Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It takes guts to continue when a lynch pin has been removed, when a much admired member of the band is no longer sadly part of the world and perhaps a reason for progressing is taken away; it takes magnetism, courage and style to keep the battle raging and strive for what is left still to achieve. In that alone Slayer, after losing the tremendous Jeff Hanneman, deserve credit for coming back with honest intent and grinding pulsating lyrical stance in their latest studio album Repentless.

Repentless is apt, a band that truly has nothing to apologise for and yet gets lambasted by various media and private concerns, a group of musicians who alongside Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax are part of the core of what made the genre untouchable for so long and to whom the lyrics and the music are an integral part of breathing, let alone venting steam at the world they find themselves in. Repentless is quick, vocally cool and firing on more cylinders than many of the current day groups who have tried vainly to fill the shoes of the old, but grand, guard.

Striking many a chord with the richness of their music, the relentless beat that fights without mercy in its heart and the seeking of a control perhaps lost in the arms of many of their younger counterparts. Slayer show their mettle with glowing pride and satisfaction throughout each track on the album and whilst arguably not as substantial as the prestigious Reign In Blood, nevertheless is just as important in the annals of Metal history.

Tracks such as Vices, When The Stillness Comes, Chasing Death, the sad lament that haunts Piano Wire and Pride in Prejudice have the attributes of class acts living and breathing with style in a world that may seem bleaker but none the less deserves to have every muscle and fibre glowing and raging with even more intensity than a blacksmith’s forge.

This is the where the genre goes when it is hurting, when the pain of life rears its head, it doesn’t shrink back, it doesn’t cowl to the blackness, it takes it on, it fights back and in Repentless, the beauty of it all is captured in its willingness to carry on the fight, to keep the music pure and full of strength for its fans; a record as every bit as important as its illustrious past deserves.

Ian D. Hall