EVEN A SLAYER “SPECIAL EDITION” ISN’T SPECIAL

Next week, Slayer will re-release their most recent opus, Christ Illusion, in a “special edition.” The party line is that this is being done because Slayer just hopped record labels along with Rick Rubin to Sony/Columbia, but, needless to say, they’ve included new cover art and some new material to try and lure Slayer completists – namely, an “alternate version” of the song “Black Serenade,” which appeared on the original release, and a new track, “Final Six,” which was allegedly supposed to be on the original release but wasn’t completed in time due to Tom Araya’s gallbladder surgery.

I’m sure Slayer had little or nothing to do with this bullshit double-dipping, but having heard these new tracks, all we can say is: just download* these songs if you must have them. The new “Black Serenade” doesn’t sound sufficiently different from the old one to warrant interest to anyone besides the band’s more die hard fans (actually, with Slayer, is there any other kind?), and although the tribal, pounding “Final Six” is actually just as good as anything else on the disc, it hardly warrants shelling out more of your hard earned moolah – especially since the chances of it entering the Slayer live lexicon seem pretty nil.

-AR

*All pre-Reign in Blood Slayer albums have been removed from iTunes in the wake of their label jump, so I’m not sure if this new version will suddenly appear on the legal download service next week or not; in any case, enterprising fans will find a way to get the songs with or without Steve Jobs’ assistance.