Now this is more of a return to form for the JAR, don’t you think? Given when I personally did music, the genre was Thrash Metal, it always feels good when there’s some Thrash on the horizon.

Kreator has been around for about 40 years if memory serves. German Thrash Metal that never quite made it into the “Big Four” designation; but depending on who you talk to, can always find their way into the “Next Four” conversation. Last year Exodus knocked it out of the park, Testament had a damn good effort in 2020, Megadeth is supposed to have a new album this year (here’s hoping it’s not crap), time to see how Kreator matches up! In all fairness, these guys are lower on my Thrash Metal playlist so we get to have another situation where I’m not overly bias based on fandom or comparing each note to an older song. Hopefully that’s a good thing!

Kreator is: Miland Petrozza (vocals & rhythm guitar), Jurgen Reil (drums), Sami Yi-Sirnio (lead guitar & backing vocals), Frederic Leclercq (bass)

• Artist: Kreator
• Album: Hate Über Alles
• Label: Nuclear Blast
• Total Track Time: 46:15

Sergio Corbucci is Dead is a somber less than a minute instrumental to kick off the song. It has nice drum effects to almost sound like bombs in the background, before we get a galloping/twang of a country western feeling and a hopeful rise as the next song cuts in an attacks! Hate Über Alles hits with the full on thrash attack from the beginning, the verses are attacking and abrupt with a rallying cry style of chorus. Lyrically its simple but damn good for these days basically decrying different forms of hatred, doubt in the government since most propagate hatred, and its an aggressive song with lyrics leaning more towards peace and understanding than anything else. Killer of Jesus picks up as soon as the last song ends, so the first three songs not having a lot of load time helps to make everything feel faster. The chorus is pretty great, “Black flags of the gods, Slay the hand that feeds us, Born to die, anti at heart, Empires bow to the killer”. Contrary to the title, it doesn’t feel outwardly anti-religious, more just a commentary on humanity still using faith to blind them to reality, so people fall into similar holes as those 2000 years ago. These first couple songs feel to be attacking tribalism and the cult mentality that seems to have picked up visible steam over the last few years.

Crush the Tyrants now this…this is awesome. Great slower march to the music and the first verse ropes you into everything; “Are you with us?, We’re the daughters and the sons, In this grotesque insanity, None of us must walk alone, Do you feel it?, Let their end become the start, For the few, the young, the chosen ones, The old, the young at heart”, this is the kind of this I was discussing before with that god awful Three Days Grace album, where the lyrics have a message that doesn’t feel intellectually insulting. Kreator has been around 40 years, which puts the members in the 50s, and this is basically a Millennial/Gen-Z battle cry from people who may not even be considered Gen-X. The march, the great distortion, the vocal delivery, it all brings a sense of urgency and impending doom. It’s a great song. Strongest of the Strong has more of a classic Heavy Metal vibe with a nice melodic aspect, awesome thunderous drums laden with lots of double bass and the chorus remains catchy to a degree. Not bad, and stays in that similar theme they’ve had about rising against tyranny of some sort, the old school classic 80s metal approach does make the song stick out a little as odd though. Become Immortal kicks off making me think I accidentally put on Iron Maiden until the vocals kick in. This definitely is more personal to the band when they bring up the beginning of things in 1984, so it seems like a “remember where you came from” style of song. The bridge before the solo is interesting since it’s just choir style “Oooos” which is very European. It gives that big, anthemic vibe, which works when the song tracks back to the beginning to basically put emphasis on becoming what they are now “immortalized”. With the theme on this album, I won’t lie, I get a few Sabaton vibes and this song definitely helped those vibes along.

Conquer And Destroy the tone of the song adjusts a little in the beginning where we stick in a Blind Guardian/Iron Maiden kind of vibe, but then when the music fleshes out a bit more its got a great old progressive thrash feel. A song about dreams, swords, and destruction; very like Five Magics by Megadeth. The song definitely walks the line between progressive Thrash and Power, especially since during the last chorus, there’s an ethereal voice singing the chorus alone, and then with the lead singer. So it definitely pulls from a few genres, but still feels very cool…just more on the D&D side of the metal game. Midnight Sun okay furious sweep picking and more great drumming draws you in immediately before the lyrics paint the picture of this ritualistic conjuring and Sofia Portanet‘s vocals haunt the song well seemingly taking the perspective of the being being summoned forth. It’s a cool sounding song, nothing resembling Thrash, so this could be a dud for a few people, but it’s not a bad song structurally. Demonic Future we go back to fast and attacking, even if the chorus does slow things down into more of the anthemic power metal/classic metal genre. So this is closer to an 80s Thrash sound, since Thrash still used a lot of classic metal elements early on, but something about the production just drives it a bit further away from Thrash to me. Lyrically when we get to riots and resistance, this seems to be more about the social injustices of the past few years; “Inevitable confrontations, riots, and resistance, Fatal thrones, dark victories bring imminent demise, Like a phoenix from the ashes, another fragile system, Count the dead, we lick our wounds, with new strength we arise”. While not bad, the teeth aren’t really sharpening as the album continues, the music seems to get a little more muddled in classic/power metal moments.

Pride Comes Before the Fall I just got done talking about classic/power metal and this song begins like it should be on a Helloween album. Granted, the calm nearly church style of clean vocals in the beginning, gives way to a blast of metal. It’s just also a classic move to subvert expectations with the clam open and then rip through with what’s more on brand. While lyrically it is still very much on the hate theme, the fact the clean vocals return as a bridge 2/3rds of the way through the song…feels weird. Dying Planet you know, with a title like Dying Planet, I’m very happy I get Doom Metal vibes to start with. Some classic Candlemass kind of instrumentation, blast beats and that sullen doom march. I also really like the second verse; “Is this fate or is this the final omen?, Wipe out the sick, another storm? Crush us in the ground, Like Mars, the father, eons before our time, Species forever extinct resurrеct in different form”, painting the picture that people have theorized Mars being a predecessor to Earth. So the song is literally painting humanity as a disease and causing the planet to die (which isn’t inaccurate). Very interesting way to end the album.

My first major takeaway is the fact that there was no overt Pandemic song! Congratulations! Most heavier bands that utilize social commentary for lyrics had a pandemic song or one that really seemed to be about it, yet this whole album is about how shitty people are! An album pointing out how society has become blind, ignorant, hateful and a danger to itself *chef’s kiss*. Now that doesn’t mean I loved the album, but I really respect the angle they took with the themes.

As for how I feel? There was a thread connecting the whole thing, almost like a concept album but the arrangements and choices in style lost me a little here and there. They also applied a lot of slower choruses with anthemic styles so that got a little exhausting to hear the same breakdown across what felt like 3 songs in a row. The album also felt like it slowed down significantly at the halfway point. A lot of slower or more “progressive” songs bunched together really took some of the momentum out of the album. Not a bad album, but that middle part really cut into my personal rating. Even if the music isn’t bad, as an album; without the hatred and tyranny themes, the songs don’t feel like they belong together. Each song is better individually than as a cohesive album.

Final Judgment: 6.3/10