KREATOR — Hate über alles (review)

Album · 2022 · Thrash Metal

4/5 · 2023-05-02
UMUR

"Hate über alles" is the fifteenth full-length studio album by German thrash metal act Kreator. The album was released through Nuclear Blast in June 2022. It´s the successor to "Gods of Violence" from 2017. There´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as long serving bassist Christian "Speesy" Giesler (his tenure with Kreator was from 1995-2019) has been replaced by Frédéric Leclercq (Sinsaenum, DragonForce, Loudblast...etc.). The COVID-19 pandemic probably had something to do with the long time between album releases, but there was actually also five years between the release of "Phantom Antichrist" (2012) and "Gods of Violence", so maybe Kreator have just slowed down a bit. They´ve been quite active in the live environment though, both before the pandemic and also after it was possible to tour again, so they don´t seem to be slowing down their performance rate.

It´s always interesting to listen to a new Kreator album. Most of their output are of high quality, and they´ve also experimented a bit with their sound through the years. Since "Violent Revolution" (2001), they´ve pretty much kept within the same thrash metal with melodic death metal influences area though with only minor differences between their album releases. Sometimes they´ve added a touch of goth metal or some other element to keep things fresh, but ultimately they had begun to artistically stagnate a little (in my opinion). "Hate über alles" is not an album which changes my view on that, but on the other side it´s one of the more varied post-2000 Kreator releases and the quality is as always high in terms of strong musicianship, solid to excellent songwriting, and a well sounding production job as the icing on the cake.

The sound production is slightly more organic compared to the last couple of releases (courtesy of producer/mixer Arthur Rizk), and I think it suits Kreator´s music well. Some of the other post-2000 Kreator releases feature sound productions which are maybe a little to sterile and polished for comfort.

As mentioned the musicianship is strong on all posts, and Leclercq proves to be a good replacement for Giesler. I read an interview with lead vocalist/guitarist Mille Petrozza, where he said that Leclercq contributed to the arrangement of the tracks, and he was especially involved in the arrangements of the guitar harmonies, which the album are loaded with. It´s not that Kreator haven´t been able to write and execute harmony guitar leads before, but there truly are some really catchy and memorable harmonies featured on "Hate über alles", which Leclercq apparently helped arrange.

Stylistically the album features both fast-paced aggressive thrashers, mid-paced heavy thrash/heavy metal tracks, a couple of more melodic oriented heavy metal tracks, and the rare nod towards goth metal (and even a song featuring female vocals), which as mentioned above makes "Hate über alles" a both varied, entertaining, and intriguing release. This is not an album for the all out thrash metal heads, but instead an album for those who enjoy the more sophisticated and adventurous side of Kreator (although they don´t go overboard here like they sometimes did in the 1990s). It´s a grower but certainly a high quality release on all parameters once it´s properly unboxed. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.