Kreator: Hordes Of Chaos Review
Avant-Garde And Industrial Influences Left at the Studio, Reviewed!
Jan 31, 2009
Given the amount of coverage it has received over the past year, it'd be easy to think that the current resurgence in thrash metal is a recent phenomenon. While there might be a veritable army of leather-clad newcomers firing on all guns on the live circuit, the first shot was fired way back in 2001 at the exact moment that Kreator released the magnificent Violent Revolution album.
Out went the industrial and avant-garde elements that had plagued their output during the 1990s and in came the furious, pedal-to-the-metal onslaught they had previously traded in. Kreator had returned to their definitive sound; a neck-snapping barrage that resembled a snarling Rottweiler whose owner can barely keep in check.
Second Awakening
Mille Petrozza and the boys haven't been dormant since then by any means and 2005's Enemy Of God even did the unthinkable by outdoing it's predecessor. But now comes Hordes Of Chaos and the momentum has increased again. Someone just let go of that Rottweiler's reins.
Recorded almost entirely on a four-track analog with no overdubs, the German veterans sound stripped-down, raw and downright unstoppable on this album. The artwork that consists of tortured human monsters and tattooed, gun-waving lunatics can barely hint at the unchecked madness that lurks within this disc.
Listeners shouldn't let that gentle intro to the title track fool them, Hordes Of Chaos is as heavy as a humpback whale made out of platinum hurtling into a garden centre. Warcurse positively screams out of the starting blocks, Jurgen Reil's drums hammering it into fifth gear and not letting up for a second. Escalation seems even faster and features Mille screaming like a banshee throughout.
Impossible Brutality
Elsewhere, more mid-paced thrashers like Absolute Misanthropy and Amok Run help to keep the light and shade balance well adjusted but nevertheless, the album never seriously dips into radio-friendly thrash. If the previous two records have found a nice mix between outright aggression and catchy-chorus accessibility, Hordes Of Chaos favours the violence more.
Not that there aren't hooks here (To The Afterborn is an instant sing-a-long) but by favouring a more ramshackle production and focusing on pure speed, Kreator have crafted an album that could easily match the caffeine-riddled energy of their early work.
Death Is Your Savior
Its almost insulting that there are bands out there working on their debut albums who don't sound anywhere near as hungry or passionate as Kreator do on Hordes Of Chaos and yet this is their twelfth full-length release in a career that has lasted over two decades.
The circle pits on the festival circuit are going to be immense this summer, hands down the best thrash metal album of 2009 already, and nobody seems to care that it's only January!
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