A Review of the Album "Enemy of God" by Essen Germany's Thrash Metal Band Kreator

Yes, I did say that because this album is truly that good! From the first song until the last one, Enemy of God has NO filler tracks on it and it should be one of the best listens for any guitar players out there!

The album also features the contribution of Finnish born guitarist Sami Yli-Sirnio. Sami also plays in the Finnish band called Waltari. Christian Giesler plays the bass guitar while Jurgen Reil plays the drums. The vocals are done by Mille Petrozza who has improved much since 1990. to best describe his vocal style, imagine a higher pitched but better version of Randy Rampage, former vocalist of the band Annihilator.

Enemy of God is the first album I heard from these guys and I knew I had to have it in my collection! There is not a single bad song on this CD much like the way Metallica’s Kill em All album is full of hard-hitting thrash metal. But this album has the speed, creativity, and melody which puts it in the elite category of thrash metal. The album came out in the same year as Holy Moses’ Strength Power Will Passion album. But this album is even better than that one.

But this album is even better than that one. Now some of you may think that such a statement is bragging or exaggerating but these guys know how to play!

1. Enemy of God
2. Impossible Brutality
3. Suicide Terrorist
4. World Anarchy
5. Dystopia
6. Voices of the Dead
7. Murder Fantasies
8. When Death Takes It’s Dominion
9. One Evil Comes-A Million Follow
10. Dying Race Apocalypse
11. Under a Total Blackened Sky
12. The Ancient Plague

Mille Petrozza has a more raspy voice while Sabina Classen has a more death metal like growl. This article is not about who is the better vocalist but this is just a slight comparison between two vocalists in the metal genre. Kreator is considered to be one of the main top three German 80’s thrash bands along with Sodom and Destruction. I haven’t heard much from those two bands but Kreator stands out to me as one of the best German heavy metal bands formed in the 1980’s.

The lyrical themes on the album tend to be political in nature ranging from fall of governments, violence, terrorism, and war. Even so, it does not detract from the music one bit. The melodic song Impossible Brutality is about a government that controls and brainwashes its citizens as the people die because war has ravaged their country.

Peace is only possible if citizens of the world unite and realize what must be done to make this possible. Through multiple listens of this album, I realize that this album is Kreator’s strongest one!

Suicide Terrorist is a song about a religious fanatic bringing destruction to the place that he attacks. World Anarchy is about what can happen in the world when there is no law and order. The song though starts out with a scream by Mille Petrozza. Voices of the Dead has a soft guitar part similar to the way that the song Space Clearing starts out with a soft guitar part as it transitions into a very melodic metal song. Murder Fantasies is about a person that is consumed with so much anger and hate that the only objective that is on his mind is to kill those that he deems to be inferior to him.

"When Death Takes It’s Dominion" is the first song I ever heard from Kreator and this is the song that influenced me to hear more of the music from these guys and the rest is history. Even if the lyrics in this song are not the most pleasant, the song and the riffing really fits in well with how this is played. The song Dying Race Apocalypse uses a brilliant guitar part in the beginning which shows the versatility of this band. There is a scream by Mille Petrozza before the song starts. Is the final hour of he world's existence coming? In the 1980's the band brought attention to various social issues and in 2005 with so many challenges for the world, the possibility of further chaos exists.

Overall, Enemy of God is a fantastic album that should even appeal to guitar players around the world. The album has everything that an album needs to be great one. These are lots of speed, aggression, melody, and vocals that match the style of the songs. If you are a fan of German thrash metal, this album is an essential one to have. There are times when it will be hard for some of us to sit through an hour long thrash metal album even a creative one like this. That’s why patience is an essential trait to have. One song that we did not really discuss in this review is the song “One Evil Comes – A Million Follow.” The mostly mid-tempo songs speeds up and then the middle section of it has a very memorable melodic interlude.