Hordes of Chaos is the twelfth studio album from Kreator. It was the first album I heard with them I think.. At the time I thought it was a little too brutal for my taste. I remember comparing it to a lighter version of Slayer at the time, but when I revisited now, a few hundred album reviews later, I didn’t really agree with my old self.
Sure, the brutality and the aggression is kind of Slayerish. But Kreater does not use the same type of harmonies that Slayer does in their best moments. Hordes of Chaos is more straightforward and “easy” in that perspective. Now, when I kind of go through Kreator’s entire discography, I still find it to be very good! It’s not too aggressive and brutal for me these days, In fact, it could be even more so.
Although as I mentioned in my previous review in their discography, the previous album Enemy of God, which I consider to be a masterpiece is superior to this. Hordes of Chaos lacks the easy recognizable melodies and lyrical lines from the previous album. I can’t hum the lyrics as I can with Enemy of God.
But… if we talk strictly about brutality and aggression, Hordes of Chaos is clearly the superior album. I like it, but it doesn’t come up to the standard I visualized after Enemy of God.
All tracks are again credited to vocalist and rhythm guitarist Mille Petrozza. Jürgen Reil is on drums, bass by Christian Giesler and lead guitar is performed by Sami Yli-Sirniö, the same line up as the last couple of albums. And the style is there, it’s just the songs that don’t appeal to me in the same way.
