Slayer - Repentless

As JV Bastard would say, "May Slayer be with you". Yes, I am a long time Slayer fan and an old school Metal fan to boot even though the majority of this blog houses Punk. I was on the shelf about getting this album as there was, for the first time ever, no Jeff Hannenman. As well, there is no Dave Lombardo leaving us with only half of the original band. Instead we get the returning Paul Bostaph and Gery Holt who I am a huge fan of from Exodus! However, my curiosity pushed me to get this album. Now, I was still on the fence about listening to it as, when King takes the leads on albums (God Hates Us All and Christ Illusion) they are not the best Slayer albums. I will say this though, Kerry King has stepped up BIG TIME! This is the second best Slayer album since Divine Intervention (World Painted Blood is still the better) as the riffs and the songs are huge upon the first listen. Yes, this is a Slayer album and they are not reinventing the wheel with power ballads or anything like that. This is a punch to the gut as it shows no signs of slowing down yet. The standouts include "Delusions of Saviour", "Repentless", "Take Control", "Vices", "Cast the First Stone", "Chasing Death", "Implode", the Jeff Hannenman penned "Piano Wire" that is maybe the best of the punch as it is just classic Hannenman through and through, Tom Araya co-written "Atrocity Vendor", "You Against You" and "Pride in Prejudice". Slayer fans can now take a breath, this album is much better then we thought it would be.