Kreator – Hordes of Chaos

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After some heavy criticism from thrash purists over last studio effort Enemy of God Kreator do appear to have leaned in a more traditional thrash direction with Hordes of Chaos, but not without hinting at more interesting avenues wherever possible. The title track, for example, leads by example with some excellent thrash moments and an anthemic chorus between more varied riffing, lead breaks and a blistering solo. Amok Run, despite its weak chorus, is one of the more musically adventurous tracks, and while tracks like Absolute Misanthropy bail out on an early promise of variety, and ones like Radical Resistance and War Curse (a poor-man’s Hordes of Chaos) don’t even start out with something a little different, they do provide a necessary direct thrash element. Some nice Iron Maiden style twin-lead guitars dominate Demon Prince, which quickly switches to something altogether more standard as well, before branching out later on, the neat clean instrumental melody Corpses of Liberty and the more interesting To The Afterborn add some more diversity, and Escalation and Destroy What Destroys You add the aggressive, technical edge needed in a modern metal disc. One of the best thrash albums of recent times.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Quick.Play Reviews, Thrash Metal, Kreator