Kreator – Terrible Certainty – 1987

Terrible Certainty is the third album from the German Thrash Metal band Kreator. I feel that the guys have taken a step back with this album. The previous Pleasure to Kill was a furious experience. Terrible Certainty is a slower and more focused attempt, I think. And when I say slower, I mean that it’s still pretty darn fast and aggressive.

It took me a few listens to really get into it. I think that is mainly due to the production and the mixing values. Terrible Certainty does not ring well in my ears at all. The sound is too muddy, and there’s far too little control over the lower registers. 

All music is written by Kreator on this album. I think that’s a way to split the credits rather than the whole band being involved in the writing process of all the songs. But that’s just speculation from my side. I know there are other bands that practiced this in the past. Regardless of who came up with the song, all of the band were credited. Queen is such an example. Regardless of whether it was Brian May or Freddie Mercury who came up with the song all the band received the credit.

But, of course, it can just as much be true that they really wrote it together during jam sessions. Mille Petrozza is credited with all the lyrics, though. He also handles all the guitars. Well, almost, there’s an intro that is apparently played by Jörg Trzebiatowski. That part is the only part where the guitar is clean and where there’s no aggression. It’s actually a really soothing intro. A bit contradictory, I know.

Jürgen Reil plays the drums and has one lead vocal credit on Terrible Certainty. I think this is the last album where he did that. Rob Fioretti is handling the bass. 

I think it’s a shame that the production and mixing of Terrible Certainty is what it is. I think this could have been a really good album with the right sound philosophy. But the fact is that this doesn’t do it for me.