Kreator - Hordes Of Chaos (Ltd. Ed. CD/DVD)
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Free Music Notes for Hordes Of Chaos (Ltd. Ed. CD/DVD)
Free Music Review: Leaves Something to be desired....
Hit: 3 Stars
Hordes of Chaos is the successor to 2005's impressive Enemy of God, and I don't think it lives up to Kreator's other more recent return-to-form thrash albums (Violent Revolution and the aforementioned Enemy of God). The album begins with Sami Yli-Sirnio playing- an actually quite catchy - melody unaccompanied until his bandmates join the fray and Hordes of Chaos can officially begin. Let me waste no time, the title track is hands-down the best track on this album. It's catchy, creative, energetic, lyrically interesting, and in general everything thrash metal should be. Although placing a shiny piece of copper amongst a pyramid of dog turds will make any scrap of metal seem precious.
The problem isn't the solos, which retain Enemy of God's routine of Mille mindlessly shredding while Sami melodically rebuilds what the former destroys. It's not the choice of topics, which continues thrash metal's preconceived notions of society sucking and people being generally unfeeling zombies who hate everyone (not hypocritical at all, but who am I to judge?). And it's not the fact that this album was recorded live (the band records together simultaneously instead of each bandmate individual recording his part alone), which gives it a really awful garage sound I wouldn't expect or want from a professional band. If you have studios, the ability to use them extensively, spend time to ensure each part is perfect or as close to as possible, and make sure everything is congruent, then why would you choose not to unless you have a "statement" to make?
Nay, the real problem, the real thorn jutting into my spine is just that the whole is not greater then or equal to the sum of it's parts. I.E., the songs simply are not very good. They're not particuarly catchy, several songs contain the same chorus pattern of Mille yelling the name of the song at you until he tires and taps on Sami's shoulder to solo (Amok Run, Warcurse, Destroy what Destroys You are all guilty of this), and the riffs themselves feel uninspired and almost forced. Another thing I REALLY don't like is their borrowing of themes from today's fad and preoccupation with Metalcore -- Heavy Metal's blind, deaf, retarded half-brother who only occasionally pees himself and passes out (I don't like Metalcore). It's not an overt influence, but you tell where and when they took a little dab of breakdown-salt and sprinkled over the thrash metal topsoil just to ruin what would be fine on it's own.
To summarize, Hordes of Chaos is an album that I really think could have and should have been better. I like the included DVD which contains a fairly brief look at the making of the album, but it doesn't really show much of interest -- yes, we can all infer as to what recording an album entails (playing instruments in front of microphones, mixing and mastering, etc), so it really isn't much more then a movie trailer that serves as something to wet your tongue with anticipation and saliva until the real show begins. But then again you can't justify a mediocre album with extra material.
Final Thought: Listen before you buy, or borrow from friend. You won't really be missing much.
Free Music Review: Decent, but stripped down production and songs don't deliver the desired product
Hit: 3 Stars
Releasing full length albums for almost 23 years now, Kreator doesn't have much to prove to any listening audience. It is nice to still have a dependable Thrash metal band that has such a talented visionary frontman as Mille Petrozza for an anchor.
"Hordes of Chaos" doesn't really offer anything we haven't seen from Kreator before, despite whatever different packaging the tricks come in. Some might welcome this and as I stated in the title, this is a decent effort (better than all of their late 90s work combined and better than Violent Revolution). Perhaps the biggest failing of this album is the album that preceded this one -"Enemy of God"- set expectations way too high of what the band might and could be capable of in the future. The songs here on "Hordes of Chaos" don't have the drawn out complexity that was imbued in every song on "Enemy of God" -which made listening to that 2005 effort incredibly enjoyable. It gave their entire 80s output a run for its money!
There's some decent guitar work here, some catchy riffs, Ventors drumming is in good form and adds a solid component to an album that sounds like it was pieced together off the cutting room floor from the prior album. The highlights include the title track, "Escalation", "Destroy What Destroys You" (which has an annoying repeating riff that sounds like Kerry King dropped by the studio to add it a la "Seasons in the Abyss: The directors cut version"), and "Demon Prince".
The chugging away of songs like "Amok Run" and "Radical Resistance" which thrash away with reckless abandon for competent song writing or any decent hooks (almost at a "Warbringer" level of song writing), take away any charm the album had going for it. The variety of tempos is not as varied as their best work would have them do. The songs are formulaic with the double bass mini-marathons seemingly placed at almost the exact same place in at least 4 of 10 songs. Kreator has never had the most introspective lyrics, but the nihilism displayed here is bordering on cartoonish. Geo-political events shouldn't dictate the production and release of an album. Mille's delivery of the lyrics in a few songs seems a little off which adds a strange dimension to "War Curse". The overall album production is also surprisingly dry, something which didn't infect "Enemy of God".
A satisfying offering for anyone who knows that all bands have limitations on their musical ability. Can't win 'em all I guess -not even if you're Kreator.
Free Music Review: Its decent, didnt hit me nearly as hard as Enemy Of God
Hit: 3 Stars
Very good album in most aspects, vocals are pushed a little bit to forward in the mix, guitars sound a bit thin, and less distorted than most Kreator albums. Not only that but the album feels like they tried to top 2005's Enemy Of God, and just couldnt pull it off. Sure there are great tracks like, the title track, Warcurse and Demon Prince but it just doesn't send the chills up the back of my neck like the last album, which in my opinion was the best since Coma Of Souls. So its not bad, its decent as i said, just not stellar like i had hoped for.Free Music Review: Always solid.....
Hit: 3 Stars
Kreator has come a long way from their early days. I liked their progression, particularly through the Outcast/Endorama era, with Tommy Vetterli(Coroner) on guitar. They've gone back to the Extreme Aggression/Coma of Souls style since pretty much. The last 3 cds are relatively similar. I probably like Violent Revolution best of those. Petrozza continues to do solid work, its well worth having.