Along with
Sodom and Destruction,
Kreator were at the forefront of the brutal German thrash scene in the early 80's. The German brand of thrash was much grittier and malevolent than most of it's more refined American brothers. The lyrics screamed of hatred and wild, wanton violence. Only
Slayer could come close match them in the "evil" stakes.
Kreator changed their style and lost their way along with a large portion of their audience in the 90's (as did many of Thrash bands). How many
Kreator fans do you know that worship album like 1997's Outcast over the nastier 80's LP's Pleasure To Kill and Terrible Certainty? Not many I would imagine.
Things picked up for the band at the turn of the century and Violent Revolution (with its super lead single of the same name) in 2001 and 2005's Enemy Of God brought back the more straightforward Thrash and lured the fans back into the fold. For my money they are still nowhere near as strong as the bands earlier work but at least they brought back consistency to their sound.
Now their latest release
Hordes of Chaos is intent in showing a more melodic, but no less manic side to the band. When an extreme band uses phrases like "melodic", you can almost imagine their fans shifting uncomfortably in their seats. But to retain a harsh edge the album's basic tracks were recorded "as live" in the studio and main man Mille Petrozza has stressed that a minimum of overdubs were used to augment this.
Listening to the album, you can without doubt feel this is a more relaxed band going about their business. The drum sound of Jurgen Reil, in particular has a very raw feeling to it and really leaps out of the speakers. There are still obvious moments of studio wizardry, especially for some of the more tuneful parts that layer the latter part of the album but on many occasions the guitars sound as organic as possible.
Not that the album signifies that great a leap back the feral noise of their early albums despise the slight drop in production values from the rest of post millennium output. The vocals in particular are far removed from the early style as Mille is yet again utilising that higher pitched yelp that he has favoured more and more as the years pass.
First track
Hordes Of Chaos, is ushered in by some guitar harmonics but in less than a minute is thrashing away like a maniac. One thing that's instantly notable is the lead guitar. Every single solo on the album impeccably laid down and never fails to impress. Millie and his fellow axe-wielding companion Sami Yli-Sirnio have done themselves proud in this department.
The chorus of the first track, while catchy, highlights a slight problem with the album, repetitive lyrics. The title track,
Amok Run and
Destroy What Destroys You all possess chorus which are essentially made up of shouting the title again and again and again and again..and then one last time at the end of the song for effect. It's effective enough but smacks of somewhat lazy song-writing. It never ruins any of the tracks but is apparent from the first listen.
Despite the Thrash outlook of the band there are more than a few places such as the end section of
Amok Run and most notably
To The Afterborn, that the album begins to resemble a Melodic Death Metal album a la Dark Tranquillity. The intro and especially the guitar and vocal melody in the chorus of the latter take you by surprise with the almost
In Flames delivery, complete with the Maiden style guitar harmonies. Strangely enough, it actually rather works and the faster end section and absolutely ripping solo certainly helps its case. There is a nagging feeling that it's not quite what you want from a
Kreator album but I was able to brush that aside and enjoy the song.
The albums final section is a short gentle picked guitar and bass interlude followed by the harmonious guitar overload at the start of
Demon Prince. This track rounds up the album in a great fashion and is the strongest number on the album. It's basically a mix of all the styles the album has to offer and is a strong song in its own right. Perhaps too much melody for some but by this point you will have either accepted this or will have put the CD back in the box and put on Flag of Hate instead.
Old fans of the band may grumble about being led up the garden path with whispers of a rawer sound turning out to be not quite true but
Kreator have managed to keep a run of entirely decent albums going. Only the slightly pointless
Radical Resistance lets the album down in terms of quality.
Although in all truthfulness just like the proceeding couple of releases, the music contained on
Hordes of Chaos never lingers long in the mind after finishing and doesn't really warrant a continuous place in the CD player. A worthwhile endeavour, just not one with truly lasting appeal.
Written by
Stuart Monday, April 27, 2009
Show all reviews by StuartRatingsStuart: 7/10Members: 7.25/10 - Average of 2 ratings.
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 | Tommy
Rating: 7.5/10
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