As a thrash kiddy who first found Kreator on their 2012 album Phantom Antichrist, they’ve rapidly grown into my favourite thrash band. From their early days, as scrappy, sloppy teens on classics like Extreme Aggression and Pleasure to Kill, to their current form as the refined, masterful thrashers who never lost a yard of pace – Kreator as better than any other band in the genre. Even against their contemporaries in the US big four and the German big three (I refuse to acknowledge Tankard because I have taste), They have as many ground basic classic albums and they’ve aged significantly better. With all that in mind, it’s unlikely to be any surprise that I am always excited to hear a new album from the Essen born titans.

From the swelling, epic intro to Seven Serpents, it’s immediately clear that this is modern Kreator doing the modern Kreator thing. Sweeping epic passages, savage riffing, surprisingly melodic choruses and Mille’s distinct vocal approach are all present throughout the album in such a way that would give a fan of the band a warm fuzzy feeling. Even though on my original listen, I thought that Satanic Anarchy (which is a title that could come from a random Kreator song name generator) had a weak chorus, I found myself whistling the melody the next day. As with any top tier thrash album, there’re plenty of perfect moments for headbanging through out. The pacier riffs Barbarian and Psychotic Imperator (another archetypical title there) are just as energetic as ever and I was a little caught off guard by the title track here, with a groovy stomp riff. It’s not what I’ve come to expect from Kreator at this stage of their career, but I shouldn’t be shocked that they do this better than anyone else in the scene too.

While Mille sounds great as ever, I want to give a massive highlight to drummer Ventor. To have been in the game this long and still be fit enough to keep up on these brutally fast songs, as well as varied enough to make the crunchy parts crunch and swing is a testament to his skill. He’s always been excellent but something about his performance all over this album really leaps out to me this time around. Yes, the guitar theatrics of Mille and Sami are stunning as always, this is Ventor’s album to me.

For all the effusive praise I can give this album, the biggest drawback of this album is the fact that almost everything here is something you’ve heard on previous Kreator albums from Phantom Antichrist onwards. Is it fair to expect a groundbreaking band four decades into their career to be as exciting and fresh as they were at the beginning of their run? Absolutely not! But that’s the element that stops this from being a full on slam dunk perfect album. Perhaps my nostalgia for Phantom Antichrist is colouring my perception a little, but I do feel like everything we hear on this album is done just as well or better on that album. If you like the current era of Kreator, you will like this album, if you don’t, you won’t like it. It’s not the entry point album I’d recommend for someone curious about the band, but I don’t think you’d be poorly served by it either.

I think that about sums it up, honestly. I really like Krushers of the World! And you should too. This is a solid album, and frankly I’d love to hear any of these songs in the setlist when I see them live, but I also wouldn’t be too cut up if they most of them out either. Neither essential or an utter waste of time, this album is as good as I could hope for from such an iconic band. In fact, it’s better than I’ve learned to expect from their contemporaries. Kreator always show up with albums that are worth listening to, which is more than I can say from similarly iconic bands. Give it a spin. Go on, you know you wanna hear the best in the game just being really good once again.