Kreator

Enemy of God

Steamhammer Records 2005

I am at a loss.  What to say about this album.  I thought I was going to like it a lot.  Unlike a bunch of people I actually liked Violent Revolution but this one might as well be called Enemy of originality.  Maybe that's going a little far.  I do like it to some extent but really the first half of the album rips of Slayer's Seasons in the Abyss wholesale and the second half reminds me of some sort of Melodic progeny of the Gothenburg scene.  I mean I thought I was actually listening to Slayer on the track Impossible Brutality.  Which some people might be a fan of but I liked it better the first time I heard it and that's why it hurts so bad.  These guys are veterans of the German Scene and so I guess I figured they would be using their own songwriting tricks when it came to this album.  And I think it kind of hurts that this album has a total Jekyll and Hyde feeling with it being divided between the songwriting styles of these compositions.  The melodic songs are not as strong to me as they lack the power and conviction of the Slayer-esque songs.  With all those negative things being said this album has some good points.  It has some power to it if you can see past the unoriginality.  Also the production is really crisp and they get a really crunch guitar tone that really has a nice feeling to it when it comes to the solos.  The drums are tad punchy on the snare but that's something I can forgive.  Overall I am disappointed by this album.  Maybe I am being a little too critical but for some reason I cannot bring myself to see this from any other perspective.  Which is sad because I had high hopes for this album.