For their fourteenth album Kreator are back with a couple extra features they haven’t really bothered with before, namely four tracks with orchestral accompaniments arranged by Fleshgod Apocalypse, collaborating with German pop artist Dagobert along with harps and bagpipes on other tracks. What’s also clearly apparent is how in sync this quartet is, considering the line-up of Mille Petrozza, Sami Yli-Sirniö, Christian “Speesy” Giesler and Jürgen “Ventor” Reil has been together the better part of 2 decades it’s not hard to understand why.
Ventor works up a steady marching beat on “Apocalypticon” which is quickly accompanied by all the orchestral fanfare required of a powerful intro which spills over into the far more Kreator like “World War Now” where Ventor’s footwork works its way into a frenzy for Mille and Sami to keep up with on their guitars. The leads are particularly fast as they trade back and forth.
I must admit that I really enjoyed the video for “Satan Is Real”, but it’s the blistering pace of the song combined with the aggressively melodic guitars and rather catchy chorus that are going to have everyone singing along when the song is played live.
“Totalitarian Terror” is pure Kreator, even Mille’s chants are reminiscent of old songs where he spits out his vocals at high speed with all the venom required before leads take things to a new level and melodic vocals take the edge off a little as the song winds down.
12-year-old Tekla-Li Wadensten plays the harp for the intro to title track “Gods Of Violence” before it kicks itself into a higher gear releasing its fury in controlled bursts. The way the guitars wind their riffs over and around one another with dynamic flair and in anticipation of what the other guitar is about to play, allows it all to flow exceptionally well.
The leadfest that’s “Army Of Storms” intro has Speesy’s bass accentuating the triplets when the riffs come into full swing thereby allowing the guitars to play slightly calmer melodies before tempestuously whipping about once more.
Boris Peifer from In Extremo adds some bagpipes to “Hail To The Hordes” which for some reason has what I feel is a bit of a beer hall vibe to it, where I can picture it being sung with steins held high.
Stepping in completely a different direction, “Lion With Eagle Wings” is just full on attack from beginning to end, but still managing to throw in some melody and amazing leads.
I nice mid-paced beat gives the guitars on “Fallen Brother” a chance to trade leads having at least one going the entire song.
In the current climate of phobias and intolerance “Side By Side” is a rousing sing along about unity and standing up for one another in a show of strength and solidarity. The lead solo is awesome and Mille’s clean vocals over the acoustic bridge are a step away from the expected gruffness adding an even lighter touch to the song.
The final track “Death Becomes My Light” just falls short of 7 and a half minutes, but in that time passes through numerous movements and progressions of speed and from acoustic with clean vocals to manic with Mille’s trademark hoarse screams then back to gentle and subdued with Sami playing some very jazzy leads over Ventor’s gentle cymbal swishing and Speesy’s popping bass.
For a band that’s had a career of over 30 years and to be bringing out music that’s possibly even better than what they’ve released before is no mean feat, that’s for certain.
(8/10 Marco Gaminara)
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