UMUR
"Outcast" is the 8th full-length studio album by German thrash metal act Kreator. The album was released in July 1997 by G.U.N. Records. Drummer Joe Cangelosi, who only managed to stay on for one album, is replaced by a returning Jürgen "Ventor" Reil.
After the successful 5th studio album "Coma of Souls (1990)", Kreator decided it was time for a change and started experimenting with their sound. "Renewal (1992)" was probably a shock to many fans with it´s unique production and industrial metal elements, and while "Cause for Conflict (1995)" saw the band returning to a more aggressive sound again, it´s still an album that to many doesn´t sound like "classic" Kreator. So by the time "Outcast" was released Kreator had lost quite a few of their hardcore fans, but the band insisted on doing things their own way and not bow to the wishes of others.
...so "Outcast" is not a return to the fiercely aggressive teutonic thrash metal of the eighties, but rather another "identity searching" Kreator album. Personally I´m a great fan of both "Renewal" and "Cause for Conflict", which I felt/ feel added some much needed variation to the band´s discography, so when "Outcast" came out I was still an active Kreator fan.
The music on "Outcast" is still somehow rooted in thrash metal, but it´s not a very thrashy album. The tempo is mostly kept in mid-pace and the riffs likewise. There´s focus on vers/ chorus structures and both industrial and goth elements on the album. So if I was to give the album a tag it would be something like this: heavy metal with thrash, industrial and goth metal elements. The most recognisable part of the music is of course lead vocalist Mille Petrozza´s distinct raw and aggressive vocal delivery. Nothing has changed in that department other than a few attempts at singing regular clean vocals. Most notably in "Black Sunrise".
The production is clean and powerful. That´s the part of the album that sounds most like "Classic" Kreator from the late eighties/ early nineties.
"Outcast" ended up being the album by Kreator, that left me so disappointed that I gave up on them for quite a few years. While all tracks are as such well written, well performed and well produced, there´s nothing on the album that really stands out as excellent or even above standard. Even after having listened to the album several times before writing this review ( it had been years since the last listen) only very few songs have stuck in my mind and not always because they were great. So "Outcast" may not be a really bad album and it´s also quite consistent but unfortunately it´s also downright boring. I hate to use the word boring in a review, but there´s simply no better way to describe how I feel about "Outcast". A 2.5 star rating is warranted.