World Painted Blood is the eleventh studio album by the thrash metal band Slayer. It was released through American Recordings and Sony Music on November 3, 2009 and was produced by Greg Fidelman and executively produced by Rick Rubin. It is the band’s only album produced by Greg Fidelman and the last album to feature the band’s original lineup including guitarist Jeff Hanneman (who died of liver cirrhosis in 2013) and drummer Dave Lombardo (who was dismissed from Slayer the same year). With much anticipation for the album after 2006’s Christ Illusion, members of Slayer began revealing information about the album beginning in early 2009.
There were four different artworks released for the album, each of which completed one-fourth of a map that when put together illustrates the earth painted with red. There are eleven tracks on the album, with origins illustrating death and destruction, war, serial killers, and the Apocalypse. World Painted Blood is the band’s final album to be released through American Recordings, as well as the final collaboration between Slayer and label owner Rubin, who had worked with the band as their producer or executive producer since Reign in Blood (1986).
Three singles were released from the album: “Psychopathy Red”, “Hate Worldwide”, and “World Painted Blood”. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, “Hate Worldwide” and “World Painted Blood” were both nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 52nd and 53rd Grammy Awards, respectively. The album peaked at number two on the US Top Hard Rock Albums chart, as well as twelve on the Billboard 200 and forty-one on the United Kingdom album chart.
Tracklist:
SIDE ONE
- World Painted Blood (Jeff Hanneman, Tom Araya)
- Unit 731 (Hanneman)
- Snuff (Kerry King)
- Beauty Through Order (Hanneman, Araya)
- Hate Worldwide (King)
SIDE TWO
- Public Display of Dismemberment (King)
- Human Strain (Hanneman, Araya)
- Americon (King)
- Psychopathy Red (Hanneman)
- Playing with Dolls (Hanneman, King, Araya)
- Not of This God (King)
Slayer
Tom Araya: bass, vocals
Kerry King: guitars
Jeff Hanneman: guitars
Dave Lombardo: drums
Production
Greg Fidelman: production, engineering, mixing
Rick Rubin: executive production
Dana Nielsen: engineer
Sara Killion: assistant engineer
Vlado Meller: mastering
Rick Sales, Kristen Mulderig, Andrew Stuart: managers
Dan Monti: digital editor
Jeffrey John Hanneman (January 31, 1964 – May 2, 2013)
