review, which is their 2001 offering God Hates Us All. Apparently Slayer fans generally don’t like this album, so maybe it isn’t the best for me to be reviewing, but this was the one picked for me to do and I’m all up for the challege. Just for the record I wrote this first paragraph before starting to listen to the music, so as to give a fair introduction on my feelings on the band, so the below review may be taken in context.
The first track on the album is Darkness Of Christ, which begins with some weird stuff before launching into some thrash style riffing. What I note here about the music is some really poor production work. I presume this track is supposed to serve as an intro track, something I usually see no point in. It has no appeal to me at all, so let’s move onto the first proper song, which is Disciple. The production picks up a bit here, and I found myself actually quite enjoying the guitar riffs from Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman on this one (and elsewhere in the record), there’s just one problem here is that the vocals are downright awful. This isn’t a problem with just Slayer, I think the same fault is in most thrash metal bands, but all this vocal is just shouted, leaving me feeling that the vocalist, Tom Araya, has no musical quality in his voice and it doesn’t even come across as particularly brutal either like a death growl would. The lyrics here are full on and the vocal delivery makes them really in your face. The only redeeming features here and the fact that the four musicians are actually very skilled as their instruments. I'm aware that this sort of thing is a staple of the thrash genre, but I just don't find anything appealing here.
God Send Death is next. The vocals seem to have picked up here at times, they don’t totally kill this song. The problem here is that this isn’t that great a track and isn’t likely to appeal to thrash metal’s devotees any more than it is to me. There is some generally weirdness in the guitars and the only vaguely interesting section is the lead guitar which at the end of the day is just a load of shredding. Mediocre at best. The rhythm guitars pick up again with some thrash style riffs in the next track, New Faith, but generally this music really isn’t doing anything for me. I can hear talent but I can’t really find anywhere in this music that that talent is being used to great effect. Tom Araya proved in God Send Death that he is actually quite capable of doing clean and melodic vocals and I personally think that with this mixed bag of ideas that God Hates Us All has been so far that all the elements of what makes a thrash band the sort of thrash band I’d actually like to listen to are all here, but they’re just so spread out and mixed in with ideas that are really boring to me that it spoils what could be something I may actually want to listen to. And this trend keeps continuing the further I get into the album.
After a few tracks the whole thing starts to sound stale and annoying. It’s a struggle to get through it in order to complete this review. Rarely is there a moment that strikes as anything more than above average or a good idea misused. After about five or six songs the guitar riffs start sound repetitive and the solos are so fast that they generally get boring. There is little variety to be found. Of note there is nice melodic intro to Seven Faces but it’s over pretty quickly and is really the only thing really notable for the song, which otherwise sounds just another typical track for a predictable album. There’s only one song that I found semi-decent on God hates Us All and that was Bloodline. It’s still not exactly great but it does at least not come across as a completely mess like the rest of the album. Deviance has something of a different feel to it but is boring and I doubt would even appeal to a thrash fan with its down-tempo speed and distinctly non-thrash feel. That really is my main problem with God Hates Us All, when the band does throw something in it that on paper I might actually find fresh, I can't help thinking that the people that this is supposed to appeal to won't like it.
Songs are generally short and to the point on God Hates Us All, there’s only one that clocks in at over the four minute mark. The songs are over so quick that they never really get a chance to make any sort of impression on me before they’re over.
This album is not a total piece of rubbish, I’ve heard much worse music in my time, but it does sound stale and uninspired which makes me ultimately view it with a complete indifference. Generally when songs get going to full on thrash they sound intense and angry and maybe that will give the album some appeal to fans of the band and genre, but personally I see nothing to go crazy for. I can hear why Slayer fans generally don’t like it either. I suspect Slayer have done albums that one such as I could find more praiseworthy material in, but after having the (dis)pleasure of hearing God Hates Us All, consider my opinion of Slayer being an awful band extremely reinforced.