Kreator lived in 1990 one of their most splendid, wild and authentic moments. The extreme scene had seen the teutonic band grow, and now, entering on last decade of 20th century, the thrash world was giving its last throes, before becoming extinct as we knew it, and then mutating. Discs like "Seasons in the Abyss" by Slayer, "Rust in Peace" by Megadeth or "Persistence of Time" by Anthrax, all they closed the genre as if it were a kind of testament of an era, and Mille's warriors were not stay behind. Kreator were going to deliver a record at the height of biggest ever.
For me, one of the keys to this final result is Frank Blackfire. The ex-Sodom is one of the best thrash guitarists and he does an enormous job. He came from recording with Sodom, Agent Orange, a true thrash classic, and Kreator did snatch it from Sodom. Blackfire marks the road with his riffs and solos, both powerful and technical as hell. It may be Kreator's best album along with their firsts two and of course, their last great work which is an improvement in comparison with previous two. The best thing about Kreator is their beginnings, then when we got involved in the 90's we notice that they lost the north. I also like the lyrics, they're pretty committed; the first song, for example, talks about global warming. Great riffs, full of claws, with those accelerations in drums according to Blackfire's varying riffs, virtuoso and technical as always. Another curious thing is the opener which has an acoustic intro, perhaps inspired by the intro of Battery or Moonchild, both great openers from others legend albums.
The album contains a very melodic riffing; at least for their style it begins to cook, but hey, false alarm, in a few seconds you'll discover that the thing was a cool intro and then, it moves on to a devastating killer lead. Furious riffing, an ardent Petrozza as always; a Frank "Blackfire" which debuts on a disc with a high note; and a magic "Ventor", fast and with a so overwhelming technique. Songs with lots of aura like their two previous works, but with a novel touch. Kreator did mature, yes, but they're still murderers, children of a bad mother. A huge magnum opus, which unfortunately closed the most glorious cycle of the band. Mille Petrozza has always known how to produce masterpieces of an indisputable quality (even the most discussed and vilified ones), but his band never sounded as devastating as in 1990-1991 despite continuing today to a level that few ones have. Few, just not to mention almost any.
Official promo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
