Kreator, Phantom Antichrist (2012)

Hello everyone,

Today I am going to take a break from the Metal Mayhem's Top 100, and do an album review. Yesterday I had the pleasure of listening Phantom Antichrist which is the latest effort from German thrash giant Kreator. In case you missed it, Kreator was listed at #71 on Metal Mayhem's top 100 metal bands of all-time. If I had listened to this album, I would have ranked them much higher.

If you are unfamiliar with Kreator, they are often cited as one of the big three of German thrash along with Destruction and Sodom. The band formed in 1982 and have been considered huge influences of the rise of European death metal.

In my opinion, Phantom Antichrist (along with Born Villain) may be the best metal album that has been released in 2012. This is the band's thirteenth album, and by far, their best. This album is the first evidence that Kreator has grown as a band in the thirty years of their existence. I say that because while there is definitely aspects of thrash evident, but this album is more of a hybrid progressive-thrash album.

One problem that I always had with Kreator is the vocals of Miland Petrozza. That said, the combination of clean vocals with a variety of screams and growls is much improved.

I have always thought that Kreator was an incredibly talented band, but they have never reached their full potential . . . until now. I highly recommend this album.

I give this album a grade of A +.

Here is "Phantom Antichrist."

and "Death to the World."

As always, thanks for reading!
Marty Sabin