When I think of Kreator, immediately the phrase ‘Time to raise the flag of hate’ comes to mind. Together with Destruction this band stood at the cradle of German thrash. Sure, they stood in the shade of the American thrash bands like Slayer and Exodus and were less appreciated back then, but now the first albums of Kreator are called real thrash classics. Personally I think that some albums released in the nineties are the weakest in the bands anthology, but with ‘Enemy of God’ they were completely back on the right track. In August I was lucky enough to see the band live at Into the Grave festival. One day earlier Slayer was the headliner and after seeing Kreator, I prefer a live concert of Kreator any time. Sure the classics of Slayer are perhaps better on cd, but live the band is just playing on automatic pilot. Not Kreator, there is much more action, joy in playing and interaction with the audience.
Back to the songs and the music on this new release. Well, I am sure the lot of you already listened to the title track and “Satan is Real” on YouTube and I just can say that if you like them, you like the album. It is Kreator from start to finish, but with more melodic pieces added. Guitarsolos and harmonies reminding of old school heavy metal almost with a classic touch. On the other hand there are melodic death metal sounding parts. They found a perfect mix of thrash, melody and brutal aggression. Also the subjects in the lyrics are again well overthought and mean something. Critical as always Mille looks at todays world of terror and destruction and doesn’t run away for it. I am not going to tell you about how every song sounds like, I can only say that if you don’t like this album, you are not a thrash fan…. There are just two tracks I will mention and that is the fast and brutal song “Totalitarian Terror”, combining speed, aggression and melody at its best. The guitarsolos in the song are outstanding! The other one is “Death Becomes My Light”, it starts soft, but speeds up to blossom into an almost epic song with some NWOBHM sounding pieces.
Kreator shows that they still are developing their style, by adding a tad more melody and old school heavy metal parts, but without forgetting their aggressive thrash roots.
Tracklist:
01. Apocalypticon
02. World War Now
03. Satan Is Real
04. Totalitarian Terror
05. Gods Of Violence
06. Army Of Storms
07. Hail To The Hordes
08. Lion With Eagle Wings
09. Fallen Brother
10. Side By Side
11. Death Becomes My Light
Playing time: 51:00
Release date: 27 January 2017
Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Website: www.kreator-terrorzone.de
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