Slayer "Christ Illusion" CD

After listening to this album, I think it's safe to say that Dave Lombardo is the only drummer that belongs in Slayer. Not to say that Paul Bostaph was bad (in some elements he was better than Lombardo) but Lombardo definitely brings back a lot more of that 'Slayer' feel than has been there for a very, very long time.
Let's look at Bostaph's contributions. Divine Intervention was undisputedly the best post-Lombardo work of Slayer. Lots of speed, pretty consistent songwriting despite a lack of classics or standouts. Diabolus was noticably slower, like South of Heaven, but not nearly as good and with a lot of modern experimentation. Only a few songs worked, others had their moments, but overall it was a quite lackluster release. GHUA had some of the most ridiculous and pointlessly vulgar Slayer lyrics yet, and really only held three standouts (the classic Disciple being the only amazing point of the album). The rest, like Diabolus, had a lot of more modern experimentation (comparisons to Slipknot often drawn) and usually didn't work.
So here we are, a tedious 5 years after GHUA, and we have Christ Ilusion. Larry Caroll (designing this album's art as he did with the unholy trilogy of RIB/SOH/SITA) and Dave Lombardo in tow, Slayer seemed set to release their best album since Seasons and reclaim that classic sound they used to have.
I can say that for the most part this has been achieved. This is clearly the best album since Seasons (although Divine Intervention is really not far behind). There's more speed then there has been since Divine Intervention, and there's just much better songwriting overall. I don't really see the comparisons to War Ensemble, but Flesh Storm starts the album off in speedy/catchy fashion, followed closely by the similarly fast Catalyst. Skeleton Christ has a chugging riff that is better than just about any of the midpaced material off of Diabolus/GHUA, and features some truly catchy and evil riffs. Eyes of the Insane...lord knows why Slayer chose this one as the video. Although the song isn't completely bad, it is clearly the worst on the album and really doesn't go anywhere. Jihad is a song that seems to grow on you and is currently my favorite on the album. Very fast and full of classic Slayer riffage (is it a coincidence that my favorite song on this album is written by Jeff Hanneman?...I think not, I think he deserves a lot more credit than all the attention that Kerry King gets). Consfearacy is another speedy number, much akin to the first two songs. Catatonic is one of the BEST slow Slayer songs ever (mostly due to the fact that isn't oppresively boring and the ending riff is brutal as hell). Black Serenade is another evil little number written by Jeff, with a catchy if not overused chorus. Cult features some of Slayer's dumbest lyrics ever (Religion is a whore?...cmon Kerry, enuff's enuff), but despite this remains a riff-fest and is a pretty fun listen. Supremist is the first Slayer song to feature blast beats and closes the album in fashion.
Overall, this album is extremely fast and brutal, mostly on par with Divine Intervention in that it's extremely consistent (far more so than DIM/GHUA were) but seemingly lacks truly classic tracks that we find on older Slayer material. Jihad and Cult may be the new classics from this release...maybe. It's too soon to say.
Bottom line-the best since SITA, and Lombardo is with them once again. Coincidence..? I think not. Lombardo is one big key to the 'classic' Slayer sound. Kudos to Slayer for putting their last two releases to shame and making something in the old vein again.

Official promo video: 

Sample: