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Kreator: Terrible certainty

04/02/10 || Smalley

Forgive me Baalzamon, for I know not what I did. But seriously, I have come to like “Coma of souls” since my first go-round with it, and now I kind of feel guilty or something for that lukewarm review (referring to the way I felt about “Coma”, not the quality of my writing, haha), so here I am to atone for that metal sin by reviewing Kreator’s excellent third record, “Terrible certainty”.

Now, there were plenty of other Kreator albums I could’ve reviewed instead, but “certainty” just jumped out at me as the one; it’s an important mid-point in the band’s early days, showcasing much more intricate, developed songwriting than the enjoyable, but somewhat simplistic “Endless pain”/“Pleasure to kill”, but also captures Kreator at a time when they still had that youthful fire, that hunger for kreating (sorry) their style of music. Not at all to knock “Extreme aggression” or “Coma of souls” (again…), but those albums don’t quite have the same sort of crackle, the same energy that Kreator managed to deliver here.

“Certainty” starts off blisteringly fast and intense, and doesn’t let up for one second ‘til it’s over, so there’s no need for me to point out any “highlight tracks” here, since every one of ‘em kicks serious fuckin’ ass. Say what you will for any other thrash album out there, but “certainty” has more overall aggression than almost anything else in the genre, a good deal of that owing to Mille Petrozza’s in-your-face, shrieked vocals, with his singing here coming in as his best performance to date. So what if he isn’t a “good” singer in the traditional sense…? His style works well in this context, as do the guitar solos, with Petrozza and Jörg Tritze shredding their axes to fucken pieces, creating some of the craziest guitarwork you’ll ever have the pleasure of listening to.

While the guitar sound here is a bit thinner than desirable, it’s not “The legacy”-bad at least, and the basic riffs are awesome, so no big deal. The bass does sound good, for what that’s worth, and while the weak vocal cameo by drummer Ventor on “As the world burns” both baffles and irritates me (I don’t know why they were still letting him sing at all by this point), I can’t say he didn’t earn that little guest spot; Vent drums up a storm throughout “certainty”, keeping up with the riffage all the way. But then again, no member of Kreator lags behind here, with everyone doing their damndest to give us the heaviest, hurtin’-est thrashing possible.

However, despite all of this, and despite being their very best album, “Terrible certainty” always seems to get overlooked in favor of Kreator’s other efforts. Of course, they have made more good albums than most bands will ever dream of doing (their last three were good and you know it, haters), but for me, there’s no contest; “Terrible certainty” is the most engaging, satisfying Kreator album there is, and maybe ever will be, and is a sorely underappreciated gem in the history of metal. Trust me on this- I promise, you won’t regret it. And if you do, well, you’re just wrong.

Information
Released: 1987
Label: Noise Records
Website: www.kreator-terrorzone.de
Band
Mille Petrozza: vocals, guitars
Jörg Tritze: guitars
Rob Fioretti: bass
Ventor: drums, guest vocals

Tracklist
01. Blind Faith
02. Storming With Menace
03. Terrible Certainty
04. As The World Burns
05. Toxic Trace
06. No Escape
07. One Of Us
08. Behind The Mirror

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