Fifteen albums for Mille, fourteen for Ventor, six for Sami, the first with new bassist Frédéric Leclercq, who has already been with the band for 3 years now but has a long way to go to catch up with Christian Giesler’s 25-year stint.
The album commences with the short spaghetti western sounding instrumental “Sergio Corbucci Is Dead”, and man had I seen so many of his films as a child, before it blasts right into the title track “Hate Über Alles”, which is easily one of the fastest and angriest songs they have released in quite some time.
This is immediately followed by the just as fast “Killer Of Jesus”, where Mille spits out his lyrics while trying to keep up with Ventor’s manic drum beating.
“Crush The Tyrants” opens with a slow steady beat that Sami and Mille’s guitar riffs churn up to make heavy without needing to speed up, other than the quickly played lead solos that is.
The melodic guitar harmonies combined with the catch chorus of “Strongest Of The Strong” suggest this song shall be rather well received during live shows where a crowd can happily sing along.
Feeling a bit like a reflection on the band’s earliest releases, “Become Immortal” also points out that we are who we are today because of our pasts and leaving a legacy of music is definitely one way to be remembered forever.
“Conquer And Destroy” ebbs and flows between melodic choruses and rapid and abrasive verses with ultra-fast lead trade-offs that end in haunting choral vocals that are full of emotion.
“Midnight Sun” is apparently the first time that female vocals have been used on a Kreator song, courtesy of Sofia Portanet, and it has a damned amazing video to go with it too, but I digress. The song is fast for the most part, but Sofia’s vocals are slower and calmer than Mille’s, adding to their frantic delivery.
I like the way the kick drums and bass rumble during “Demonic Future” to emphasise and punctuate the end of each line/riff, giving extra breathing roof for the guitars the remainder of the song.
The sweet music box sounding intro works really well with Mille’s whispered vocals on “Pride Comes Before The Fall”, but once the main riff kicks in, he is belting out his distinctive vocals over the rapid double kicks.
The album ends with the slow and gloomy “Dying Planet”, well by Kreator standards at least, cos Ventor has his feet galloping along with the bass guitar over the much steadier tom-tom rolls that the guitars follow while Mille’s shouts fade into the spoken lament before the acoustic outro.
Pretty much what you’d expect from Kreator, a great album that doesn’t bother holding back.
(8/10 Marco Gaminara)
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