Kreator
Enemy of God Revisited (SPV)
by Hansel Merchor
Out of the three best German thrash metal bands of all time, Kreator (the other two being Sodom and Destruction) is by far the most successful. And deservedly so. As this DVD companion to the re-release of their excellent 2005 record Enemy of God attests, the boys from Essen literally leave it all on stage. Featuring their powerful and flawless full performance at Wacken Open Air 2005, plus the video (and making of) and live performance at the German TV show Live at Rockpalast, and a Dolby 5.1 surround-sound mix of the entire album, Revisited couldn’t pack on more content simply because there’s no more space.
The highlight of the DVD by far is the band’s performance at Wacken. Kicking off with “Enemy of God,” the band runs through a best-of set from all their records, much of which comes from their glorious ’80s thrash metal masterpieces like Pleasure to Kill, Terrible Certainty, Extreme Aggression, and Coma of Souls. Running through classics like “People of the Lie,” “Terrible Certainty,” “Flag of Hate,” and “Tomentor,” Kreator makes sure there’s no one dissatisfied, but skips much of the material from their somewhat forgettable ’90s releases. What is most outstanding about their performance is not how crisp and flawless it is (in fact, their performance is so flawless it’s kind of curious), but how well the Enemy of God songs (“Impossible Brutality” and “Voice of the Dead”) stand next to their early thrash metal classics. Watching Revisited, I was instantly reminded of the show I attended during the American leg of the same tour: The song list is basically the same, leader Mille Petrozza’s banter is the same (or so I assume, because I don’t understand German) and the stoic stance and effortless playing of guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö is definitely the same. The difference being that at Wacken, the band gives it all in front of tens of thousands of rabid fans, and at the show I attended there must have been no more than 250 people. Needless to say, the band gave it all there too. Now that’s professionalism.
(www.spvusa.com)
