Review by Chad on January 18, 2020.

It wasn't long before thrash metal would make its way from Canada and U.S.A. to Germany of all places, a country that was seemingly more into pop rock and progressive acts a decade ago, a country whose primary language isn't English, and a country that was considered an enemy to the west in the last major war. Looking back on it from today's viewpoint this is just common knowledge that Germans could thrash just as hard, if not harder than their western progenitors, but if I had been growing up when thrash metal was at its most relevant, I would not help but question why Germany caught on so quick as compared to say, the United Kingdom, the country where metal originated from... and apart from Onslaught, I honestly can't name a single thrash band between the years 1983 - 1986 stepping out of the British isles, apart from arguably Venom. Germany on the other hand, did have a handful of notable acts, today the only ones that ever get mentioned are Sodom, Destruction, and Tankard to a lesser extent. Oh, and of course it would be an absolute tragedy not to mention the legendary Kreator! But Germany was a goldmine of early thrash metal, not just the often touted acts above, but we shouldn't forget to mention the lesser known bands like Holy Moses, Exumer, and the speed metal act Living Death, a band that proves Germany was on the scene at least as early as 1984.

Apart from a historically impressive track record, the releases from that time to come out of Germany were top-notch, and far more brutal in my opinion than acts going on the western half of the globe, at least the ones in the Northern Americas. A band like Kreator seems to take the brutal elements of say Slayer, perhaps even Sepultura and mix them with the speed metal antics heard on Metallica's "Kill 'em All", with vocals being prototypical death metal style, before death metal was ever a thing, and guitar riffs that were either going to be chugging speed or more brutally bludgeoning than Slayer. German pioneers Sodom would take the brutality a step further on their debut "Obsessed by Cruelty", it really showcases that Germany seemed to come from a different perspective when it came to how they like their thrash. Meanwhile, flash-forward a decade later and Pantera seem to be incapable of not repeating themselves of how each of their albums surpasses the next in terms of heaviness. Sorry, as much as I love Pantera, bands like Kreator and Sodom really do make their pompous attitudes and shameless gloating look really naive, especially so when bands like Kreator are performing on equipment that costs less than half the price.

But I wouldn't go so far to say that Endless Pain is a "raw" album. Quite far from it actually. This is one of the best sounding early thrash recordings out there. It's not plagued with Destruction's paper thin, hollow and weak debut, "Infernal Overkill", and certainly not as low end heavy or as dark and brooding as the dungeon dwelling debut album by Sodom. Everything is very lively on Kreator's debut and seems to blast out of the speakers with full force, while still maintaining the chaotic and frantic pace invented by the likes of Venom, to be refined by Slayer. Re-releases would clean it up even further, such a process would typically gentrify an album's uniqueness, yet Endless Pain remains fresh and alive to this very day. In fact, I believe the album has obtained a better sound with subsequent remasters.

Many of the thrash bands to come from Germany would get a reputation for being far more "technical" than most other bands of the genre. Kreator would be no exception to get this kind of praise from fans. I personally don't find Endless Pain to be all that intricate, though there are some very inventive and complex riffs scattered throughout, especially the intro riff to "Total Death". One would have to look up a guitar tab to verify precisely what Mille Petrozza and Roberto Fioretti are actually playing here, it really sounds like the guitar are vomiting up their notes. I know that's a weird way to describe a guitar riff, but it's just so quickly performed without much cadence utilized to emphasize anything that's happening. The execution is not sloppy mind you, Kreator certainly had better chops than most acts, as evidenced by the song to follow, "Storm of the Beast", my personal favorite the album has to offer for its guitar riffs alone. It's also one of the few moments on Endless Pain where the band slow the tempo down for a short moment during the chorus, another standout slower moment being the intro to final track, "Dying Victims". The final track sticks out like a sore thumb with its "Don't Fear the Reaper" guitar intro coming unexpectedly before quickly bringing everything back to Kreator territory.

If you were to ask my opinion for the best thrash debut to come from the big four from the U.S.A., my answer would be an easy vote towards Megadeth's "Killing is my Business... and Business is Good"!. Germany's power trifecta consisting of Kreator, Sodom and Destruction is certainly a harder decision to make as I'm not as familiar with them, though the consensus would certainly seem to point to this album. I personally would need to revisit the other two again before making a final decision, but what I can say is that Endless Pain is a hard album not to like if you're a fan of thrash metal. It's a straight-forward, mostly simple album apart from whatever Ventor is doing on the drums throughout most of the album, not to mention he also happens to split the vocal responsibilities, and actually provides vocals for every other track on the album, I happen to prefer Ventor's vocals, though they tend to be more wacky than Petrozza's menacing, more accepted vocals, I still wish he would've done more on subsequent early releases such as Pleasure to Kill and Terrible Certainty. While it's not the most inventive thrash metal album out there, but certainly one that shouldn't be forgotten among the great B-tier list of thrash classics.

Superchard gets super hard for:
'Flag of Hate'
'Storm of the Beast'
'Son of Evil'

Rating: 8.4 out of 10

Review by Felix on January 18, 2020.

Some years ago, Mille spoke in an interview about Endless Pain. He said that Noise Records had booked the studio for two weeks. Yet the band members were very proud of the fact that they were able to finish the recordings within ten days. In hindsight, Mille could no longer understand this amateurish, anti-perfectionist behavior. But it gets even "better". Quite frankly, the album sounds like it has been recorded not within ten days, but within ten hours. Anyway, exactly the non-professional approach and the fairly awkward production lend Kreator's debut its special charm. Although it is defaced with one of these shitty Lawvere paintings, Endless Pain has become an important time document, not only because of the amazing career of the band, but also because of its musical content.

Okay, one cannot say that the album was highly original. Kreator wanted to sound as demonic, evil and abnormal as possible, but their closest competitors, Destruction and Sodom, pursued the same target. Furthermore, "Endless Pain" holds some riffs that had previously been used by others. "Total Death", for example, reproduces the riffs of the chorus of "Strike of the Beast". Don't get me wrong, I don't think that the trio copied these sounds deliberately. It is just a fact that a few parts of the album lie in close proximity to sections of other tunes. Yet Kreator also wrote outstanding guitar lines that triggered a fresh and energizing breeze. "Bonebreaker", a close relative of "Total Death", started with a riff that had the power to wake the dead in a matter of seconds. Both "Bonebreaker" and "Total Death" demonstrated that the young Jürgen "Ventor" Reil was able to manage very fast rhythms. "Tormentor" is another straight, unfussy and fast-paced rocket, but Kreator had slower fragments in their repertoire as well. Thus, let's put an eye on "Storm of the Beast".

Its beginning celebrates the triumph of simplicity. Ventor plays a primitive four-four time and a forceful guitar sets in and increases the tension. The song turns out to be another speed-driven, ugly monster, but its chorus slows down the tempo and the ending picks up the intro sequence again in order to close the cycle. "Storm of the Beast" does not show the highest compositional brilliance, but it is coherent and catchy in its own way. "Cry War", another fine mix of mid-paced and rapid parts, follows a similar line. By contrast, exactly the opener and title track create nothing else but an awkward sounding noise and I also never understood the structure of "Son of Evil", despite its actually strong beginning. Well, as the oh so wise guys like to say, every beginning is hard. Even the special thanks section was strange. It listed their parents (good boys!) as well as "the girls that we f**k" (not so good boys!). But how many girls wanted to be f**ked by one of these three unwashed outsiders? One? Or even none at all?

Despite these irritating details, Kreator's debut was an important statement. It made clear once and for all that energy, ambition and conviction beat technical musicianship. Unlike the aforementioned guys of Destruction and Sodom, they did not start with an EP, but with a complete album and therefore we got the full dose of juvenile anger. Even in 2017, Mille's, Ventor's and Rob's thirst for action is still tangible. Inspiration was the magic word for the band as well as for its noise making surrounding. The movie "Thrash, Altenessen", which is available on YouTube, shows the fairly harmonic yet restrictive working-class milieu where the band members grew up. Furious thrash was the tool to break these chains. Nobody could foresee that Kreator would become a force to be reckoned with, but one thing was certain: this debut came straight from the heart. Among other things, this feature makes Endless Pain so valuable.

Rating: 7.9 out of 10

Review by Felix on June 12, 2022.

Kreator – maybe one or two of you may be already familiar with this name? Well, if not, that’s no problem. Their name is unfortunately much bigger than the music they offer today. Of course, Hate Über Alles will receive a lot of fanboy and Mother Theresa reviews and naturally some of you really like the album whole-heartedly. That’s okay, why not? But for me, the ridiculously titled Hate Über Alles is a pretty ambivalent album.

Yes, I said ridiculous. Hate Über Alles does not focus on aggression and hate. It’s an album that wants to walk the fine line between a certain dose of thrash and commercial considerations. Already this calculating approach does not fit the explosiveness of thrash. Apart from this, the material holds some truly embarrassing elements. 'Become Immortal' is a lame and powerless song with squeaky guitars, but it would be at least acceptable without its terrible “ohoho” sing-along section. And why does Mille sing “remember where you came from” on an album that has absolutely nothing in common with the early works of the band? Cynical parody?

But of course, nobody, not even me, expected a full-length that focuses on courage instead of commerce. At the end of the day, I accept the general approach of Kreator. They want to be in thrash what Maiden is in heavy metal and Scorpions are in hard rock – the absolute consensus band. Kreator want to be loved, no matter the cost. But does this excuse terrible soft vocal lines like those in 'Conquer And Destroy'? Not to mention the inadequate female vocals in 'Midnight Sun'. These kitschy duets make me puke since Theatre Of Tragedy’s “Schattentanz”, although here the lady sings in a more robotic than romantic way. The calm intro as well as a soft intermezzo of 'Pride Before The Fall' also want to ride the song in the shit, but at the end it reaches a solid level.

All these soft building blocks must of course be compensated. 'Killer Of Jesus', wow, what a provocative title! This is t.h.r.a.s.h. 2022, isn’t it? Well, maybe it is, but there shimmers a little lie through every tone of the album. Either you have integrity or not and it seems to me that Kreator once indulged their passion and now they do their job. I admit they do it with expertise and their technical skills are beyond doubt, but Hate Über Alles is a pretty lame result, if you use thrash standards. The level of energy is low and the same applies for the degree of dynamic. Nevertheless, a small number of good songs has crept in. To begin at the end: 'Dying Planet' is a sinister, heavy closer, far away from being a typical filler whose only function is to close the output. The mid-harsh 'Strongest Of The Strong' holds the strongest guitar work on a not very strong album. No wonder this track was put on the net as an advance track. 'Killer Of Jesus' is partly pretty intensive and okay, 'Hate Über Alles' marks a stormy and violent opener, but (and this is a big but) it does not represent the album. It screams: listen, people, we are so goddamn brutal! The infantile artwork wants to tell the same story. But this work is anything else but brutal.

It goes without saying that the production is more or less perfect. Hooray! It avoids sterility and that’s no matter of course when it comes to big players like Kreator with a great budget. I also do not deny that Hate Über Alles leaves a better impression than its formulaic predecessor. Some good sections shape an acceptable full-length, no more, no less. Is this the standard that Kreator set for themselves? Either way, all of you who like the album: have a good time with it, it’s metal and therefore it is okay. I will listen to something else.

Rating: 6.3 out of 10

Review by Michael on June 8, 2022.

The 15th studio album by Kreator has the most matching title one can unfortunately imagine for the year 2022. Hate Über Alles is quite provocative but gets all the shit happening these days to the point. On the other hand a homage to Dead Kennedys (and everybody who is wondering about such a "patriotic" title got something wrong with Kreator). So it is no surprise that the whole album deals with hate, war, brutalization and environmental destruction. Megadeth once sang "The Threat Is Real" - yes, it is but the threat is not drowning refugees in the Mediterranean Sea but us: everybody on this planet who takes part in the destruction of society and the environment through his / her behavior.

The guys around Mille make a clear statement about this issue in 'Dying Planet', the last track on Hate Über Alles and one of the tracks you have to get used to. It's a slow and creeping track about which Sami Yli-Sirniö told me that it could be their Celtic Frost track. So it is pretty obvious that you can find a lot of Swiss tunes in it. On the album are some more tracks that are not the old-school Kreator stuff so that Hate Über Alles became a more challenging album than the ones after Endorama. But before you stop reading now because of reading Endorama - I can assure you that you won't be disappointed. Kreator built in some more classical heavy metal riffing like in 'Conquer And Destroy' (Iron Maiden and Blind Guardian anyone??? ) or 'Become Immortal' with a lot of NWoBHM-flair, a slight kitschy "ohoho"-chorus and a really fantastic bridge part (and some autobiographical lyrics by Mille) and some quite dystopian tunes on 'Midnight Sun' combined with some female vocals from the German (pop music) newcomer Sofia Portanet whose album "Freier Geist" was Milles favorite album in 2020.

But of course there are a lot of quite typical Kreator tracks on Hate Über Alles like 'Demonic Future' with a lot of tempo changes and the typical drumming by Ventor. The title track which could have also been on Enemy Of God or Hordes Of Chaos, the more brutal albums from the younger past or 'Killer Of Jesus'. Another provocative title and the track starts with a short black metal-like intro. This one is a brutal and melodic song that really kicks ass.

The production is absolutely flawless. This time the guys didn't engage Jens Bogren but a quite unknown American producer called Arthur Rizk (who was recommended to them by Michael Amott) and I guess they made no mistake with that.

So, what's the conclusion? It takes some listening sessions to fully open up Hate Über Alles because they changed some things in their composing approach and don't repeat themselves (what they never did). The songs have a lot of melodic guitar work but nevertheless the album sounds pretty uncompromising. Of course it is no "Pleasure To Kill Part 2" but everybody who knows Kreator will not expect such a thing in the last 30 years.

Rating: 9 out of 10 Hate songs