{"id":5476,"date":"2012-06-05T00:00:05","date_gmt":"2012-06-05T00:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=5476"},"modified":"2013-06-01T16:00:02","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T16:00:02","slug":"album-review-kreator-phantom-antichrist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-kreator-phantom-antichrist\/","title":{"rendered":"KREATOR – Phantom Antichrist (2012) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

KREATOR
Phantom Antichrist<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nNuclear Blast (2012)<\/span>
Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s never an easy task reviewing the new album from one of your favourite bands \u2013 give it a gushing review and you could be accused of favouritism, but be too harsh and you can sound too critical, just for the sake of not wanting to seem biased. So I\u2019ll approach Phantom Antichrist<\/em> with an open mind, and evaluate how the long-awaited follow-up to 2009\u2019s Hordes Of Chaos<\/em> sits with older material and how Kreator\u2019s sound has progressed from their last few releases. And it takes just 45 seconds of the haunting intro of \u2018Mars Mantra\u2019 to explode into life and for the hairs on the back of the neck to stand to attention \u2013 yes folks, Kreator look like they have written yet another thrash metal masterpiece, cementing their already legendary status as one of the most vital bands in the thrash genre.<\/p>\n

The album kicks off proper with lead single and title track \u2018Phantom Antichrist\u2019, and it\u2019s clear that the Teutonic quartet know exactly what the fans want and aren\u2019t about to mess with their winning formula (which probably reads something like: aggressive riffing + manic drumming + tight songwriting + simple sing-along choruses = huge circle pits). It\u2019s also notable that they have dropped the rawer sound that was employed on Hordes Of Chaos<\/em>, and gone for a sleeker sound giving the songs a rounded, modern edge.<\/p>\n

But not content with rehashing their sound just to please fans Kreator have overhauled their whole songwriting approach, incorporating a more mature feel. The anthemic, melodic chorus of \u2018From Flood Into Fire\u2019 is as rousing as any Scandinavian power metal band, but with Mille Petrozza\u2019s trademark snarl leading the attack as if he\u2019s leading a vast army into battle, and the results are staggering (more hairs on end!).<\/p>\n

The thrashers we\u2019ve come to know and love are still present and correct; the sheer speed of the first half of \u2018Civilization Collapse\u2019 is breathtaking (a great performance from drummer Ventor on this record, belying his years) that will satisfy the hardcore fans in the mosh pits.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s been one criticism of Kreator in the past, it\u2019s that their choruses are made up of just the song title barked by Mille, but this time around there are hooks in the songs and fist-pumping anthems. In essence, Phantom Antichrist<\/em> is probably their most German sounding album to date, and with a few nods to Iron Maiden littered throughout the album\u2019s ten tracks it also appears that some songs, such as \u2018The Few, The Proud, The Broken\u2019 were written with festival audiences in mind. This new songwriting approach actually seems to have given them an even more appealing sound \u2013 in this day and age of dwindling album sales Kreator have released a record that should also appeal to newer fans, such is the quality of the material. <\/p>\n

So does this album stand up there with earlier releases such as Pleasure To Kill<\/em> (1986)? Well, the extreme aggression is still there, but this is an altogether different beast. Does Phantom Antichrist<\/em> naturally follow the path set out by their \u2018comeback\u2019 album, Violent Revolution<\/em> (2001)? Yes, and then some. In short, Kreator have yet again raised the bar (of hate) and this is one of the strongest thrash releases of recent years and a more than worthy addition to the German band\u2019s back catalogue.<\/p>\n

Neil Not<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KREATORPhantom Antichrist Nuclear Blast (2012)Rating: 9\/10 It\u2019s never an easy task reviewing the new album from one of your favourite bands \u2013 give it a gushing review and you could be accused of favouritism, but be too harsh and you can sound too critical, just for the sake of not wanting to seem biased. So […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[249],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kreator"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5476"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12205,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5476\/revisions\/12205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}