Daily Staff Writer

“Diabolus In Musica”

Slayer

The last time we saw Slayer, the group was dusting off a handful of punk classics and turning them into heavy metal noise.

Unfortunately, “Undisputed Attitude” was a creative and commercial flop for the band, and heavy metal devotees were left wondering whether or not Slayer could survive its failure.

Several years later, the group is back with a new offering, “Diabolus In Musica.” To say that this CD is better than “Undisputed Attitude” or even “Divine Intervention” would be a severe understatement. In actuality, “Diabolus In Musica” is one of the best metal CDs to be released in the last five years.

While Slayer’s newest offering isn’t likely to be as groundbreaking as “South of Heaven” or “Seasons In The Abyss,” it is still overflowing with innovation and ferocity.

In fact, the group has probably never sounded better. It no longer relies on speed metal guitar shrieks, machine gun fire drumming or banshee screams to get its point across.

This time around, the group has rhythm and its members actually play their instruments instead of just clawing and striking at them. The result is rather stunning.

The music is still recognizably Slayer’s, but it has enough hardcore influence to appeal to a wider audience range (particularly those people who like Korn, Coal Chamber and 35″ Mudder) other than death metal fans.

It also doesn’t hurt that each song sounds different than the one that preceded it. Screeching guitar solos are often left out in favor of killer choruses, catchy melodies and group cohesion. The lyrics, as always, are brutally honest, immediately frightening, and intellectually stimulating.

So it’s too bad that this CD will be overlooked by the masses just because Slayer can’t shed its death metal, Satanic image. While the world has remained stubborn in its view of heavy metal music, Slayer has continued to evolve into a phenomenal, overlooked group.

4 1/2 Stars out of five

— Ben Jones

“Viva Satellite”

Todd Snider

On his newest release, Todd Snider does it the only way he knows how — by mixing 1960’s protest music with Southern-flavored, rowdy bar-rock.

The album opens with “Rocket Fuel,” one of the only really good songs that can be found on this CD. It sweats out raw energy with a fast and heavy rock beat before everything slows down for “Yesterdays And Used To Be,” a very Tom Petty-like song. Snider even performs a remarkable remake of the Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker.”

“I Am Too,” with its uplifting tone, is the type of song you sing to get over a girl. However, Snider’s voice is drowned out by his guitar, which is rather unfortunate because he has a nice, slow-gin-with-an-edge drawl.

The song “Out All Night” sounds a lot like John Mellencamp with its roots-rock feel, and Snider even gets a little punkish on “Guaranteed.” On “Positively Negative,” Snider stretches the boundaries with his voice as he struggles to sound like Kurt Cobain on one note, then Tom Petty the next. His backup band, the Nervous Wrecks, keeps it constant throughout with some solid playing, however.

Nervous Wrecks’ guitarist Will Kimbraugh wrote the song “Godsend,” a smokey bar-room lament about ex-wives and drinking. This song is pure country. The final song, “Doublewide Blues,” is a work of genius. The blues-oriented tune tells stories of despair by people in a trailer park. The song reaches into the very core of what it means to be impoverished and the many problems that stem from it.

Todd Snider puts the funk in folk music with his in-your-face lyrics and get-up-and-dance rhythms. “Viva Satellite” is a good addition to the folk rock genre.

2 Stars out of five

— Kevin Hosbond

“Unclean”

Rorschach Test

There’s something so familiar about “Unclean” that it is almost unsettling. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. It’s just that this group isn’t particularly original.

“Unclean” rolls along at the same pace as Ministry’s “Psalm 69.” Every song on “Unclean” is industrial fury unleashed, completely straightforward with no chaser.

But they also don’t allow much room for innovation, which is really too bad because KMFDM, Filter and Trent Reznor are all doing some really innovative things with the genre.

As far as Ministry goes, there is not a single song on “Unclean” that comes close to rivaling Ministry’s “Thieves,” “Just One Fix” or “N.W.O.”

It’s not that Rorschach Test can’t rival Ministry’s passion and intensity — it can in spades. The problem is that the group doesn’t really alter its formula from song to song as dramatically as Al Jourgenson and his crew can.

But this doesn’t mean that Rorschach Test should be summarily dismissed. Songs like “Elvis,” “Satan,” “Blow Up America” and “Slow Leak” are guaranteed to make you want to scream and mosh.

On the whole, “Unclean” is an above average CD. It’s just not as good as anything by Nine Inch Nails, Ministry or KMFDM.

3 Stars out of five

— Ben Jones