Album Review : Slayer - Christ Illusion (2006)

Dec 11

Dec 11 Album Review : Slayer - Christ Illusion (2006)

Few albums in Slayer's discography are as divisive as Christ Illusion. One could argue few Slayer albums are divisive at all. They’re one of the less polarizing band ever: you're either into Slayer or you don’t listen to them at all, but Christ Illusion is the exception to this rule. It’s hard to say whether it’s good or it’s bad. Released on the heels of game changing, but slow burning God Hates Us All, it was a return to a more classic sound on certain songs and a complete departure on others.

I'm here to tell you Christ Illusion doesn't suck. It’s different enough from its predecessor to be remembered as what it is. A conceptual head trip about religion, war and Satan.

Christ Illusion features ten songs and thirty-eight minutes of music almost exclusively written by Kerry King. Their late god tiered riff writer Jeff Hanneman wrote only three songs, including two of its best and his catchiness and versatility are missing. Slayer’s forever underrated musicality might be almost absent from Christ Illusion, but Tom Araya’s laser precise and passionate performances take the forefront of these more straightforwardly constructed songs and it helps.

There are bangers on Christ Illusion, but there are many Slayer-by-numbers songs too. This album is good when it gets wild and expansive. Eyes of the Insane is a groovy, atmospheric and narrative driven number that’s unlike anything in Slayer’s catalogue. Told from the perspective of a traumatized soldier, it consistently ramps up in intensity until it reaches a breaking point that Slayer manages masterfully. Even if you’re deprived of release at the end, it leaves you with a haunting feeling.

The following song Jihad, even if it’s a LITTLE bit dated from a cultural point of view, is another exploration of atypical soundscapes by Slayer. It’s groovy, chuggy and syncopated into different segments that reflect the tattered, restless psyche of someone about to commit something fucked up. Point of view storytelling was always part of Slayer’s songwriting arsenal and they’ve always defended their right to do it. The idea here is to make you feel uncomfortable and it works quite well.

Cult is the other absolute fucking banger on Christ Illusion. If I had to choose one to bring to a live set, it would probably be this one. It is a Kerry King song, so it has a more predictable structure, but these intro riffs and the Satanic chorus are intoxicating. I loved the bouncy riffs considerably more than the boilerplate thrash riffs King seems to come up with so easily (and his fucking solos, ugh), but the songs varies it up for optimal effect. It has every element of what makes Slayer great.

So yeah, the rest is… more of what you might expect a Slayer record to sound? But there’s some good stuff to be found. Catatonic is a wonderful mid-tempo banger (and I love mid-tempo Slayer) featuring a Tom Araya who’s out of his goddamn mind. Skeleton of Christ is a mean and straightforward affair where you can admire the powerful drum work of Dave Lombardo who was recording with his old band for the first time in fifteen years. It sucks that he’s in the passenger seat for most of the songs.

The rest of Christ Illusion is alright if a little unexciting for long time fans. Songs like Flesh Storms, Consfearacy and Supremist are exactly wha you would put on to introduce an unsuspecting friend to Slayer without spoiling any of the good ones: groovy intro, very simple thrash riff where Tom sings super fast, lots of solos. It’s the baseline for what you would expect out of the band, but they elevate whenever they can reach beyond that template. If anything Christ Illusion is the bare bones of Slayer.

The good songs on Christ Illusion are not only good, but they’re unique and weird. They reflect the tension in the social discourse in 2006 that have become so normalized today. It’s nowhere near one of the cornerstones of their discography, but it has fun and interesting ideas. It’s more than you can say for most bands that are in the legacy acts of their career like Slayer had been for the last fifteen years of their official existence. Worth a listen, worth owning, maybe not obsessing over.