Kreator - Pleasure to Kill. 1986 Germany

This is the last of the albums I picked up from What's Left's metal buy at the end of 2024. Unlike the other three, I did own this once but it was on CD. That was back in 2004 and I wrote a review at the time demonstrating that I was struggling with the contents. I never did hear Kreator back in the day - at least not a full album. By 2015 I decided to move it out on a final listen. In hearing the album for the first time since, and first time ever on vinyl, my position has changed. This is an acknowledged classic in the thrash metal world, and some claim it is Kreator's best work. I'm not familiar with any of their other albums, but in reading reviews, it seems the next three after this would probably be even more to my liking. Pleasure to Kill is a flawed album, no question about it. What's changed is my views towards those flaws. As I get older I seem to reward enthusiasm over professionalism. Had this been rehearsed more, or the vocals were more polished, or the production was more clear, then we'd have an entirely different listening experience. But is that what I want? I'm not so sure. One of the issues is the vocals - they aren't sung, they aren't screamed, and they aren't growled. They're spewed. With anger. I'm warming up to them. Goes with the music. Another is that they go too fast at times. This is a problem with Teutonic thrash in general during the early days (see my recent comments on Deathrow and Destruction). I love high energy but if it's full blast all the time, then the impact loses its punch. The good news is that Kreator does mix the tempos quite a bit, and the riffs are all over the place. The latter is the strength of the album, no question. The guitar solos are good too, not just random notes as fast as possible. Even the opening soft piece is a cut above, not just a basic acoustic guitar strum, but rather a semi classical chamber sound with what could pass for mellotron even. I'm up for hearing anything by these guys at this point. 

Ownership: LP: 1986 Combat. Single sleeve. Beautiful condition original. Obtained from What's Left and it wasn't cheap that's for sure. But hard to pass up when it's right there in front of you. I may never see an original again, especially in this condition.

2004 (first listen); 6/30/15; 2/10/25 (review / new entry)