Review by Rexorcist for Kreator - Pleasure to Kill (1986)

A few years ago, I went on a Kreator marathon, listening to several of their albums and saving their apparent crowning jewel for last, that being their sophomore, Pleasure to Kill.  Having been extremely impressed with several other hit albums, a part of me believed I was in for the ride of my life with this one.  And it was a great ride, definitely, and the worst of the bunch.  So what makes me, a big thrash fan, possibly say that about such a beloved album that helped influence death metal?  Simple, the same thing that has killed the five-star for many other albums across many other genres: favoring the genre over the art.  In thrash's case, it's relying on heaviness to do the bulk of the work.  And this is one of the heaviest thrash albums you're ever going to find.

This is the second time I've heard the album.  Now lyrically, the album is beautifully disgusting and disgustingly beautiful.  There's an amazing sense of imagery and prose bleeding through some of these songs.  Too bad I can't make out most of what this guy is SAYING, THOUGH.  As well, the heaviness can make the album sound messier than the riffage deserves to sound, and it largely does the same thing throughout most of it.  It stops being a hot mess of production overcompensation on track 5, Riot of Violence, but it's not that long into the song before it decides, "let's include a little of it anyway just to keep saying 'HEY WE'RE HEAVY'" like they aren't already saying it.  Any real sense of art beyond the intro comes in a few tracks in at the beginning of The Pestilence, and the album's already halfway done by then.  And as I predicted, this artistic intro lasts 30 seconds of the seven minutes.  With this going on for seven minutes, I almost feel offended that the musical community considers this one of the pinnacles of thrash creativity.

I might get some slack for this, but heaviness aside, this album boasts none of the creativity I look for in this genre.  I can give it extra points for heaviness and proper production, yes, but I'm struggling not to rate it even more lowly just out of general spite for the idea that this is considered as creative as it is influential.  Many players in thrash and the death genre it influenced would quickly go on to do better things if they hadn't done so before.  This is an album that hides behind speed, production and heaviness to try to make up for sameyness and messiness and somehow got away with it.  And here I was thinking I was saving something special for the last review on my Metal Academy challenge.  I honestly believe this is one of the most overrated albums I've ever heard, and its convinced me to go over those other Kreator albums in the upcoming weeks.

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