Kreator - Gods of Violence (2017)^{Release ID: 1453}

When people ask me when I lost interest in the genre of thrash metal, I point them firmly in the direction of the years 2014-2016. During that time, all of the big four thrash bands released records. None of them were very good, yet everywhere I went, I heard cries of "thrash resurgence". I could not, in good faith, take the genre seriously anymore when their golden geese were releasing uninspired records and the only one that was any good (Anthrax's For All Kings) was underrated. This was in addition to many other B tier 1980s thrash bands like Exodus, Testament and Death Angel making a resurgence.

2017 was the end of my metal purge after post-secondary and I wanted something of sustenance beyond the tech-thrash coming out of Vektor and Revocation. So out comes Teutonic thrashers Kreator early in the year with Gods of Violence. I hadn't heard Kreator in quite some time but even I knew that this melo death inspired hybrid was not how Kreator sounded during their formative years. And yet for some reason, I really enjoy Gods of Violence. This is very likely the case that Teutonic thrash takes its influence from power metal; bands like Blind Guardian and Helloween have their influence felt in a lot of the lead guitars on "Gods of Violence" and "Lion with Eagle Wings". The albums main riffing is has some of that old school Slayer sound, while the modern production gives it some girth, and does have moments that remind me of modern Arch Enemy. Together, it might seem like Gods of Violence is a bit of a mess, but unlike the recent BABYMETAL album, these pieces are not kept isolated to single tracks on the album. Kreator have done an adequate job of revitalizing their sound to the modern age. Granted, I think Nuclear Blast might have something to do with that.

Gods of Violence was an album that took me a while to appreciate, given the time when I received it. It's a powerful record with lots of progressive effects used by Kreator to assist in relevancy. The main hooks are kind of hit-and-miss, but the hits do hit hard, songwriting is not bog standard and not a Sami guitar wank fest for almost an hour. When I'm not listening to progressive/technical thrash in my spare time, Gods of Violence is the type of thrash metal I use to relax.

Best Songs: World War Now, Gods of Violence, Lion with Eagle Wings, Fallen Brother