Kreator – Hordes of Chaos: Ultra Riot

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The previous limited edition version of German thrash legends Kreator’s 2009 album came with a bonus DVD containing the video for the title track, a making of documentary and was meant to also contain two live videos from Summer Breeze 2006, but these were left off due to a manufacturing problem. Strangely, this error has not been redressed with this new version; those videos still aren’t here. The documentary is also gone; leaving the Hordes of Chaos video to join the new video for Destroy What Destroys You in an enhanced section of the main CD. The rest of the boxes contents consist of a sticker, postcard and poster of the new cover art, although the poster is a blown-up version of a low-resolution copy of the image and is therefore very poor quality, a discount code for €5 off the matching t-shirt from Kreator’s official online store, a ten-page photo book of shots from the recording sessions, and most importantly a bonus seven-track CD of unreleased demos. Five of these are album tracks, including a different arrangement of Escalation under its original title of World Without Religion, and the last two are covers of Slime‘s Alle Gegen Alle featuring guest appearances by Nagel (Muff Potter vocalist) and Thees Uhlmann, and Bad Religion‘s You Are The Government, neither of which made the album. As special editions go, this is a good one, even missing the live tracks, and the original album is still as relevant and sharp as it was last year. However, fans will still justifably ask why they are expected to re-buy an album they already own.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2010, Albums, Quick.Play Reviews, Re-release, Thrash Metal, Kreator