Hate Über Alles NUCLEAR BLAST

Triumph and spite from Germany’s kings of thrash

Kreator: still vicious, still victorious

PRESS

WHEN KREATOR HEADLINED

Bloodstock for the first time last summer, many people seemed surprised by how effortlessly they conquered such a big occasion. In reality, the Germans have been in imperious form for the entirety of this century, and their stature and popularity have steadily grown as a result. As that Bloodstock set proved, Kreator are serious heavyweights with a ridiculous number of unstoppable metal anthems. From seminal early bursts of primitive chaos like Flag Of Hate and Pleasure To Kill through to the razor-sharp sophistication of recent crowd-pleasers Satan Is Real and 666 – World Divided, frontman Mille Petrozza has always been a great songwriter, with an intuitive sense of what works. The fact that he is also one of metal’s certified good guys, albeit one armed with a deathless screech that would scythe through any stupor, is an added bonus. With all that in mind, Hate Über Alles feels like an important milestone, despite being Kreator’s 15th studio record. Well-established as one of Europe’s biggest bands, the quartet could easily tread water and get away with it. But from the laugh-out-loud intensity of its title track onwards, Hate Über Alles absolutely screams commitment to the cause and to the noble yet visceral art of heavy metal songwriting.