The New Music Thread : The Pit Edition

Kreator - Krushers of the World (Released 13/01/26)

Since the turn of the century Kreator have taken to releasing a new album every four or five years and here we are at the beginning of 2026, with the world turning to shit, and the Teutonic Titans delivering full-length number 16. With Mille and Ventor both turning 60 this year, it would be overly optimistic to expect that they will ever reproduce the bile and venom that they unleashed with their classic period which spanned from "Pleasure to Kill" to "Coma of Souls". Indeed, they haven't really issued anything essential since 2005's "Enemy of God". This does not, however, mean that a new Kreator album deserves to be ignored. No, far from it because, although "Krushers of the World" is inconsistent and patchy, occasionally a brief glimpse of former brilliance does shine through.

There are riffs a-plenty and there is a decent energy to the album, but on the whole this latest is a little too groove-laden for my particular taste with choruses that often seem to have been written with optimum catchiness in mind and, as such, it lacks the biting venom of the band's best work. Some of the best moments come from the guitar solos which are deployed more sparingly than I would like, but when they are used, such as during "Barbarian and "Combatants"," they elevate the tracks with a level of intensity that the riffs and vocals don't quite encapsulate. For my money, the clear highlight of the album is "Psychotic Imperator". It sounds the closest to classic-era Kreator with an added choral section and a searing guitar solo that elevate it to head and shoulders above the rest of the album.

I guess that "Krushers of the World" delivers pretty much what you would expect from a Kreator album at this stage of their career, being cast into shadow by the monumental magnificence of their best and trying a little too hard to capture listeners with sometimes overtly catchy choruses. I am sure there are many who couldn't wait to tear this apart and I have no wish to join them as nothing here is actually poor but, apart from the aforementioned "Psychotic Imperator" I can't hear too much that will keep me returning to this either.

3.5/5

I am pleasantly surprised by this album if I am honest.  I was so pissed off by their last studio album that I gave it a 2.5 rating, and it fucking deserved it.  This one is a different beast to my ears, the melodeath elements combine with the thrashing intensity we have come to expect of Teutonic thrash almost perfectly.  I cannot say the record is absent of filler and I am not a fan of the track with the singer from Hiraes on it either, but album number sixteen is a solid affair, well played, memorable and carrying some thankfully familiar levels of intensity.