Fatal Embrace - Legions of Armageddon (2002)

Fatal Embrace weren't pretty, and they weren't very original, but with the debut The Ultimate Aggression, they managed to drop a decent homage to their German thrashing forefathers, with nods to Venom, Slayer and Bathory. A few years later, they swapped labels (something they've done on each consecutive album) and released Legions of Armageddon, which follows the same course as the debut, only faster, meaner, and just an elbow's room superior. The vocals are pretty great here, often veering into primordial death metal territory, but the real treat is the Harris Johns production, which is nearly as legendary and balanced as his classic 80s arsenal (in particular I was reminded of Sodom's Agent Orange).

The catch is that the sophomore has a fluctuating 'peaks and valleys' quality. The warring sample of "Wishmaster's Revenge" tears into "666 (Massacre in Paradise)", which is a fortress of tight Germanic speed riffing and bloodsoaked, death vocals; and the more measured thrashing of "Legions of Armageddon" itself. But by then, you've descended from the infernal clutches of the hellish heights to the more flat plane of "Mentally Perversion", which doesn't have much to it except some standard, forgettable riffs. "Returned to Hell" and "Trapped in a Violent Brain" pick the pace back up to a violent explosion, the latter with a lot of Slayer influence, and then we run smack into another average track, "Spellbound by the Devil", with only 1-2 exciting riffs. The following "Depraved to Black" slows to a crawl, with a dark, morose opening sequence that splices off into more mediocre thrashing, but thankfully the closer "Wargods of Thrash" goes all epic on us and lives up to its title.

The songwriting is comparable but less exciting compared to Swedish bands like Witchery and Bewitched, and it lacks the feral charms of an Aura Noir, but overall it delivers on a number of fronts, especially for those craving generic occult assault thrash with a thread of authenticity needled through its viral speed. I definitely enjoy Dirk Heiland's style, brooding and angry and capable of a quality growl if the aggression merits such, and the guitars are so crisp and brutal that I'm often willing to forgive the underwhelming note sequences. But in the end, even though they write good albums that please the palette for pain and velocity, they simply don't have the structure or the resonant choruses that their influences made legendary, and thus the label of overly qualified tribute can't seem to be shaken free of their leather and bullet belts.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.fatal-embrace.net/

Witchburner - German Thrashing War EP (2002)

Despite their general lack of contributing anything new to the genre of black/thrash, Witchburner have kept themselves busy in their adoration of the past, releasing a good number of splits outside of their full-length studio albums. They also released a pair of EPs in the early 21st century that bridged the years between Incarnation of Evil and Final Detonation, and German Thrashing War is the first of these, clocking in at under 20 minutes that unfortunately peaks quite early with the title track. This is a pretty limited release, and Witchburner certainly engaged in the idea of collector's items in the vein of Japan's Sabbat or Abigail (in fact, they've done a split release with the latter), so there's not a ton of value here if you're not the consummate completist.

The title track itself is a finely produced burst of energy with some solid riffing and incredibly vocals that hearken back to Incarnation of Evil, or more appropriately the early releases of Kreator, Destruction and Sodom, and this is certainly one of the band's better songs career-wide, but the other songs manage only to trail behind. "Only Blood Will Remain" and "Arrival of the Last Storm" are both decent (the latter also being released as a 7" EP single the following year), but "Raped in Ecstasy" wins the silver medal here with its wild vocals and more subtly entertaining guitars. The band have also included a cover of "Witchfinder General" from that band of the same name, dubbing it "Witchburner General". The old school NWOBHM/rock riffs stand as a stark contrast to the faster originals, but they do a bang-up job of mashing it into their own beast thanks to the vocals and great, groovy lead sequence.

German Thrashing War is well produced, even more so than Incarnation of Evil which seemed pretty inconsistent despite its superiority to their older records. The guitars are authentic, honest, and very bright in the mix, and the vocals are carnal and memorable. Unfortunately, the music isn't always the greatest, and apart from "Raped in Ecstasy" and "German Thrashing War" itself I can't think of much reason to spin it, even with the classy choice of covers. But if you're a die hard for the style of black/thrash that Witchburner espouses, enough that you tracked down and purchased all their other albums, then you should give it a listen or two and see if it's worth thinning the wallet.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.witchburner.de/

Destruction - Alive Devastation (2002)

Destruction's 1989 offering Live Without Sense remains as perhaps my favorite single live thrash album of all time, proving the Germans could do a great job with the format; and coming off their studio masterpiece in The Antichrist, I had accumulated some rather high hopes for Alive Devastation, despite the fact that it would only initially be coming out only in Japan (US fans can acquire it within the Live Discharge: 20 Years of Total Destruction DVD package and avoid the steep import price). Unlike it's predecessor, this album was recorded as a 3-piece, so I was a bit curious to see how the guitars would sound in the setting, and since the band had recently swapped out Sven Vormann, it would also be interesting to hear how the new guy Mark Reign would perform (he'd played in some obscure death and black metal acts prior to Destruction).

Well, this is no Live Without Sense, but I am satisfied that the band has at least done a decent job of shuffling their older and new material here, and the stage sound doesn't seem to suffer from the lack of an extra guitarist whatsoever, since Schmier's frenzied presence and the material is simply too strong not to succeed. The tracks from both eras seem to flow seamlessly into one another, and there are a number of favorites to be had. "Nailed to the Cross", "Bullets from Hell" and "Thrash Til Death" are naturally included from their most recent studio offering, The Antichrist, and they've also summoned up "Machinery of Lies", "Tears of Blood" and "The Butcher Strikes Back" from the prior effort, All Hell Breaks Loose. The remainder of the set is rounded out by essential classics like "Mad Butcher", "Eternal Ban", "Curse the Gods", "Bestial Invasion", "Invincible Force", "Life Without Sense", and of course "Total Desaster". It's an extremely safe selection, and granted all of the older material was incorporated on the 1989 album, but the riffs still feel fresh and visceral, and the performances of the entire trio are commendable.

What's interesting is that there are some technical difficulties in the set, Sifringer's amp cutting out, and the band chose to just leave them all on the recording. It's a fairly honest maneuver, and seems to do nothing to dissuade the Wacken 2002 crowd, who merely shout and encourage the band patiently from off-stage. Schmier also drops a lot of f-bombs on stage, perhaps too often that it feels cheesy, as if he's got a serious profanity problem (despite the guitar malfunction), but this doesn't have anything to do with the actual songs being hammered out. His voice isn't as peak and surgical sounding as it might have been in the late 80s, but it's still executed very well, and I'm sure there are many who prefer them on the more recent releases. Alive Devastation is not exactly a fan's dream; I would never choose it over Live Without Sense; but it's good for what it is, and certainly worth owning if you can snag it along with Live Discharge. Just don't bother importing the original live-only album unless you're a glutton for punishment (it's probably about $40 US if you can find it.)

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.destruction.de/

Holy Moses - Disorder of the Order (2002)

The Master of Disaster EP displayed a returned, reinvigorated Holy Moses with a fresh line-up, but the true test would come with the first planned full-length, Disorder of the Order, which came out the following year, once more through Century Media. Once again we've got a heroine on the cover, fighting demons in a cheesy comic book motif, but at least this album image doesn't seem as self-aggrandizing as the following two. What's better, this is easily the most exciting Holy Moses material during the 'second wind' of their career (i.e. the 21st century), and it brings back a lot of the crisp, barbaric riffing of their classic Finished with the Dogs, flavored with some curious mid-paced tracks that mix rock and thrash to interesting effects.

If you were keen on Master of Disaster, then this is a direct continuation of that sound, but with better overall writing. The highlights are clearly the faster paced pieces like the impressive and filthy blitz of "We Are At War" and "Break the Evil", or the more measured, tempo shifting "Hell On Earth". All of these feature tight riffs and reckless speed circa "Current of Death", and even if they don't quite match that level of sporadic memory punching, they're far better than almost anything the band had released since the 80s. Then there are the more unusual tracks, like the slow-moving groove/thrash of the title track, with gang shouts and some interesting spikes of bouncing guitar melody that tie them together; "Deeper" with its subtle synthesizer atmosphere and roiling, chugging sequences carried along at a march-like pace; or "1000" which features crashing melodic walls of guitar and rock chords. Inevitably, there are some that fall between these two poles, in particular "I Bleed" which features some of Sabina's best vocals on the album.

Of course, they're not all diamonds, and my attention seems to always dive near the end of the album. Not that the final four tracks are necessarily bad, but they're not as exciting, and might have been clipped to preserve the dignity and roundedness of the rest. The tribute to the Big Three in "Blood Bond" is quite a nice tough, but it also seems a little haughty to include this band in the 'Holy Kreator of Destructive Sodomy'. I mean, where's Tankard? And while I truly love Finished with the Dogs, more so than anything Sodom ever released, I severely doubt that this band ever had the same impact as those others. But regardless, this track isn't bad and the lyrics aren't at all what I had feared (most of the lyrics are decent). Sabina turns in a fine performance throughout, mixing her early death grunts and rasped adaptations, and the band blazes along as if they were old hands at this style. Sadly, this is the last album Andy Classen would be involved in (songwriting and some guitars), but at the very least he left his alma mater with a bang.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (recoil the reflexes)

http://www.holymoses.net/

Destruction - The Antichrist (2001)

Many seem compelled to call The Antichrist the 'comeback' album for Destruction, but this not chronologically nor logically the case. The sound here is one lifted straight from its predecessor, All Hell Breaks Loose, but pummeled into perfection. That album was a fresh act of violence borne from a stagnant musical relationship, while this is like a freight train hitting you at a thousand miles an hour, a mushroom cloud being formed over your conscience, an instant window to everything you loved about this band in the 80s and then some. Yes, folks, it's time to dust off that trap door in the basement, stock up on canned beans and hide the children, because prolonged exposure to The Antichrist will melt your face off, and incinerate all the loved ones surrounding you. In fact, it's most likely the greatest thrash metal effort yet released in the 21st century.

This is not praise I lavish lightly upon anything, because the genre is perhaps my most beloved and I seem to take it far more seriously than most. It's not a joke to me, and it's far more than a fashion statement. It's perhaps the most energetic and relevant of all metal substrata, but it very often needs a swift kick in the ass to prove so, since so many of the younger practitioners seem to focus solely on a few of the peripheral elements like getting drunk and looking cool in clothes that were long out of style years before they had even achieved an embryonic state. The Antichrist is just such a swift kick in the ass, and though it does arguably bear one nostalgic, self-referential statement as its flagship, it is largely the product of both social and political unrest that defines most of the very best material in this genre. Destruction were older, wiser, and wicked pissed (pardon the Boston in me), and this is the ultimate, unrestrained manifestation of their wrath upon the unsuspecting, passive, sheepish multitude.

This is accomplished with a tone as hard as steel girders being lobbed from a high rise down upon the audience, crushing spines and craniums aplomb. Special credit must be given to the Abyss Studios' and Hypocrisy/Pain mogul Peter Tägtgren for producing and recording the finest work of his studio career, because the mix easily surpasses All Hell Breaks Loose and clings to the remarkable songwriting like leathery plates to a mutant armadillo, protected it across the nuclear landscape while allowing it to better impact the feral hostiles it voraciously tramples. Actually, an armadillo does not do The Antichrist justice. It's more like the bony frills of a triceratops. Truly an impressive work of engineering which perfectly places into perspective the storming payload of Sven Vormann's percussion, the unfathomable riffing riots of Mike Sifringer, and both the bottom end sewage and malicious bark of Marcel Schirmer.

All of this might seem meaningless without the songs to match the unparalleled sonic muster, but The Antichrist has them to spare. Remember when thrash metal albums had songs that you could repeat over and over in your head and to your friends until they hated your fucking guts? Remember the 80s? It seemed like such an advent was prehistoric in 2001, so the Germans decided it was time to unshelf the practice and return it to the fore, so the catchy acoustics and cheesy, endearing pitch-shifted narration of the "Days of Confusion" intro herald a track that would immediately launch itself into history, and probably every Destruction setlist since: "Thrash 'Til Death". The title had been used before, and in all honesty, if it were not one of the original 80s bands doing this, I might have felt the purpose of the track fairly sour. Thankfully, in the hands of this trio, it's simply amazing, with inspirational lyrics that pay tribute to both the loyal thrash fans and artists...

A brief flyby will reveal references in the lyrics to Exodus, Kreator, Possessed, Overkill, Living Death and of course Destruction themselves in what might be the most thinly veiled, shameless self-promotion in thrash history, and the chorus of 'Immortal soul, takes control, immortal soul, thrash 'til death!' is one that would be instantly glued to everyone's tongue. But we're only one song in, and the bastards have more in store, starting immediately with the brick laying rhythms of "Nailed to the Cross", manifest through stampeding guitars and a chorus that dwarfs even its predecessor, one of the greatest (if too obvious) anti-Christian anthems in history, even more entertaining than the bands' own "Curse the Gods". Even the admittedly rock breakdown in the bridge at about 2:00 is good, with Schmier weaving his bass lines like a barbwire fence into the pick-up riff before the final chorus. Already, within about 8 minutes of its existence, this album has propelled itself into the annals of legend, and yet rather than settle on their laurels and pad the content with a slew of filler, there is no end to the violent jubilation.

"Dictators of Cruelty" has a lot of the forward thrust reminiscent of something written for Artillery's By Inheritance or B.A.C.K., while "Bullets from Hell" creates a granite, circular, complex rhythm that makes it impossible to sit still, you just want to bang your head so hard and throw your seat into the nearest window. "Strangulated Pride", "Creations of the Underworld" and "The Heretic" all barrel through the mix like 18 wheelers on autopilot, racing straight to a stockpile of explosives, but there are also some finely executed deviations like the winding, exotic scaling course of "Meet Your Destiny", the feisty muted grooves and discordant gleams within "Let Your Mind Rot", and perhaps even greater, the tasteful, voluptuous onslaught of "Godfather of Slander", which takes yet another compulsive lunge at the Church, or rather a particular individual within its questionable eaves.

42 minutes of calculated concussion. No filler to be found anywhere. Simple and yet strangely effective lyrics. A formula of devastation so assured and convincing that Destruction have been using it repeatedly since (with diminishing returns, since few of their later songs hit home quite so hard). This album is so good that one wonders how much we'd been robbed in the 90s when Schimier and Sifringer had gone their separate ways. Try and imagine if The Antichrist had come out in 1991. It might have saved the entire genre for the next 10 years (irony intended). Then what might they have been capable of in the next century? Well, perhaps I'm sobbing in the spilled milk at such theory, but there's no question that this album at least helped spark a thrash resurgence in the past decade, even if so few other bands have been able to come close to its level of polish and hostility. If you don't own this, you are wrong.

Verdict: Epic Win [10/10] (why don't you fuckin' surrender)

http://www.destruction.de/

Moshquito - World's End (2001)

After what must have seemed like a long and frustrating period of inactivity, due to climates outside the band itself, it must have felt like a relief for the Germans Moshquito to get their debut Secrets out in 1998, and then move forward. World's End sees the band on Morbid Records, and it continues in the same, thick and bombastic direction as its predecessor, but the semi-technical writing with grooving hooks seems to have been sharpened here. The problem is that there are just too many grooves and mid-paced tracks, and very few of them feature impressive riffing or anything more than the average slug-fest you'd expect from, say, Hate Squad or some other purveyor of mediocrity.

"World's End" itself is an exception, incorporating synthesizers and acoustic guitars for a rare atmosphere that works well with the steadied, plodding guitars and constipated, brutal vocal tone, and had the entire album involves such an atmosphere it would have made a far more unique and compelling listen. I can't say that the individual riffs standout, but the leads slice right through and its a mature, engrossing listen. There are a few others with the same aesthetic, namely "Cold Grave" and "Liquid Killer" which both has great bass work involved, but to even arrive at this point you'll have had to wade through less impressive numbers like "Do What You Want" and "Animals". The band too seldom picks up the pace, aside from a few outbreaks in "Hunting Demon" or "Flesh", so despite the album's admittedly dark and sobering tone, it does eventually develop some degree of ennui in listening, like frost slowly gathering in the eardrums.

The production is also not that hot, but then this was not exactly a high budget recording. The guitar and bass players are talented enough, trying to keep the compositions hectic in spite of their methodical plotting, but they're not mixed very well together, and I don't care for the guitar tone in general, it's too reminiscent of other dull groove/thrash records which sound absolutely lifeless. The vocals are suitably angry but monotonous after a spell, this guy will rarely attempt anything outside of his safety zone, and the material suffers as a result, especially those cuts that hint at a deeper beauty (the title track, for example). World's End is somewhat of a progression from the debut, but a sideways progression, with a few interesting ideas that don't seem fully enough developed.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/moshquitometal

Witchburner - Incarnation of Evil (2001)

Come 2001, there may have been less of an immediate need for artists to come along and fill in the footprints of the German thrash legends, because all the important ones were active and once again performing the music we so loved in the first place. But bands like Witchburner, who were known for their worship of old Kreator, Sodom and dark US bands like Slayer or Possessed, also chose this time to step up their game, and Incarnation of Evil is a clear improvement over either Witchburner or Blasphemic Assault in both the songwriting and production categories, with a number of pieces here that stand to date as the most impressive of the band's whole career...

However, there is still some inconsistency plaguing the material, and several of the songs sound as if they were mixed separately. I love the seductive, evil intro to "Devils and Witches", and it's a pretty straight shot to mid 80s Kreator or Sodom, speedy muted guitar streams that do not unfortunately conjure up catchy riffs over Patrick Kremer's vocal splatter. "Nuclear Overkill" is better, but "Hexenhammer" just violates everything else on this album, a raw rush of reckless and relentless aggression that highlights simple and effective riffs and slathered, overbearing vocals that completely fucking dominate through their eccentricity. A few more songs like this, and we might have had a minor masterpiece on our hands, but the quality doesn't hold up. "War and Witchery" and "Execute Them all" are decent for a slower pace, and "Ultra Violence" and "View Beyond" provide a similar headbanging mania to "Hexenhammer", but it's only the closer "Metal Warriors" which has riffs just as good, and this is another of their career heights, though some might be put out by the cheese of the chorus.

All said though, Incarnation of Evil is the first Witchburner album that I can sit through in its entirety and enjoy, with only a few inklings of boredom. It might lack the decrepit, lo-fi appeal of its predecessors, but it maintains all of their charm, with the rasped and violent vocals and the 80s purity of the writing. If you're into the nostalgia of bands like Witchtrap and Nocturnal then this is not something to turn your nose from. Old school, ridiculous lyrics and song titles, leads ripping into abandon, blazing 'we don't give a fuck' guitar riffs and seriously awesome cover art ensure that the patch enameled, denim high hesher crowd will devour this in full, despite its inconsistencies.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.witchburner.de/

Holy Moses - Master of Disaster EP (2001)

With Sabina Classen off promoting the absurdly weak Temple of the Absurd and Andy Classen having transformed Holy Moses into some sort of hardcore/death metal hybrid, it was pretty clear that the natives were restless by the mid-90s. So when the German thrash staple took a dirt nap for the foreseeable future, it was an understandable and welcome maneuver. But it wouldn't last forever. Come the 21st century, after a few health concerns for Sabina that included accidents on both the live stage and a motorcycle, Temple of the Absurd called it quits, the Classens reunited to write some new material for their delinquent musical entity, and were picked up by the now massive Century Media label for the Master of Disaster EP and Disorder of the Order full-length.

This is a sort of 'no hard feelings' reunion that does warm the heart and reeks of maturity. But by this time, Andy Classen had also grown as a recording engineer and producer, so he would not be committing full-time to Holy Moses, and remained on only for songwriting and backing vocals. So Holy Moses got an entirely new backing band: Jörn Schubert, Franky Brotz, Jochen Fünders, and Julien Schmidt, all of whom were kicking around in lesser known German acts, but prove that together they know how to tear out some god damned thrash. Master of Disaster is not a bold new direction for the band, but a return to their late 80s thrashing with a glossy mix and some slight modernization. It's also the strongest release the band had issued since 1991's The New Machine of Liechtenstein, with a vicious appeal and well structured riffing that seemed to mirror the newfound inspiration of the more prominent German thrashers Destruction, Sodom and Kreator, all of which had cast their lot forcefully back into the purebred thrash pageant by 2001.

All of the five tracks here are well managed, but I feel like it functions on the strength of two in particular. "The Hand of Death" is simply my favorite track the band recorded since "Current of Death", which is amusing since they are similar in thrust and aggression, but Sabina was using a more rasped vocal style here, and instead of a soaring clean chorus, the band uses glinting and sad guitar melodies which really drive the verse rhythms home. "Feel the Pain" is also quite excellent, mid-paced battering with semi-tech, clinical riffs and thrifty micro-leads that sail along with the verse vocals. The remaining tunes are also explosive, especially "Taste My Blood" which is sheer excess and violence, but I didn't find their construction quite so memorable. The title cut is worthwhile, but "Down On Your Knees" is probably the least impressive, using a lot of bounce riffs and harmonics to lesser effect.

The EP is definitely not perfect, but it also bears the feel of a phoenix having sorted out its affairs and come back from the ashes of demise. As a renewed statement of intent, it hearkens back to what made the band great by the later 80s, and it appears the Classens had shaken the Seattle and hardcore trends out of their respective systems. I can't say I'm fond of the 'female icon' cover art the band would start to use here, which supposedly represents Sabina herself and comes off as both cheesy and egotistical, a motif which had been absent in their past albums... But hell every Gothic fairycore band was using their frontwoman as a pin-up, so why not an actual metal singer like Sabina?

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (crack the liar's eyes)

http://www.holymoses.net/

Sodom - M-16 (2001)

I was pretty happy when my digipak of Sodom's 10th full-length arrived by post, adorned in all its camouflage glory. Surely the band were going to continue to stir the fires of warfare that they had reignited in 1999's Code Red, and to that extent, this album does not at all disappoint with its meaty rhythms and the unadulterated chaos and violence of its compositions. Bernemann's guitars sound excellent, and if we needed any more evidence that he is in fact the true successor to Frank Blackfire's period of attendance in the late 80s, this is fucking it. In fact, Kost is even more reliable and consistent in his tone and performance, even if the songs don't match up to those written during the band's apex of creativity.

M-16 centers conceptually on the Vietnam War with tracks like "Minejumper", "Marines", "Among the Weirdcong" and "Napalm in the Morning", and this is probably the right band to handle the subject. I actually don't enjoy the opener "Among the Weirdcong" all that much, the bouncing flow of the verse riffs is rather uninteresting, but they more than compensate when they blast out storms of hostility like "I Am the War", "Minejumper" and "Cannon Fodder". A good deal of the album is performed through a slower or middle tempo, with an atmospheric punk/rock frenzy returning for "Marines", or the marching substrate to "Genocide" and "Little Boy", but thankfully a lot of tracks like "Lead Injection" create a nice balance and I can't say I was ever really bored listening through the album as a complete work.

However, the album does lack when it comes to manifesting a single go-to, classic Sodom track, which even Code Red provided (several times). The obvious anger, the guitar tone, passion for the subject material and the solid Harris Johns mix all go along way towards consistency, but there are painfully few individual segments that cry out for an instant replay. The cover of The 1963 classic "Surfin' Bird" (The Trashmen) is strangely poignant here, since the original was likely something the boys in Vietnam might have listened to on the radio, and it feels like it's present more for relevance than simply 'fun'. When all the smoke has cleared, M-16 does not stand among the ranks of the band's best works. Certainly Tom Angelripper has done worse by us than what is present, but you can pick out almost any Sodom album at random (excepting Masquerade in Blood) and target some better written material. This isn't the epic, memorable Vietnam concept album that I've yet to hear in metal, but it's decent enough.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (I cannot build but I can destroy)

http://sodomized.info/

Kreator - Violent Revolution (2001)

It's very amusing to imagine a Frankenstein scenario after the letdown of 1999's Endorama, with a village of crazed and belligerent thrash folk pursuing Mille Petrozza and his gang into a castle on the Bavarian landscape, pitchforks and torches calling out the death of the once-mighty Kreator. However, they were soon to get to work, set up the lightning attractors and kick some life into the patchwork corpse of ideas that brought them to prominence in the first place. Amusingly, there is still a lot of Endorama within Violent Revolution, a number of the songs incorporating the same pensive melodies, but they're cast in a more explosive thrash context that summoned some of that 1989-1990 technical riffing bliss and was also bound to appeal to the melodic death starved audience that was quite wide at the turn of the century.

With Tommy Vetterli (Coroner) departing the team, Sami Yli-Sirniö of the Finnish weirdos Waltari was brought in as replacement, and he's remained ever since (with both bands). I had always wanted to hear his guitars in a more straightforward metal context, and it turns out he's more than fluent, an excellent companion to Mille's composition. "Reconquering the Throne" spends a few minutes in a Coma of Souls but flexes its mellowed, melodic muscle during the bridge. I can't say it's the best opener, or the best song here, but at the very least it's a vortex of energetic and depressive riffing that smelled of better, younger days. "The Patriarch" is a dual guitar instrumental, and a catchy lead-in to the title track, which features stronger guitars that swerve about a solid emotional course and pure mid-paced thrashing verse. The chorus is predictable but it still makes you bang your head, and "All of the Same Blood" returns to the clinical, cynical speed of Coma of Souls, fairly close in composition to a "Hidden Dictator" or "Material World Paranoia".

A few of the tracks strike out on a more original course, like the warlike march of "Servant in Heaven - King in Hell" with its grueling verses and eruptions of glorious melody, or the morose and twisting river of "Bitter Sweet Revenge". However, almost without exception, I found all the album's best moments to come straight in the center of the disc. "Second Awakening" and "Ghetto War" are particularly well written, meshing together the classic Kreator staples of bombast and aggression with the emotional force that was so prevalent on their 1990 master work. Deeper in, "Mind on Fire" also deserves credit, its opening volley my favorite individual riff here, both swagger and mystique colliding with the brief insertions of leads. "Replicas of Life" serves as the "When the Surn Burns Red" of this album, clean guitars ceding into a slugfest of dire and melodic riffs, a decent if familiar concoction.

Violent Revolution was produced by Andy Sneap (ex-Sabbat), a man that knows a thing or two about speed and thrash metal, despite his less desirable credits, and it's incredibly professional sounding, with the same workmanlike clarity of their 1989-90 material, if not more vibrant. Unlike the last two albums, which were far simpler in structure, Mille Petrozza proves that he still has a fire lit under him, and the guitars are in particular the star of this show, both in tone and delivery, which has always been the modus operandi of this band. I actually enjoyed this album quite a lot when it was released, but in retrospect I believe this was largely due to the fact that the band had returned to the style I most wanted to hear them play. I still feel like Violent Revolution has 3-4 excellent tracks, but there are a number here that have no lasting impact whatsoever, and I cannot number it among their better career works. But it's a no-brainer that this is several steps above Endorama in quality.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (reason for the people to destroy)

http://www.kreator-terrorzone.de/