The culmination of 150 dates supporting the Gods Of Violence album, Kreator rolled into the iconic Roundhouse in London as part of their co-headline tour with Dimmu Borgir and support from Hatebreed and Bloodbath. This album captures the Germans at their most intense, with a 72-minute set that covers their entire career. Live albums are always a challenge to review. If you were there at the actual gig, then what a souvenir. If not, it’s often a rather ropey greatest hits plus tracks from the latest album package. With Kreator you know what you get. There are no ballads, slow numbers or progressive meanderings. This is all out thrash from a band that are as vital today as they were when they roared out of Essen in the late 1980s.
Opening with Enemy Of God it’s immediately apparent that Kreator were intent on smashing through every barrier in front of them. If you don’t know what Kreator sound like by now, then you need to leave the room and catch up. The set list writes itself. Newer tracks like Satan Is Real and Fallen Brother nestle comfortably alongside old school classics such as the raging Flag Of Hate, Mille Petrozza urging the thrash loving audience to circle pit time after time. Incredibly tight, Kreator power through their set heading to the culmination of the show, the duo of Violent Revolution and of course, breathless set closer Pleasure To Kill.
Alongside Petrozza, the searing lead guitar work of Sami Yli-Sirniö cuts through the air with ease. This was the last recording with long serving bassist Christian ‘Speesy’ Giesler who left the band in 2019 and it’s a fitting send off to a man who played with the band from 1994 – 2019. Petrozza, with mere seconds to go, urges the London crowd “this is your last chance to kill … each other”. This sums up the intensity which Kreator give at every show. A fine record of an amazing night. 8/10
Godthrymm: Reflections (Profound Lore Records) [Matt Bladen]
A storm raged while I was listening to this full length, which was particularly apt due to the elemental nature of this crushing debut record from future UK doom titans Godthrymm. Formed by vocalist/guitarist Hamish Glencross (ex-My Dying Bride/Vallenfyre/Solstice) the band have already brought their miserable music to the masses with their EP A Grand Reclamation, this was a vision of the kind of towering riffs the band could bring to the table, built upon Glencross' history with legends such as My Dying Bride, it with MDB that Shaun Taylor-Steels also paid his dues behind the kit and after the EP he and Glencross wrote this full length record along with bassist Bob Crolla. Yes folks every single brain rattling doom riff here played by just three men, from the creeping Cursed Are The Many to the faster, Sabbath inspired The Grand Reclamation.
Godthrymm have a sound that harks back to the desolate, insular, mournful music of early Paradise Lost (previous touring partners), My Dying Bride and Draconian. Hamish's vocals veer between shouted sadness and growled grief while his guitar sings out with harmonic emptiness (Chasmic Sorrows), sorrowful solidarity (Monsters Lurk Herein) and of course crushing riffs on Among The Exalted. Crolla's bass playing adds the low end boom to The Sea As My Grave and The Light Of You which is given room to breathe from Taylor-Steels' expressive, powerful drumming. Reflections is a monsterous stab of doom from the 90's style, gargantuan songs that rips, crawls and drags like and Eldritch Horror. Play it loud, in a darkened room for full effect. 8/10
Jason Kui: Naka (Prosthetic Records) [Paul Scoble]
Jason Kui is a Hong Kong based session musician and solo artist. Naka is his second album coming 3 years after hid debut, Absence Of Words. As the title of his first album suggests, Jason does instrumental guitar music. The album has cameo appearances from 4 other guitarists; Andy Jones, Andy Timmons, Tom Quayle and Poh Hock. In many ways the cover art on Naka, gives you a good idea of what the album is going to sound like. Although it is made up of photos, it looks a lot like a David Hockney painting, and the music is just as bright, clear and full of sunshine as one of his canvases. The music is mainly rock or metal based, with a nod towards Djent, and packed full of strong melody leads, with some seriously good shredding. This all sounds great, but there is a pitfall that guitar instrumental albums fall into; that the lack of variety makes them, well, boring. Has Naka managed to avoid this? Yes and no, there is a sameness to some of the material, that might get boring over time, but Jason has clearly seen this pitfall, and has made an attempt to avoid it. Jason has tried to inject a little variety into the feel of the tracks on this album.
The interlude Roseneath is full of romantic strings. Mean Bird is funk filled track featuring a huge bass-line and brass, as is the James Brown influenced Games Brown (Hey). Final track Then And Now is soulful, relaxed and bluesy. So, has the inclusion of different sounds helped to solve the “Boring” problem of guitar instrumental albums? In some ways, yes it has, however some of the variations don’t really work. The funk tracks feel a little cheesy (sorry) and in some ways feel like the theme tune to a daytime talk show. However, final track Then And Now isn’t in the least cheesy, and is probably the strongest track on thew album. Naka is a great album. It’s packed full of strong melodies, great tunes and some very impressive shredding. If it avoids the “Boring” issue of guitar instrumental album, only time will tell; but it’s clear that Jason Kui has identified the problem and has at least attempted to fix it. 7/10}
Plague: Portraits Of Mind (Nuclear Winter Records) [Matt Bladen]
Plague do one thing very well...sheer brutality, this Greek death metal band, play the filthy style of death that rampaged out of the United States in the 90's, born from the thrash scene but manipulated by the forces of evil into a much more blood thirsty beast. Plague cite influences as Death and Massacre as influences and on Portraits Of Mind these bands can be heard throughout, even in the fuzzy production they keep things authentic the guitars staying in a state of meaty distortion as the percussion explodes like a carpet bombing and the bass rumbles like thunder. Songs like Portals Into Reality have that early thrash progressive nature to them, switching between fast and slow dynamics with ease keeping you guessing and ready to start a pit throughout, though if you did that to Pandemic in the blazing Greek sun, you'd probably die. Not much else can be said about this album, if you love nasty death metal check it out and let this plague infect you. 7/10
Plague: Portraits Of Mind (Nuclear Winter Records) [Matt Bladen]
Plague do one thing very well...sheer brutality, this Greek death metal band, play the filthy style of death that rampaged out of the United States in the 90's, born from the thrash scene but manipulated by the forces of evil into a much more blood thirsty beast. Plague cite influences as Death and Massacre as influences and on Portraits Of Mind these bands can be heard throughout, even in the fuzzy production they keep things authentic the guitars staying in a state of meaty distortion as the percussion explodes like a carpet bombing and the bass rumbles like thunder. Songs like Portals Into Reality have that early thrash progressive nature to them, switching between fast and slow dynamics with ease keeping you guessing and ready to start a pit throughout, though if you did that to Pandemic in the blazing Greek sun, you'd probably die. Not much else can be said about this album, if you love nasty death metal check it out and let this plague infect you. 7/10
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