Some get “softer” as they get old. This would not be applicable to the metal group Slayer. They are still rattling the chains and not looking for radio airplay. Still carrying the mantel for the metal rebels out there the band’s latest album Repentless has a depiction of Jesus in hell on the front. They are carrying on in the tradition they have forged over their decades together even without guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who died in 2013 of liver failure after a lengthy illness and years of heavy drinking. New guitarist Gary Holt carries on providing the required blistering guitar solos that the band’s style of music requires. All that the band has been through shows in the lyrics with “Chasing Death” being about alcoholism and the first song released, “Implode”, dealing with the end of the world which the death of the longtime member must have made his bandmates feel like what was happening. Longtime fans will be happy with the hard hitting music on the album as it is like classic Slayer and their front to back strongest album since around the turn of the century. It is like a gift for their fans in that it thrashes hard and deals with expected subject matter. Very few bands have been this consistent for so long.
Slayer – Repentless
