Slayer: God Hates Us All : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Unlike Metallica, Slayer - surely on the shortlist of the most crucial metal bands ever - have never wavered from their formula. Playing to the band's honed-to-a-science strengths and hearkening back to the golden age of mullet heads, God Hates Us All is Slayer's most brutal record since 1986's immortal (or undead) Reign in Blood. Galloping double-bass-drum salvos switch on a dime to furious double-time pummeling, as ominous power chords and jagged shred solos slice and dice with Formula One precision. And no, Slayer haven't started spewing therapeutic I-hate-my-mom bile, no matter how big Staind and Papa Roach get; bassist Tom Araya's howled denunciations still run along the lines of "I keep the Bible in a pool of blood" ("New Faith"). God bless metal bands who can't be bothered to change.