Ageing as well asTeutonic compatriots Destruction and Sodom and arguably better than their Big 4 peers across the Atlantic, Kreator have been on an unstoppable run of creative form since the millennium. Five years on from the increased melodeath and classic metal infiltration on Phantom Antichrist, Gods Of Violence delivers a faultless collection of songs played with wanton glee and irresistible punch by a band at the top of their game 35 years in. Totalitarian Terror and Lion With Eagle Wings boast irresistible twin leads, while the title track and epic closer Death Becomes My Light take in all manner of melodic turns and ever-evolving structures to add to the sonic glory.
Thrash diehards may baulk at a visceral edge that was still being displayed to wonderful effect on 2005’s Enemy Of God largely replaced by trad regality more reminiscent of Grand Magus and Amon Amarth, but when the vicious riff of World War Now moves into colossal six-string harmonies it’s hard not to be swept up in its grandeur. And after Mille Petrozza’s damning indictments of the world, the brothers-in-arms calls of Hail To The Hordes awakens the spirit of camaraderie and unity that the metal community is so rightly proud of.
