Date Released: 06/05/2016
Label: BMG | Sanctuary Records |
Noise Records
When
all is said and done, the vast majority of the two discs are absolutely killer.
The first disc in particular is a rip ride through some of the greatest metal
ever laid down. Two thirds of the second disc is awe inspiring too. If you fancy an introduction to the band or
need a one stop shop to replace worn vinyl or lost CDs, this compilation is
undoubtedly for you as it is superb. What a band!
“Love Us Or
Hate Us”: The Very Best of The Noise Years 1985-1992 CD track listing:
Disc 1:
Tracks 1-5 “Endless Pain” (1985)
Tracks 6-10 “Pleasure to Kill” (1986)
Tracks 11-15 “Terrible Certainty” (1987)
Disc 2:
Tracks 1-5 “Extreme Aggression” (1989)
Tracks 6-10 “Coma of Souls” (1990)
Tracks 11-15 “Renewal” (1992)
The Review:
Kreator form one part of the big
three/big four of German thrash metal. Along with Sodom, Destruction and Tankard
their status as Teutonic metal legends is not in doubt. This two disc
compilation catches their classic career period and also their tailing off in
the early 90's. Naturally, a band this good would not stay down for long and
their post millennium albums have also been by and largely good to excellent (“Phantom Antichrist” is fantastic). Kreator
these days have more melodic tendencies and the chaos is more restrained.
Melody
and restraint are not words I would use in connection with the best of the
material on offer here; “Endless Pain”
is a more extreme version of Venom and the material from that nasty record
played a part in the nascent death metal and even black metal genres.
Similarly, “Pleasure To Kill” is
revered as a thrash classic and often mentioned as the one album that could
rival “Reign In Blood” for violence and
intensity. There is no doubt that the material from those two albums sounds
superb here; violent, chaotic and the aural equivalent of a riot (of violence).
Tracks such as “Bonebreaker” veer close to Motorhead in approach, while “Under The Guillotine” is just brutal
and devastatingly fast thrash, plain and simple. “Ripping Corpse”, probably my favourite from Kreator and indeed the “PTK” album sounds as vicious as it did
when I first heard it.
“Terrible Certainty” is represented well here
with clear improvements in musicianship and even production; this is a more
clinical version of Kreator, but no less devastating. There is
even a little melodic intro to “Behind The Mirror” which is a
tiny portent of things to come in a
distant future for the band.
The
band upped their game again for “Extreme
Aggression”- the material from that album is tight and focused and well
played too; it is the sound of a band in total command of their style and the
tracks selected to open up the second disc are excellent. “Love Us Or Hate Us”
is still a thrash anthem and sounds great here as do the other choice cuts from
the album. “Coma of Souls” from 1990
gets a good showing here too; the band still plays in the traditional thrash
style and the album is a good- if not great- one. Certainly it would be greater
than what followed. The guitars sound reliably gnarly and the overall
production is really quite good. Ventor's twin kicks are high in the mix with
an almost “And Justice For All”
style slap to the sound- but the snare is a little echoey and distant (probably
a reaction to the bizarre compressed snare of “And Justice For All”). “People of the Lie” is the “hit”
from the “Coma...” album and is
included here. That makes five cracking albums in a row from Kreator
in a short time period, too.
Thereafter,
the issue of “Renewal” rears its
head. It is no secret that thrash went through a fallow period in the post “Black Album” (and then grunge)
landscape. Most bands changed; Testament released some simplified and slowed
down records, even Overkill kind of aped Sabbath on the distinctly
un-thrash “I Hear Black”. Kreator
experimented with industrial sounds and slower tempos for “Renewal”. Honestly, the tracks from it here are not bad, per se,
but just not why I would listen to Kreator (i.e. for brutal and violent thrash).
Ultimately, the most and least you could say about “Renewal” is that it was a record of its time and place. It is
bizarrely over-represented here and the samples and sound effects employed on
tracks such as “Depression Unrest” sound out of kilter with the rest of this
excellent compilation.
When
all is said and done, the vast majority of the two discs are absolutely killer.
The first disc in particular is a rip ride through some of the greatest metal
ever laid down. Two thirds of the second disc is awe inspiring too. Kreator
would claw their way back from the wilderness ten years later, but the band's
exit from Noise
Records and subsequent 90's releases are not their most celebrated
moments. If you fancy an introduction to the band or need a one stop shop to
replace worn vinyl or lost CDs, this compilation is undoubtedly for you as it
is superb. What a band!
“Love Us Or Hate Us”: The
Very Best of The Noise Years 1985-1992 is available now
Band info: facebook
