Kreator is one of these bands that will never quit, they are active in the metal scene since 1982, according to Mille Petrozza, Kreator exists only from 1985 : “Although we had already started jamming together in ‘82, we only entered the stage two or three times up until ‘85. Back then, our set list consisted of five original tracks and five heavy metal cover songs, we went through several line-up changes and didn‘t really find ourselves until »Endless Pain«.” In my youth I was a big fan of them and still love the tunes from Extreme Aggression and Coma Of Souls. The last decade I didn’t follow them so much but I knew they released some killer albums like Cause For Conflict, Hordes Of Chaos and when I had to chance to catch them live they were still kicking ass. Kreator can be seen as the counterpart of one of the US big four of thrash, even the number one European thrash band.

With their 14th album Gods Of Violence Kreator is still delivering what they are best known for. Sharp riffs, crushing rhythms that will result in tortured neck muscles that only a Thai Massage saloon could do something about it. Opening with a very massive intro that builds up the tension quite well the album grabs you by the balls with World War Now, I can assume when playing this live there will be life threatening moshpits. Satan Is Real can be seen as one of the best songs on this album. Not only thrashy riffs but very good groove which will keep your head banging during the whole song and the verse comes close to a sing along. Continuing this album with ultimate thrash compositions like Totalitarian Terror and Side By Side the quality of the delivered work is very high. Although there are some compositions that are less, Hail To The Hordes for example, but hey, there’s on each album for sure a song that doesn’t fit your needs perfectly.

A song you need to check out is Fallen Brother, which is more a mid tempo song but has a nice groove. Lion With Eagle Wings has a nice intro which results in a classic thrash song from Kreator. It seems they use a lot of intros for their songs this time , for some they had even help from Italian metallers Fleshgod Apocalypse, That Kreator is not afraid to include some different elements can be heard on the title song Gods Of Violence  where a 12 year old kid, Tekla-Li Wadensten , is playing the harp.

Lyrically Mille got his inspiration by the terrorists attacks that happened in Europe and the growing importance of religion . “Currently, religion has regained a level of importance that I would have never considered possible 20 years ago, An extremely dangerous polarization is taking place, giving rise to growing hate among us all. That‘s what I wanted to write about.”

Mille Petrozza, Sami Yli-Sirniö (guitars), Christian “Speesy” Giesler (bass) and Jürgen “Ventor” Reil (drums) have done a very good job, although it took them three years to complete this bastard, they can very proud of it. Gods Of Violence was produced in Sweden with metal producer Jens Bogren in his Fascination Street Studios so production wise this sounds like a beast.  If there’s one thing that maybe became a bit boring on the whole disc is the underlying solo’s they do on a lot of verses, it’s a bit too much of the same, but that’s just me. Don’t let this ruin your experience or your wish to add this album to your collection. Thrashers and fans from the first hour will for sure take this album in their heart. Do not forget to check them out on the upcoming tour with Sepultura, Soilwork and Aborted in the Mast @ Torhout on 03/03. Tickets here : Biebob – Kreator

Release Date : January 27th, 2017
Label : Nuclear Blast
Tracklist :
1. Apocalypticon
2. World War Now
3. Satan Is Real
4. Totalitarian Terror
5. Gods Of Violence
6. Army Of Storms
7. Hail To The Hordes
8. Lion With Eagle Wings
9. Fallen Brother
10. Side By Side
11. Death Becomes My Light