Kreator / Vader
By Brian Anderson
Sunday. May 22, 1:58 AM
live at House of Blues (Hollywood, CA) April 23rd, 2005.

Kreator have never really received enough credit Stateside for being one of the originators of thrash metal. Bay Area bands such as Metallica, Megadeath, Death Angel, and Exodus (among others) are always listed as the creators and innovators. Mille Petrozza and company have been producing amazing music since 1985’s Endless Pain and they deserve much more from the metal world for their contributions. If they had been from San Francisco instead of Germany, they would’ve been listed with the greats. Well, for what it’s worth, I am putting them at the top of the list. Kreator’s contributions cannot be denied, and 20 years later they are just as heavy and intense as ever.

The Enemy of God Tour hit Hollywood, CA on Saturday, April 23rd. I missed the first band but arrived just in time for the second act. Boy what a mistake that was! The band will remain nameless because there are hundreds of others that sound exactly the same. I have never heard a crowd hate a band more. “You fucking suck!“ filled the House of Blues in-between songs. The biggest cheer came at the end of their set.

Unfortunately, Pro-Pain were not on the tour at this point. However, Vader were. For those who remember, Vader had to cancel their last U.S. tour due to guitarist/vocalist Peter’s spinal injury. Not only did this break up an amazing tour with Napalm Death and Cannibal Corpse, it also marked this first time in Vader’s long career that they had to cancel a tour. This time out Vader introduced a new drummer, Daray. The band did not miss a beat: they have been doing this way too long. Although they’ve slowed down recently, they are still as tight as ever. And don’t get me wrong, Vader slowing down means they do not have blast beats from beginning to end of every song. They are still speechlessly heavy. In the set list were recent songs such as “Dark Transmission” and “Firebringer,” along with old time classics such as “Black Sabbath” and “The Calling.” The biggest news for me was when Peter announced that they would be back in September. After looking into this further I discovered that they will be touring with Decapitated (according to Vader‘s website). I could not help but skip like a schoolgirl when I saw this news. Vader also did a cover of Slayer’s “Reign in Blood” to close out the set. A Slayer cover was expected, as they covered the same song on 1998’s Live in Japan and “Hell Awaits” on The Darkest Age: Live ‘93.

One of the signs of making it in the music industry is longevity, and Kreator have done this. They have done anything but slow down. I can’t count the times that I have seen a band that I saw 10 years ago be less enthusiastic about the music. Albeit, I have never seen Kreator before tonight, but they came out with full force. Not only did they play the new stuff, they played a lot of the classics. “Flag of Hate,” “Pleasure to Kill,” and one of my favorites, “Renewal.” Renewal was a bit of an experiment at the time of its release in 1992, but it has stood the test of time. Other songs that highlighted the night were “Everlasting Flame” from Endorama and “Reconquering the Throne” from Violent Revolution. Before Kreator played “Betrayer,” Mille talked about their first trip to Hollywood, CA which was to record Extreme Aggression in 1989. Kreator’s set had to come to an end, but they could have played the rest of the night and the crowd would have been totally into it. Kreator possess the energy to keep the crowd going. When Kreator hit your town, whether you have heard a lot from them or not, you need to go out and see what thrash metal is all about.
www.kreator-terrorzone.de
www.vader.pl

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Brian Anderson

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