As one of very few long-sustained idealist factions left within the pantheon of the original thrash metal movement Essen, Germany-borne quartet KREATOR persist in mind as key representatives in approach of this fairly accessible sixteenth full-length album. Despite the increasingly approachable gloss given to their work ‘Krushers of the World‘ yet manages to inspire thanks to its balance of anthemic rouse and tuneful-yet-ripping signature. Seated, wide-eyed and presented with a toe squarely set within 2026 their work continues to seek its next statement, a new variant or different path forward and that’ll hit for better or worse depending on what sort of fan you are.

Kreator technically formed as a quartet circa 1982 under the title Tormentor but took their infamous name in 1984. Somewhere in that process of transformation their original lead (?) vocalist died of a drug overdose and soon after guitarist Miland “Mille” Petrozza shared vocal duties with drummer Ventor as they’d moved forward as a trio per their original iconic lineup. Their earliest work was, alongside similar material from Sepultura and Sodom among others, viewed as extreme for its aggressive approach to speed, raw vocal sounds and variously violent and political lyrical content. In fact their first ~2-3 full-length albums are viewed as blueprints, a golden standard for extreme thrash metal which are yet emulated and worshipped to this day with ‘Endless Pain‘ (1985) bearing relevance to black/thrash metal ideals and of course ‘Pleasure to Kill‘ (1986) serving as an integral shaper of death metal composition for many key artists. For my own taste their work has been vital to the thrash metal experience and fandom per their “classic” era 1984-1990 and persists as mandatory listening for those seeking to understand underground thrash (and death) metal development which you’ll find has been generationally sustained through the broad range of influence sparked then and now.

From 1985 ’til 2001 Kreator did not rest, releasing a full-length album at least every ~12-24 months while touring each one. In their efforts to fight off tunnel vision much of the 90’s was spent experimenting the same way many of their peers had: Industrial metal, psychedelic sounds, and even a ‘Chaos A.D.‘ feeling aggro/groove metal record (‘Cause for Conflict‘, 1995) folks my age will likely appreciate in hindsight… but they’d always been revered for aggression. The real second life of the band began with ‘Violent Revolution‘ (2001) a hard-yet-melodic thrash record which arrived just as the neothrash movement was beginning to explode, carrying some of the anthemic force of ‘Coma of Souls‘ (1990) but also a sound which reflected the melodeath-thrash muse popularized by Danish and Swedish bands of the late 90’s/early 2000’s… most of them heavily inspired by Kreator to begin with. As a longtime fan I would say the ‘Enemy of God‘ (2005) tour was probably the most inspiring point of contact with the band in general, the crowd and the band were mutually feeling the impact of the record while appreciating the legacy behind it. Granted it has been twenty years and five albums since then and I don’t know if I’d hold anyone’s attention prattling with anecdotes for each one.

From my point of view the pandemia beyond MMXX offered both mortal threat and uncertainty enough that any thinking person, afflicted by solace or torment alike, likely reevaluated and/or reinforced their purpose… and in the case of Kreator ‘Hate über alles‘ (2022) addressed the need to inspire more than inflame, taking on a sort of “heavy metal” solidarity amidst a stadium-built sound with a ~different shade of melodicism applied; Reaching back to the band’s more recent discography might help to put into context this shift away from all-in assault, they are yet indebted to thrash metal violence and uproar by DNA but have increasingly worked with producers (a la Jens Bogren) to entertain a more melodic and engaging option, or, at least more than a blitzkrieg of protestation and defiance. This is potentially doubly indicated by ‘Krushers of the World‘ being titled as a sort of victory lap after forty-plus years of consistent album and touring cycles, they came/saw/conquered and this album was wrought in reflection as much as timely observance.

As you might’ve gathered I am a huge fan of Kreator but also stuck between the very distant past (1985-1990) and the regeneration of the band (2001-2005) in terms of where I place my enthusiasm for their work. The trouble with ‘Krushers of the World‘ isn’t that it looks forward rather than backwards, it does a bit of both anyhow, but rather that it has the opposite problem as that of Sodom‘s ‘The Arsonist‘ where the need for catchiness, for stadium friendly rhythms and melodicism occasionally undercuts the aggression that’d built my fealty for their name. Now, don’t get me wrong there are ripping moments and references to classic songcraft throughout this album but there are a few pieces here which speak to generic melodic metal tropes despite the strong signature of the band persisting. It should ultimately become clear that a few songs received far more attention, or arrived with far more developed ideas, than others.

From Hell and beyond their hisses can be heard as opener “Seven Serpents” a dramatic, determined reveal which bristles with the jettisoned riffcraft and melodeath worthy, a piece which to me sought to connect the peak of their transition into the 90’s alongside their reinvention in the early 2000’s. It is only just the initial bluster into the action but constitutes a new variant for Kreator on some level. The follow-up, “Satanic Anarchy“, follows suit with an earlier Arch Enemy-esque hook n’ trample complete with dueling leads engine revving pre-chorus and sing-along choruses. This is the general the impact of Side A, steadily mid-paced but confrontational anthemic thrash-adjacent pieces built around simple hooks and this is essentially what any up-to-date fan of the band would expect. The big singles and all that are naturally set up front with “Krushers of the World” providing the initial outlier: A slow-stomped stadium anthem and an inherent heavy metal song which is both “boastful” and presented in solidarity. We do get a burner moment as “Barbarian” cuts through at the end of the first half but it isn’t such a pure and raw moment as their aggression is quickly complicated by heavier yet simplistic chugging and the necessity of a chorus.

“Blood of Our Blood” is, for my own taste, the standout Kreator-type thrash anthem of note among several found on ‘Krushers of the World‘ for the sake of its virtuosic intensity, plenty of shredding and even some ‘Heartwork‘ sounding dual-lead scrubbing to keep the action up throughout. Despite this strong start for Side B the album has already run a believable enough gamut, some very memorable moments and few which are a bit dryly realized, and it seems what follows would inevitably drag on here and there. That said “Psychotic Imperator” speaks for itself as a prime standout here if you’re looking for something more aggressive and riff-thick, the chorales included are brilliant if not somewhat surprising… but I’ll bet most folks will zone out a bit ’til the catchier anthem “Loyal to the Grave” kicks in to close the show. The full listen is well rounded, doesn’t stick around overlong, and manages some pretty damned worthy thrash metal inspired singles though the barrage isn’t without a few sleepier missteps and kinda dull bits here and there.

While I’d liked some of the rough edges of Arthur Rizk‘s noisier treatment of the production values for ‘Hate über alles‘ the crystalline, hi-fi touch of Jens Bogren @ Fascination Street Studios appears to be where Kreator are most comfortable bringing their creative process. Though I find this approach big and certainly loud enough I’m not sure they’ve brought a distinct sound to the album here beyond amplifying the obvious signature available to the band. This is neither good nor bad in a technical sense but I’ve always approached the band’s discography as a series of distinct choices and this one feels comfortable, familiar but status quo. With that said I think one of the best features of ‘Krushers of the World‘ is its aesthetic and especially including the detailed and partially referential cover artwork from Zbigniew Bielak where airbrushed and scratched-at forms only become more worthy of a long stare with each pass. The album experience is all-pro, the curation is excellent, though a few of the songs included here stray too far from my taste as a longtime fan. A moderately high recommendation.

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