So back In a Time of Blood and Fire in the mid-late '90s, during that first retro-thrash wave, two of the Nocturnal Rites guys (rendered nearly unidentifiable thanks to thrashpervert mustaches) decided to worship Endless Pain musically. Exactly why isn't a tale of mystery requiring much imagination--OLD KREATOR IS OBVIOUSLY KILLER. While there are plenty of Kreator influences--particularly vocally--abound in death/thrash and more violent strains of thrash, I can't think of that many examples of truly focused and undiluted classic Kreator emulation.* And as far as bands paying homage to the debut in any significant way? Only the Guillotine demo and debut album come to mind; Under the Guillotine also personally ranks as my favorite retro-thrash album and ties for my favorite Necropolis Rec. release.**
Typically when music is tagged as "Kreator worship," it's a gross exaggeration. Most often it seems to be used as a cheap marketing tactic to compare (usually far lesser) recordings to Pleasure to Kill, but it's also fairly common to see anything remotely thrashy with raspy vocals get a Kreator comparison. Guillotine have something in their favor though:
THEY ARE BLATANTLY UNORIGINAL.
Yes, the main reason this is so Endless Pain sounding is--suprise, suprise--a good deal of the material is based on slightly changed Endless Pain riffs and chord patterns. "Executioner" is clearly derived from "Living in Fear," "Leprosy" from "Tormentor," and "Guillotine" from "Bone Breaker." The individual song homages are kind of dispensed with by the middle of the album (though the chorus of "Total Mayhem" definitely evokes "Pleasure to Kill"***), and instead there are multiple variations on [Kreator's] "Tormentor" mixed with slightly broader Teutonic thrash influences.
As much as these tracks sound like debut-era Kreator, Guillotine doesn't quite emulate the entire Endless Pain album as a whole. Unfortunately, there's no attempt at Ventor-style caveman vocals, and while Spider's snarling vocals work just fine, they aren't particularly Mille sounding, either. There are also sadly no Guillotine equivalents for some of the more speed metal-influenced songs such as "Son of Evil" or "Cry War." Under the Guillotine is tighter and more streamlined than Endless Pain and vicious in its own way, but also less barbaric. There's a wonderful atmosphere of embryonic extreme metal savagery to the Kreator debut; it's not quite as untight as early Sodom or some of the South American stuff, but there are definite moments where the band seem to be about to go off the rails. Frankly, Guillotine is a bit too musically proficient to really replicate that effectively.
In most cases, clone bands are good at mimicking the sound and style of the target band, but end up writing far more mediocre (or worse) material. I'm not going to pretend Guillotine are always fully on par with old Kreator, but simply dismissing them due to unoriginality is to overlook some fine thrash. They are especially good at coming up with killer choruses ("Violence," "Night Stalker"), and Guillotine's own "Tormentor" is a surprisingly great non-'80s addition to the songtitle's legacy.
As if having a whole album of old Kreator sounding tracks wasn't enough, the '80s veneration even extends to the CD layout and disc face. The Grim Reaper on the cover could have easily adorned a volume of Metal Massacre, the inner booklet tracklisting looks like it came straight off a cheapo LaserLight CD, and there is a page dedicated to CD care and handling instructions (thoughtfully provided in several languages). REMEMBER TO USE A CLEAN CLOTH AND WIPE FROM CENTER TO EDGE. Unfortunately, the Necropolis website/email info on the back ruin what is otherwise an impeccably done retro layout.
As with the whole Scandinavian '90s retrothrash movement as a whole, the album seems to be a bit divisive. I can understand decrying its pure unoriginality to certain extent, but then again, that's the entire point, and hardly a quality indicator. Amusingly, the band name alone is apparently quite triggering. I'm also confused as to why sloppy lo-fi Destruction emulation is acceptable but Kreator emulation is not, or how someone sober could conclude Desekrator's Metal for Demons is a superior album. Perhaps these people don't like old Kreator, which is a concept I have trouble grasping. For the record, I've never been particularly bothered by musical emulators, clones, homages, or ripoffs, as long as the results were good. There are exceptions, of course, but I feel there's a lot more good metal coming from bands trying to emulate old sounds and aesthetics than from bands trying to be "original" and push boundaries. I am far more interested in enjoying a quality listening experience than broadening my musical horizons.
"Back when we did the first album, we deliberately tried to make everything sound and even look retro. We wanted every aspect of the album to breathe the 80s - and it truly did."
- Nils Eriksson****
*I obviously haven't heard every demo out there (hopefully there's more great Kreator worship to be discovered), but prior to Guillotine, I think the best and most notable example was Necrodeath's Fragments of Insanity, which would have been a better followup to PtK than Terrible Certainty was.
**Tied with the Nifelheim debut. Special mentions to early The Black too.
***The only real instance on the album. I remember when this was released, I saw some reviewers and distro blurbs call it Pleasure to Kill worship--either they didn't actually listen to it and just made a false association between the band name and "Under the Guillotine," or they're nitwits who weren't well-versed in thrash metal.
****I have yet to hear the entire thing, but what I did hear from the Blood Money album was personally disappointing. It sounded far more like newer Destruction than old Kreator glorification. "War" lifts that riff about midway through straight from Death's "Left to Die," so at least they're still showing some commitment to rehashing classic stuff.
Typically when music is tagged as "Kreator worship," it's a gross exaggeration. Most often it seems to be used as a cheap marketing tactic to compare (usually far lesser) recordings to Pleasure to Kill, but it's also fairly common to see anything remotely thrashy with raspy vocals get a Kreator comparison. Guillotine have something in their favor though:
THEY ARE BLATANTLY UNORIGINAL.
Yes, the main reason this is so Endless Pain sounding is--suprise, suprise--a good deal of the material is based on slightly changed Endless Pain riffs and chord patterns. "Executioner" is clearly derived from "Living in Fear," "Leprosy" from "Tormentor," and "Guillotine" from "Bone Breaker." The individual song homages are kind of dispensed with by the middle of the album (though the chorus of "Total Mayhem" definitely evokes "Pleasure to Kill"***), and instead there are multiple variations on [Kreator's] "Tormentor" mixed with slightly broader Teutonic thrash influences.
As much as these tracks sound like debut-era Kreator, Guillotine doesn't quite emulate the entire Endless Pain album as a whole. Unfortunately, there's no attempt at Ventor-style caveman vocals, and while Spider's snarling vocals work just fine, they aren't particularly Mille sounding, either. There are also sadly no Guillotine equivalents for some of the more speed metal-influenced songs such as "Son of Evil" or "Cry War." Under the Guillotine is tighter and more streamlined than Endless Pain and vicious in its own way, but also less barbaric. There's a wonderful atmosphere of embryonic extreme metal savagery to the Kreator debut; it's not quite as untight as early Sodom or some of the South American stuff, but there are definite moments where the band seem to be about to go off the rails. Frankly, Guillotine is a bit too musically proficient to really replicate that effectively.
In most cases, clone bands are good at mimicking the sound and style of the target band, but end up writing far more mediocre (or worse) material. I'm not going to pretend Guillotine are always fully on par with old Kreator, but simply dismissing them due to unoriginality is to overlook some fine thrash. They are especially good at coming up with killer choruses ("Violence," "Night Stalker"), and Guillotine's own "Tormentor" is a surprisingly great non-'80s addition to the songtitle's legacy.
As if having a whole album of old Kreator sounding tracks wasn't enough, the '80s veneration even extends to the CD layout and disc face. The Grim Reaper on the cover could have easily adorned a volume of Metal Massacre, the inner booklet tracklisting looks like it came straight off a cheapo LaserLight CD, and there is a page dedicated to CD care and handling instructions (thoughtfully provided in several languages). REMEMBER TO USE A CLEAN CLOTH AND WIPE FROM CENTER TO EDGE. Unfortunately, the Necropolis website/email info on the back ruin what is otherwise an impeccably done retro layout.
As with the whole Scandinavian '90s retrothrash movement as a whole, the album seems to be a bit divisive. I can understand decrying its pure unoriginality to certain extent, but then again, that's the entire point, and hardly a quality indicator. Amusingly, the band name alone is apparently quite triggering. I'm also confused as to why sloppy lo-fi Destruction emulation is acceptable but Kreator emulation is not, or how someone sober could conclude Desekrator's Metal for Demons is a superior album. Perhaps these people don't like old Kreator, which is a concept I have trouble grasping. For the record, I've never been particularly bothered by musical emulators, clones, homages, or ripoffs, as long as the results were good. There are exceptions, of course, but I feel there's a lot more good metal coming from bands trying to emulate old sounds and aesthetics than from bands trying to be "original" and push boundaries. I am far more interested in enjoying a quality listening experience than broadening my musical horizons.
"Back when we did the first album, we deliberately tried to make everything sound and even look retro. We wanted every aspect of the album to breathe the 80s - and it truly did."
- Nils Eriksson****
*I obviously haven't heard every demo out there (hopefully there's more great Kreator worship to be discovered), but prior to Guillotine, I think the best and most notable example was Necrodeath's Fragments of Insanity, which would have been a better followup to PtK than Terrible Certainty was.
**Tied with the Nifelheim debut. Special mentions to early The Black too.
***The only real instance on the album. I remember when this was released, I saw some reviewers and distro blurbs call it Pleasure to Kill worship--either they didn't actually listen to it and just made a false association between the band name and "Under the Guillotine," or they're nitwits who weren't well-versed in thrash metal.
****I have yet to hear the entire thing, but what I did hear from the Blood Money album was personally disappointing. It sounded far more like newer Destruction than old Kreator glorification. "War" lifts that riff about midway through straight from Death's "Left to Die," so at least they're still showing some commitment to rehashing classic stuff.
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