Repentless
| Slayer
Repentless
Repentless is the twelfth and final studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer. It was released on September 11, 2015, and is the band's only album recorded without Jeff Hanneman, who died from liver cirrhosis in 2013. Gary Holt replaces Hanneman as guitarist. Drummer Paul Bostaph also makes his first appearance on a Slayer album since 2001's God Hates Us All. It is also the only one the band released on Nuclear Blast and was produced by Terry Date, replacing Rick Rubin after twenty-nine years and nine studio albums as their producer or executive producer. The six-year gap between World Painted Blood and Repentless was the longest between two Slayer albums in their career. This would also be the band's final studio album. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
Despite the death of founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman and the absence of founding drummer Dave Lombardo, it offers the best possible outcome.
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Metal Injection
Repentless is actually the band's most unapologetically thrash album in years.
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The Metal Archives
Overall, this may be the best Slayer album, but it's still nothing special.
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Loudwire
The band has channeled all the emotions and turmoil they have been through the past few years into the album, a potent release that is undeniably Slayer -- and that’s apparent from the beginning to the end of Repentless.
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Spin
There’s a strong possibility that they’ll just continue to release uninspired but serviceable albums once every few years, stocked with okay songs designed to pad out the set between “Angel of Death” and “God Hates Us All” — and that’s exactly what they’ve done on Repentless.
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COS
We find our inner beasts in the riffs and the drums and the primal screams and the thrash itself, even if it’s just for 40 minutes at a time. Here, we can let loose with little intention to apologize.
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Blabbermouth
"Repentless" is a forgettable, lackluster album that hopefully doesn't represent the best of their current capabilities as a band.
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Metal Storm
So, really, well done, Slayer, and Kerry King particularly; not many expected that you could pull this off and the fact that you did is the biggest surprise of them all.
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Head of Metal
Repentless is a more than solid way for these hard-thrashing heroes to march off into a blood red sunset. They came. They saw. They reigned.
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Angry Metal Guy
Slayer will continue to do fine as a live band no matter what, but if they want people to care about their new music, they’re going to have to do better than this.
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The Guardian
thrash masters still stupidly exciting.
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The NY Times
‘Repentless,’ Is Loud and Precise.
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Distorted Sound Magazine
It’s an incredible album, it’s everything you want from SLAYER but Repentless lacks the heart that made them so special and it’s a sad thing to admit.
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Drowned in Sound
Repentless is, fundamentally, a Slayer album, no more, no less. It’s got creepy, religious themed cover art and a whole lot of very good, very fast riffs, thunderous drums, ridiculous solos and Araya’s aforementioned trademark frantic yelling.
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Billboard
Slayer Still Shreds on ‘Repentless’.
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Crack Magazine
At its core, Repentless has achieved what it set out to. It’s defined by defiance; a document of a personal and creative situation that could have caused the band’s extant half to wither, but instead served to galvanise. It’s a more than worthy preface to a new chapter for the greatest metal band of them all.
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Metal Assault
while a good number of veteran metal bands are still writing and releasing great new albums, Slayer have missed the mark with theirs.
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The Collapsar
Repentless is nevertheless quite enjoyable through and through. It is a testament to Slayer's unwavering vision and their unwillingness to capitulate to broader trends in metal music.
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Need406
This album not only reinforces the band's legacy of annihilating sound, fast beats, and in your face lyrical shouts but it keeps the pendulum swinging - an authority in thrash metal warfare giving fans more Slayer sound that's true to form and, as always, perfect to rage to.
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Record Collector Magazine
If Slayer have another album in them, it needs to be better than this.
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Metal Forces Magazine
So, what we get is another Slayer album that is workmanlike, consistent, hinting at the past, and full of the usual familiar chords and variations of pace. That’s not to say it’s always predictable, but do we really want Slayer to do anything different anyway? Of course not.
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The Rocktologist
Slayer are back with grim inevitability – paying homage to their fallen brother while recapturing scorched-earth thrash metal charm in all its glory. Cheers!
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Metal Music Archives
The songwriting is generally on a high level, the musicianship is strong as ever, and the sound production is professional, heavy, and raw. "Repentless" is probably the most meaty and heavy sounding album yet released by Slayer.
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Metal Riot
It’s not South Of Heaven but it sure as hell aint Maroon 5 either and it sounds like Slayer to me.
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SLUG Magazine
Truly, Slayer has done an impeccable job exploring new territory while staying true to their sound—it may not be as illustrious as Reign in Blood, but its spot in their discography is just as relevant.
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No Clean Singing
Repentless is not a definitive album, but it’s a defiant album that saw the band go out how they wanted to, in a way that embraced their evolution. I personally think that’s pretty sick.
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Punk Rock Theory
“Repentless” might not be Slayer’s career-defining album, but you can still headbang the f*** out of these tunes. And that’s good enough for me.
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National Rock Review
Titans of thrash Slayer have no remorse on Repentless. The album demonstrates why they are the most influential metal band of all time.
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Sputnik Music
Over all this is an amazing album. SLAYER may be old but they also rule.
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Exclaim
This isn't going to be one of the classic Slayer albums, but there's still plenty of good thrash to be found on Repentless.
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The Sludgelord
It is not perfect by any means, and is perhaps a couple of tracks too long, but all in all, this is SLAYER. No sell out, no compromise, no change. Business, in fact, as usual.
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Markus' Heavy Music Blog
This can add a total new dimension to Slayer's sound, considering what the guy did for Exodus. So far so good and eight points.
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Worship Metal
Love ’em or hate ’em, they’re back and “Repentless” is a short, sharp shock of relentless Thrash.
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The Skinny
Epentless, initially, comes off as classic Slayer – furious riffery and breakneck pace characterising the likes of Take Control and Cast the First Stone – but dig a little bit deeper and it’s clear that the creative responsibilities have shifted primarily to King, who has subtly retooled the band in his own image more than ever before.
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Glide Magazine
The newest incarnation of the band is no less pummeling but it seems to be universally agreed upon that this is a watered down version of Slayer. While Repentless is, as a whole, unsurprising and underwhelming, it still has classic elements of the Slayer sound.
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Wall of Sound
Quintessentially Slayer, the band have proved themselves to be relevant, even without the brilliance of Hanneman to appease older fans and contain enough riffage and supreme guitar work to entice the younger generation. Four decades on, Slayer are still holding the fort as the gatekeepers of thrash.
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Metal Addicts
I do recommend you check out this album if you’re skeptical because it does have some nice bits without a doubt, but overall this record could use just a little bit more for me.
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The Pioneer
It’s an all over good album that has the best of the genre incorporated in a well sounding package. It’s a hidden “best of album of one of the biggest acts in the world.
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Spotlight Report
Repentless sounds surprisingly good, and as an album as a whole it is also more consistent than anything the band has put out in a long time.
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Infrared Magazine
This CD is a great mix of killer riffs, a great vocal delivery and that trademark Slayer sound that we all are excited around release date.
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Loud and Heavy
The biggest of the big 4 have created another astounding metal album. Production, mixing, track arrangement, sound quality, and trashing speed all rank up there as some of their best work.
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Metal Revolution
Repentless is surprisingly fired-up album and King’s song-writing is far better than expected.
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Explicity Intense
Slayer’s not just back, they’ve reinvented their old school extreme metal brutality, and have released their best sonic, swarm of terror insanity in the form of “Repentless”.
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Treble Zine
Repentless, while promising in a few places, is ultimately a missed opportunity. Slayer can certainly do better, but maybe this version of Slayer can’t.
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Backseat Mafia
If this is indeed their death knell, at least Repentless is seeing that they go out bloody, kicking, and screaming.
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Skullbanger Media
I really enjoyed ‘Repentless’ and felt it really delivers a solid old school thrashing that both Slayer fans will like and also the poser losers like me can enjoy!
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Diary of a Music Addict
As a casual Slayer fan, I was pleased with this album. Die hard fans might find more to criticize than I did, but to me “Repentless”is a great Slayer album.
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Rawckus
This record shows a group that is not sloppy or weighed down by age. This record is lean, mean, and ready to corrupt. It is repentless-ly and aggressively Slayer as they are.
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Houston Press
If any band was going to pull such an impressive feat as writing Repentless, it would have to be Slayer. Even the Smithsonian agrees. Recently spotlighted in the Institute’s National Museum of Natural History, Slayer is the voice of thrash — for once, academia gets it correct.
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My Global Mind
It amazes me that when people are writing you off Slayer, you come out with an album that the haters cannot ignore.
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Teeth of the Divine
It starts fantastically, then meanders around in mediocrity for too long. It won’t do anything to change the minds of those who left the bandwagon years ago, but should more than appease the hardcore fans, as well as provide a nice Slayer fix for those that fall in between the extremes.
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Alt Dialogue
Repentless isn’t Slayer’s finest piece of work, they’ll never be as good as they were in the early to mid eighties, but it does outshine modern metal.
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gbhbl
An excellent album closer that showcases what Slayer have always been about while also added more slower elements & keeping things intensely heavy.
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Skulls N Bones
Slayer haven’t recreated any of their best albums on Relentless, but what they have delivered is a damn fine piece of modern metal with a classic vibe.
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Something Else Reviews
I’m as surprised as anyone that I’m saying this, but Repentless is a pretty good record. Will it stand with their classics? Not really. But I think it’s probably the best complete album they’ve done since 1994’s Divine Intervention. For me, that’ll do.
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Spectrum Culture
Slayer not only has something new to say on Repentless, but a new way to say it. Yes, Slayer still sounds like Slayer (they have lost none of their edge nor their heavy metal sensibilities) but they repeat nothing on their latest release.
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DIY Mag
'Repentless' may mark an end to one of the more tumultuous phases of their career, but theres one thing it screams: Slayer are still- and will always be- Slayer.
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Last Rites
Repentless could be the last Slayer album, and if it is, it’s not a horrible way to go out. It’s not a classic, but it’s far from the embarrassment many were expecting.
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Dumb Music Talk
Repentless feels more like a functional product than an album. As a Slayer album, it works, but there was no passion put into making it. I mean, let’s be honest, at the end of the day this album wasn’t a labour of love, it was a shameless cash grab by Kerry King.
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New Transcendence
Repentless is one of the best metal albums of the year. With monstrous instrumental work and soul-crushing vocal efforts, Slayer has crafted yet another masterpiece that further cements their legacy as the kings of metal. It’s a brutal reminder as to why they were given the title of kings, and one that will be replayed for years to come.
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Nick Gregorio
Look, Repentless is a Slayer album. It’s awesome in all the ways in should be.
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The Headbanging Moose
I’m not sure if the final result was exactly what the band wanted, but it’s in my opinion too slow and not as heavy or dark as it should have been.
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Bloody Good Music
it's a pretty good modern Slayer record. I had my concerns about Slayer at this point in their career, but I have to admit that "Repentless" is a better record than I would have predicted.
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Music Trespass
This demands to played on repeat, each song bleed into the next it’s simply fourty minutes of Slayer on form and doing what they do best which is exactly what I wanted and needed from them.
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Daily Utah Chronicle
Although this album does not come close to the genre-changing “Reign in Blood” it is still an excellent album for metal fans.
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Bearded Gentlemen Music
while Repentless could be much much worse, it certainly isn’t the best metal album to come out in the past ten years.
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