Kreator

Outcast (F.A.D.)
by Chaz Thorndike

Man, this is sad. Not that Outcast is a bad album if you like that power metal Overkill stuff, but this is not the Kreator I used to love. The joy of getting older is watching great bands start to suck and young bands not taking their elders’ teachings further. Kreator was one of my favorites in ’87, along with Slayer and a few other now name-brand evildoers. Pleasure to Kill is as crusty as early Napalm Death and Carcass, but look how they’ve all turned out: Hanging tentatively onto the final shreds of dignity they have from their former gut-shredding selves. I’ve bought and worn out Terrible Certainty (album, cassette, finally CD) as many times as Shout at the Devil and Pretty Hate Machine, but I digress. While Mille’s vocals still rip throats, the manic energy is gone. While I hardly bemoan the loss of thrash metal (a stolen title to begin with, made trite by the bandwagon-jumping chumps who saw dollars dangling), I do miss the sinister guitar-riffs-in-third, a shredding tone and style so distinctive it was Kreator. Outcast is rebel anthem metal, the generic type of shit old and new bands pump out when contracts demand another record, regardless of whether they have anything novel to say or not.

OK, a few of the songs have a cool groove, but the distorted chorus is a little too “Fuckin’ Hostile” for my taste, and the cheeseball delay on the vocals is so old, it stinks. Kreator’s cover of Judas Priest’s “Grinder” on Century Media’s Priest tribute was pretty indicative of what they’re about these days: relying on a distinctive sound to cover the fact they no longer have any style.
(www.kreator-terrorzone.de/)