By: Richard Maw
Album Type: Full Length (Reissue)
Album Type: Full Length (Reissue)
“Violent Revolution” CD//DD//LP track listing:
01. Reconquering The Throne
02. The Patriarch
03. Violent Revolution
04. All Of The Same Blood
05. Servant In Heaven - King In Hell
06. Second Awakening
07. Ghetto War
08. Replicas Of Life
09. Slave Machinery
10. Bitter Sweet Revenge
11. Mind Of Fire
12. System Decay
The Review:
Kreator are de facto my favourite German thrash band and, as has often been said, are the only thrash band from any nation in the mid 80s who made a record which rivals “Reign In Blood” for sheer violence and intensity. Of course, there is much more to the band's catalogue than just “Pleasure To Kill”.
While this album is not in the classic run which featured the aforementioned, “Endless Pain”, “Extreme Aggression” and “Terrible Certainty” (not in that order!) it is the first of Kreator's modern era purple patch which has run from this record through to “Phantom Antichrist” and “Gods of Violence”. After a somewhat shaky 1990s, the band really did roar back with this record. Kreator, to their credit, never went away but they had drifted from their core sound and simply did not maintain much of a presence when thrash found itself out of favour with the press.
I'm aware that the reissue features bonus tracks, but as I have only the album here... that is what I'll focus on. It's a fairly raging album. The band meld their socially conscious and socially liberal political leanings with righteous rage. Incredibly, this record is now over 20 years old and still sounds vital and relentlessly heavy.
Opening with “Reconquering The Throne” is a vicious mission statement; it really did reassert their thrash credentials at the time and listening to it now, it's no less potent. From there, the material is as weighty as it is well delivered. The production is pretty great; it's not like 2001 was 1971, but even so I was surprised, revisiting this, how clear and powerful the sound is. The drums in particular really benefit from the crystal clear mix and it sounds, well, just really good.
Pleasingly, it is also fairly relentless. There are no real detours into melodic territory which have featured more often in later records and instead this is just a pretty straight ahead thrash record, played and delivered expertly. It's a far cry from the endearingly inept “Endless Pain” but not quite as polished as “Gods of Violence”. In short, it is thrash metal with no surprises other than (un)pleasant familiarity.
While more mid paced material is not as interesting as the ragers here (“Servant in Heaven”), they are still engaging and nasty enough to be worthy of the band and the record. Strangely, “Violent Revolution” has never been an album from their discography I've played that much. I've usually gone for “Hordes of Chaos” or “Phantom Antichrist” as a go-to from the band's latter period... but I'm now wondering why I overlooked this.
As reissues go, this is well worth shelling out some cash for if you missed it first time around or if you never paid it much attention. The band keep the pedal to the metal right through to “Bitter Sweet Revenge” and “Mind of Fire” and the eleven tracks are all at least good- no clunkers. Negatives? Well, about the worst thing I can say is that a couple of tracks are a little long- but this is small beer really. The songs are pretty focused overall and certainly are fiery enough to power through on attitude and commitment even at the longer song running times.
“Violent Revolution” is available HERE
Band info: facebook
