Eyesore wrote:Dave doesn't write the music. How is he instrumental in them writing old school songs?
Because he jammed the King-penned songs with KK before the recording process and had input in the drum department. And above all, nobody plays metal drums like Dave Lombardo. He's one of a kind. Natural and with a totally unique presence behind the kit. I fondly remember the Dynamo 1995 festival, standing first row with 100.000 metalheads behind me: When Lombardo's kit was rolled onstage for Grip Inc.'s performance, suddenly their was some kind of magic in the air, solely by the sight of his mighty kit.
(Grip Inc. - "Heretic War Chant", live @ Dynamo Open Air 1995:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXsoNgfMtvo)
Btw: I always have to laugh about newbies stating that Paul Bostaph is so much more technical and better than Dave. Where, in Slayer? Some tom/tom/bas/bass rolls are not "technical playing" in my book, neither are the simple time shifts on "Killing Fields" from DI. And Bostaph overdid the speed of his doublebass parts on many songs, which he played VERY sloppy as a result, even on the records. Lombardo sounds sloppy only on one recording I know: Decade Of Aggression - obviously he had to raise his drum chair for the cameras and fucked up on the bass pedals as a result.
Bostaph was heavily envolved in the songwriting process, and we got many jump-da-fuck-up songs on those later albums. Coincidence? I think not. Paul ruled in Forbidden and Testament though, two bands that suite him much better than Slayer.
Trust me, there are some very old school-feeling songs on this new album, but the downtuned nature of the guitar tone doesn't fit well. Still, there are about 4 or 5 songs that are like the newer Slayer.
Agreed, I hate their downtuned approach. That's what happens when Slipknot-loving Kerry King dominates the songwriting process of current Slayer albums. Slayer should stick to their "classic" Eb tuning, half a step down; nothing more. Their guitar tone doesn't work on deeper tunings, unlike SYL or Testament for example.
And although the production and mix is better than on anything post SITA, I think they should have worked with Andy Wallace again. He was responsible for the best sounding Slayer albums and he is one of the best (co-)producers/engineers/mixers of the whole music scene IMO. Everything he touches sounds cristal clear, crisp and unique, without being clinical and stale. And Christ Illusion sounds too dry and stale I think.
Still a couple of highpoints there: "Shi.. ääääh, "Flesh Storm", "Consfearacy" and "Supremist".
But Testament's The Gathering smokes everything by Slayer post SITA, Christ Illusion included, and also Grip Inc. are the much better and more interesting band than current Slayer. But what can you do? The standard metalhead is very conservative and prefers semi-washed-up Slayer over a new act that's original, artistic and challenging. So Dave had to go back to Slayer to be a rockstar again (at least according to Gus Chambers).
Christ Illusion: 7/10 with two points for Dave Lombardo's contribution alone.
And no, I won't buy this album any time soon; I'll wait for a special edition with the additional song "The Final Six" on it; the "different" sounding song they had to left out due to time restraints.
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PS: As a sidenote, you can find several clips by different bands from the aforementioned Dynamo 1995 festival, which were screened by eMpTyV "Headbangers Ball" back in the day. There even was a brief interview segment with the Dev. I have it on VHS, but I'm unable to digitalize it. Maybe somebody else will upload it on YouTube sooner or later
Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 11:20 am
