Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Kreator - Hate über Alles (2022)

The more I hear from bands that formed a significant portion of my listening habits over the years the less impressed I become. Kreator’s first five albums, although not flawless, are one of the most consistently developing paths in my thrash metal journey. Granted after this, things waned on the success front (for me at least) and so catching up with them now in 2022 and hearing the bag of parts that constitutes Hate über Alles  brings with it the realisation that Kreator are best left confined to those 80s and early 90s pinnacles.

Kreator in 2022 have lost a fair old amount of their thrash and large parts of this album are meandering heavy metal tracks that sound like they have been written by a band with far less experience than the 40 years of activity amassed in the German’s ranks. Whilst there are most definitely tracks here that hark back to their thrashing heyday like the title track, there are deceiving tracks such Conquer and Destroy that starts promisingly but is cursed with a meandering middle section that it never recovers from. There are also absolute turkeys such as Become Immortal and Midnight Sun.

Reading an interview earlier with Mille, he mentions that he has written over 170 songs in his lifetime and there is not much more in the tank. He’s right based on the majority of the eleven tracks on display here. I would estimate there are eight tracks here that are absolute skip-fodder with some of them holding little if any appeal for even the more modern thrash metal fan. Even if fist-pumping anthems are your thing, I am not sure the effort involved to get to these fleeting moments of memorability are worth it in all honesty.