By Jaide Alicia
A solid album from start to finish, German thrash band Kreator’s new album ‘Gods of Violence’ seems to be another reinvention of the band’s musical style – incorporating a myriad of melodic elements to give the album a more clean and polished sound. ‘Gods of Violence’ is considerably different from anything you’d hear from what the band released during the ’80s. If you’re coming to the band’s fourteenth album for another ‘Pleasure to Kill’ or ‘Terrible Certainty’, you’re not going to get it.
Opening the album is ‘Apocalypticon’, a bellicose-type anthem that spans just over a minute in length which prepares you for the war-themed album that is ‘Gods of Violence’. Once you’re about three or four tracks deep into the record, you’ll begin to notice that all the harmonious guitar solos and melodic hooks aren’t going to go away – that’s what the whole album sounds like. As mentioned earlier, ‘Gods of Violence’ is not old-school Kreator by any means. What it is, however, is a new-school spin on the band – incorporating a cleaner sound and melodies with some solid, pounding thrash, to create a sound we’ve never necessarily heard from Kreator.
There’s no question that the talent on this album is bar none. The true “gods of violence” whose immense talent appears on this record include Mille Petrozza (vocals, guitar), Sami Yli-Sirnio (guitar), Christian ‘Speesy’ Geisler (bass) and Jurgen ‘Ventor’ Reil (drums). Among the melodies, there are some shredding and catchy riffs, lightning fast double bass, and remarkable dueling guitar rhythms. All instrumental elements are tied together by Petrozza’s notably wicked vocals with a few screams and shrieks here and there to truly show his vocal abilities.
Is melodic thrash metal a genre? If not, Kreator, well, created it with this release. ‘Gods of Violence’ is a great album, however, I am on the fence as to whether it’s a great Kreator album. The undeniable heaviness and brutality that Kreator once had is definitely still there, but has seemingly been turned down a notch or two. The songs are all fairly consistent sound wise, with just a few tempo changes here and there to create a less ‘in your face’ sound. ‘Gods of Violence’ is a tight record with great production and an overall worthy effort from Kreator.
Rating: 7/10
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Record Label: Nuclear Blast
Release Date: January 27th 2017
Track Listing:
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
Related MA link: [Interview] “In order to Stay Creative, You Need to be Open-Minded’: In Conversation with Kreator frontman Mille Petrozza
Kreator links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram