Slayer Releases "World Painted Blood"
World Painted Blood is the tenth studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer.
It was released by American Recordings/Sony Music on November 3, 2009. The album was produced by Greg Fidelman and executive produced by Rick Rubin.
In May 2009, Kerry 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 Jeff Hanneman and six by King, although not all of them were included. Kerry King later confirmed the album's release date was pushed back to late summer 2009. A recent article on Slayer's website has confirmed the name of the band's 10th studio album is World Painted Blood. World Painted Blood marks the first time Slayer wrote and prepared the material for the album while in the studio. In the past, most or all of the songs had been worked out by the time the band entered the studio to record the material. Dave Lombardo said in an interview on Capital Chaos "The other albums were good, but this one there's some kind of magic that I can't put my finger on, it just flows really well, the structuring is done well, the melodies are done well. Everything has been a collective effort so I'm definitely proud of it and I'm sure the other guys are too." On August 20, 2009, Roadrunner Records confirmed the track listing. On September 15, 2009, the artwork for the album was revealed. It was released with four different covers that when put together, create a world map covered in blood.
The first new track from the album, "Psychopathy Red," was made available as a 7-inch vinyl disc on April 18, as part of the third annual Record Store Day. On July 28, the song "Hate Worldwide" was released as a CD single, exclusively available at Hot Topic stores.The title track "World Painted Blood" was released on September 28, on Slayer's MySpace page. A music video has been made for "Beauty Through Order" however, it has been removed from most online sources. The music video for the song "World Painted Blood" was released June 16, 2010.
World Painted Blood generally received positive reviews from critics. Greg Moffitt from BBC said that the album "is their best in years." He also noted that "a few of the songs command the attention with the insistence of old, but quite frankly we were beginning tto wonder if they still had an album like this left in them." Moffitt also said the album was "a deliciously wicked ride." Thom Jurek of Allmusic rewarded the album three and a half stars, saying "in many ways it could be Reign In Blood Revisited", and later said that "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 blastbeat power drumming from Dave Lombardo pushing it all into red." Blabbermouth.net's Ryan Ogle said that "World Painted Blood jumps into fairly aggressive thrash gallop, but doesn't really have that 'straight–for–the–throat' feel you'd expect from track one."
Leonard Pierce described the album as "burden", and said "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, and expectations were high for the group." Pierce rewarded the album with an A–, and said that the album was"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 from 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.
World Painted Blood sold 41,000 copies in the United States in its first week, landing it a number twelve spot on the Billboard 200. The album peaked number seven on the German music chart. The album also debuted number forty–one on the UK Albums Chart.
2010 Grammy nomination
* Best Metal Performance - "Hate Worldwide"
The album was released on October 28 in Japan, and on October 30 in Australia. It was released on November 3 in North America and November 2 in other parts of the world.
