On June 10, 2022, German thrash metal giant "Kreator" returned with its 15th studio album "Hate Über Alles".
This is the band's first studio album since "Gods of Violence"ת released in 2017, the longest gap between two studio albums in all of their career, and the first featuring bassist Frédéric Leclercq known among others from "DragonForce", who in 2019 replaced veteran Christian Giesler who accompanied the band for over two decades throughout their last eight albums.
This album is a direct sequel to what we got on the "Gods of Violence" album, only it seems even more aggressive.
After a brief introduction called "Sergio Corbucci Is Dead" which sounds like it was taken from an old Western soundtrack, we are embarking on a brutal attack of classic thrash metal, which very few bands seem to continue to produce today. The theme song "Hate Über Alles" is the classic example of this, with Mille Petrozza's creepy scream at the opening, which brought us back to the small living room in Ramat Gan forty years ago screaming our lungs out: "Slayerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr". The title of the song in free translation is "Hate Above All" and this is of course Kreator's protest against the hatred that is spreading in the world and their homeland, Germany. It seems that the line from the song says it all: "Hate is the virus of this world", since "Kreator" is a band that is not afraid to speak out on various issues like they did in "Second Awakening" which comes out strongly against anti-Semitism, "Side By Side" which deals with LGBT rights, "Suicide Terrorist" on suicide terrorism, "People Of The Lie" in opposition and protest against fascism In Germany and more.
This brutal thrash attack continues throughout the album with songs like: "Killer Of Jesus", "Demonic Future", "Pride Comes Before The Fall", "Strongest Of The Strong", "Dying Planet" and more, with a small twist with "Midnight Sun", which presents the melodic and soothing singing of the German indie-pop artist Sofia Portanet.
One of the best moments in this album is the song "Become Immortal", which is a kind of tribute to metal and a salute to 40 years of "Kreator", as can be seen in the video clip:
And it is impossible to end this review without the Israeli connection. The stunning cover of the album was designed by Israeli artist Eliran Kantor, who has been living in Germany for the past few years.
The band came to Israel right after the album release, on 15.8.22, and this was their sixth visit to Israel since it first landed here on the "Roxanne" stage in 1992, when they also shot a clip for the song "Renewal" in the Judean Desert.
Song List:
01. Sergio Corbucci Is Dead
02. Hate Über Alles
03. Killer Of Jesus
04. Crush The Tyrants
05. Strongest Of The Strong
06. Become Immortal
07. Conquer And Destroy
08. Midnight Sun
09. Demonic Future
10. Pride Comes Before The Fall
11. Dying Planet
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music