Outcast

Hm… wrapping on my latest reviewing spree with Kreator reviews… strange; have never been a big fan of the band… I did attend their concert in Varna in the autumn of 1993, though, and I jumped particularly wildly on “Flag of Hate” and “Extreme Aggression” as these were the only tracks that I recognized from the set.

But the album reviewed here holds a special place in my heart… cause this is the only cassette that I stole from a shop… well, I didn’t exactly steal it, I just forgot to pay for it. I was taking part in a tennis tournament in this city in the summer of 1997, and I spotted the tape in a music shop there. The guy was a big metalhead, and we talked far’n wide about our favourite music, I gave him a few precious pieces of information that he wasn’t aware of, and when I left, I took the tape but didn’t give him any money; I forgot. This only occurred to me a few minutes later when I was already far from the shop, but I didn’t have time to go back… you see, I’m not like Clint Eastwood, to go the extra mile for a few dollars more, or for a fistful of dollars… I’m a charity person. Besides, considering the invaluable information I delivered to the guy regarding our favourite pastime, I took this as a gift from him. Long live.

Yeah, the Kreator discography passed me by, completely before this Outcast here. Their early recordings sounded too messy and brutal for me back then, and based on what I heard on those I only gave half a listen to their more proficient late-80’s/early-90’s period. But then this “Renewal” appeared that became the most favourite album of a friend of mine; he had several cassettes, one for his home, one for his grandparents’ house, one for the car, one for the bicycle… he even had a spare copy to give me. I nodded semi-approvingly on these weird industrial soundscapes, rather in solidarity with my friend than due to some strong appreciation I developed for them, and wasn’t particularly moved when “Cause for Conflict” came knocking on my door, another present from a friend, with Mille bumping his head against the already solid groove/industrial wall from the mid-90’s, trying to prick it somehow with his obsolete thrashy tactics.

Nope, no success there, and under the ungrateful circumstances there was only one thing left to do: our hero had to sign up for an appointment with the sage known as the Coroner who had just retired from a busy illustrious career in the tech-thrash subgenre. Said Coroner, the actual name Tommy Vetterli, had tried his hands on a couple of jumpy groovy, semi-technical tunes under the name Clockwork (one demo, 1995) a few months back, but otherwise he wasn’t doing much at the time. Perfect timing, and before you know it the Petrozza/Vetterli collaboration became a fact… yep, it seemed as though Mille might eventually realize his visions of tech-thrash grandeur…

when I was buying… oops, taking the cassette, I knew that Vetterli had accepted the offer to join the Kreator camp; that was already a well-publicized secret. So the world, who earlier needed just one hero, now had two, as a joint force at that. The only question left was whether this was going to be a classic tech-thrash behemoth (“Vortex of Souls”) or a venerable, not very servile, nod to the current at the time vogues (“Grinning Renewal”)… who would have thought that these two naughty troubadours, these people of the lie, would choose an entirely different path to explore, defying everyone’s expectations… the moment the opening “Leave This World Behind” reached my ears I knew that we all were tricked; this Outcast didn’t need to dance in complicated vortexes, and had no intentions on grinning artificially like a forced-to-be-there circus clown.

This is a modern dark/gothic metal recording, only executed the Kreator way; think an edgier and a more dynamic rendition of the genre than the one savoured on the works of Paradise Lost, Cemetary, and Sentenced at around the same time. And even more surprisingly, it doesn’t sound awkward; not at all. After the thrash invasion Mille attempted on the previous effort ultimately failed, he knew it was futile to waste time for another such crusade against the aggro/groovy bastion… so why not give freedom to his dark/gothic side? Easier done than said as the album flows so naturally that one can only wonder why he hadn’t tried his hands on this kind of music earlier. One may dispute the vocal style as the man makes few compromises with his venomous shouty antics of old, but his performance only adds to the aggrandized musical setting. Some modern sterile minimalism ala “Renewal” (the effective creepy “Ruin of Life”) can be still detected, but it works fine with the more energetic delivery which is just about to burst into something genuinely thrashy on “Phobia”. As said number is served fairly early, one may think that the suppressed thrashiness would invariably resurface in a more fulsome form later, it’s Kreator, after all… no, that doesn’t happen but that wouldn’t be anyone’s most urgent agenda as the guys take care of business by instilling the dominant semi-abrasive mid-paced stride that hypnotizes the listener who may get a bit depressed on the excellent doomy dirge “Black Sunrise” where even Mille’s sudden synthesized screeches work. The rest is one solid, consistent sombre shredorama that surely welcomes both more balladic digressions (the title-track) and short rowdier hymns (“Against the Rest”) the only other more overtly thrashy moment being my personal favourite “Whatever It May Take”, a dramatic mid-pacer with sharp cutting guitars which could have reached the final round on a “Come of Souls” audition even.

No, this album doesn’t need hypothetical past efforts’ qualifiers; it has all it needs to convince the audience that Kreator by all means have a place under the dark/gothic metal sun, and may even reach to the very upper echelons of it with time... cause back in 1997 no one knew when exactly the numetal fads would end; they could have extended all the way into the new millennium and beyond… who could foresee the evolution/devolution of the flippant, volatile music industry with terrible certainty? Why wait for the good old times to return when they may as well never return? Why not try and fit into the current environment by also preserving some of the belligerence of old? Why not look for and find this hidden more lyrical string in your soul that can also inspire you to create something worthy albeit different from anything you’ve delved into earlier?

Yes, the 90’s were times for experiments those either caused by desire for profit or by the willingness to expand one’s horizons, or by the need for challenge and departure from the loathsome comfort zone. It’s not very clear which cause was behind Mille’s wanderings throughout the decade; what is clear is that the man did venture into several branches of the modern metal spectre, and surprisingly he never flopped along the way. He didn’t quite emerge victorious from his tussles with the ruling trends, but he did stand dignified along the ones who founded those trends, marching confidently onward by never completely forgetting his roots.

I’m not quite sure why Mille needed this appointment with the Coroner, though; a hugely gifted axeman like Vetterli is hardly the most necessary partner for a dark gothic dance… the Swiss maestro does participate vigilantly, but needless to add his intricate pyrotechnics are nowhere to be heard… cause they simply have no place here. I prefer to view Vetterli as more of a councillor and a consultant rather than a tantamount to Mille creative force. And they even stayed together for another shredo… sorry, endorama, released two years later, would you believe… the style quite similar albeit not as potently and as confidently executed.

And that was it, this partnership was over largely cause the time for a violent retro metal revolution had come; Mille waited patiently for this moment, keeping an eye on the winds of change, trusting that if the world didn’t come to an end at the end of the old millennium, there would be only one development to ensue from mankind’s second spell with life: another Renaissance, or Renewal like he likes to call it, but this time not only restricted to Italy and a few other neighbouring to it countries. A strong classic metal tsunami rose, and Kreator simply had to be one of the flagmen… the time for rowdy gothic dances was gone, Mille had to go back to his tucked-away notebooks and recall how once upon a time he was so good at making everyone crazy with his arcane extreme therapies. Pleasure to kill? Nah, more like addiction to thrash.

Please ignore the ugly nudist on the cover, "Outcast" does not deserve to be overlooked only because of its shitty artwork. Kreator's album from 1997 cannot be compared with the formation's famous works such as the first two full-lengths, yet it exudes its own, more or less seductive aroma. The band relies on a simple recipe, but it has enabled them to pen an interesting album. All songs are reduced to the essentials, all are based on almost primitive, conventional patterns and the band cannot be blamed for neglecting catchy elements. This compositional approach means that everything depends on the quality of the riffs. No need for concern, they are mostly brilliant.

With nearly primitive yet intelligently used means, Kreator deliver hit after hit. Yes, there are two downers that lack of heaviness, belligerence and wickedness. The slack "Black Sunrise" with its painfully gothic verses and the aimlessly meandering, a little bit lacklustre title track form the cancer in the body of "Outcast". Fortunately, it is a good-natured ulcer that does not seriously endanger the healthy appearance of the album. Too many great tracks hit the nail on the head. Their riffs are highly efficient, the omnipresent mid-tempo rhythms are no challenge for Ventor, but they give the guitars room to develop their full force and a certain negativity builds the fundament of the songs. This is another kind of demarcation from the lukewarm mainstream, not comparable with that nearly absurd stubbornness which formed the main pillar of "Endless Pain" or "Pleasure to Kill". Yet it is a demarcation. Commercially motivated albums sound different.

"Leave this World Behind" constitutes an almost programmatic opener, because the album is truly able to offer the audience another universe. Its cold atmosphere, the consistent renunciation of any kind of bombastic, light and needless elements as well as the nearly unvarying level of harshness create a closed unit. "Leave this World Behind" introduces the listener to this new surrounding in a very convincing manner. Nonetheless, be aware of the fact that the best tunes of "Outcast" bear other names. Edgy riffs shape highlights such as "Forever" and "Nonconformist". The latter excels itself additionally by its fantastic drive. Still better, "Stronger than Before" is cut from the same cloth, "Enemy Unseen" combines stomping verses with an eerie chorus and "Ruin of Life" underlines the pretty fatalistic aura of the entire album. The final smasher is "Whatever it May Take", inter alia due to its dynamic transition between verse and chorus. Only its robot sounds after the second part are a little bit strange.

"Phobia", the most aggressive song, and the last three numbers do not fall by the wayside. Kreator stay loyal to their uncomplicated method and it comes therefore as no surprise that the whole work is based on an homogeneous overall impression. Ignorant fools call the here performed approach uninspired, but this group of blockheads just sucks. Instead of taking care of the guys, it makes more sense to have a look at the technical framework. Production-wise, "Outcast" delivers a transparent and distanced, but not soulless sound which was created with a good ear for what's essential. Mille's voice fits well with the bone-dry guitars. To express it differently, the dominating elements harmonize with each other. So now it is probably time to use the term which is used so often in these cases: "Outcast" is an underrated album. But forgive me to say it less sententiously, I just like this album.

In the eyes of some die-hard fans, the band's 8th album, 'Outcast', caused Kreator to become outcasts. The legendary, violent thrash metallers had experimented earlier with their 1992 album 'Renewal', the album that many old fans banished to the deepest abyss. However, with 'Outcast' the band wanted to experiment again, and unquestionably brave they were.

'Renewal's successful, in my ears at least, thrash metal flirting with industrial elements happened again here, although in significantly different soundscapes. 'Outcast' is Kreator stripped to the bone, with atmosphere of nowadays' oppression and agitation. Metal this is, but thrash metal? No, except for a pinch maybe. It's Kreator style dark metal, I presume. I think that 'Coma of Souls' (1990) song 'People of the Lie' was a step towards to this kind of material. Anyways, let's dive deeper into 'Outcast'. Because the cover is a bad one, and not telling all about the album!

'Leave This World behind' immediately introduces the melody, and familiar pedantic guitar riffage and rhythm work make this one a roller. And what, no guitar solo?! No, they're for rock stars anyway. Mille Petrozza sounds, well, Mille, in all his ugliness (his raspy throat screams and trademark end of sentence stertor are all here). 'Phobia' is the album's 'People of the Lie', fast rolling headbanger. It is already evident, that Kreator sound bare here. The sound is heavy, no doubt about it. The bass is fantastically huge in the mix, bringing it to the front with guitars. Actually every instrument and vocals are consistent in volume, but because of the job well done, it doesn't sound clogged at all. Rather, the method gives required potency for the sound. On with the album again now...

'Forever' is one of the slowest Kreator songs ever. The experimenting with sound effects (not keyboards) is the key word here, they are brought in to give atmosphere and fluctuation. 'Black Sun' "raises" on speed level gambling; the song is even slower than the previous one! This goes almost into doom territories, let me tell you. Mille does some clean vocals, and pretty effective they are. Now you can feel other emotions than familiar violence and destructiveness from him. Whoa, the album's first guitar solo happens now! Over a slide guitar... Well, the band were experimenting, as mentioned earlier. 'Nonconformist' is more punky bullet train, at least the song feels fast among the slow songs. You can forget about guitar solos again. 'Enemy Unseen' contains very militaristic beats, but is a very uneventful and probably the simplest ever song from the band. The title song harks back to 'Renewal's atmosphere, being a fantastic piece with oppressive feel yet the chorus is totally anthemic. 'Stronger than Hate' is the most thrashing song on offer. Then it is time for songs that fall into the category of uneventful songs. 'Against the Rest' is one of the rockiest songs from Kreator, kind of predicting the future: 1999 and 'Endorama' album. 'A Better Tomorrow' saves the album from a big fall into mediocrity, but it's clear that 13 songs are a few songs too many with the amount of substance the band built them from. Maybe the melodiousness is the reason why there's not much solos. Even though the lyrics are mostly very negative and about real life, there's a few glimpses of light in them. Mille surely writes good words; he must know what he is saying. Also some of Mille's vocals are effected, but work nicely. The performances do not lack of nuances, as one might gues when looking at the line-up: "Ventor" behind the drumkit, Tommy Vetterli of Coroner fame on other guitar and Christian Giesler on bass.

I take this album as Kreator's so called "The Black Album" (in fact it is Metallica's self-titled one from 1992, as you might have guessed). In reality 'Outcast' is much, much deeper album. Some ditch it for not being thrash metal, but if you like Kreator and understand the band's soul, you might like this one too. Eleven years ago I would have given this quite a much lower score, but I've started to enjoy about this for a big part. However, I still find the album lacking in songwriting.

(Originally written for ArchaicMetallurgy.com in 2008)

Beginning with Renewal in 1992, Kreator started a phase in their career of mild experimentation, which would last five albums until returning to 'normal' on 2005's Enemy of God. Like so many other bands of the 90s, the pressures of metal's decline and the rise of other, alternative musics seemed to shake itself off on the Germans, thus provoking an evolution of sound. To their credit, Kreator still felt and sounded like Kreator throughout all of these works, even the much maligned, Kreator-lite album Endorama. As far as this perior, I feel Renewal was the brightest and the best, an album that has truly grown upon me with its brand of grim, industrial thrash metal, but Outcast was no slouch.

The outside influence on this particular album is a rowdy punk/hardcore aesthetic, in addition to some hints of industrial noise, and the result is a pretty even smorgasboard of fist pumping Kreator-core anthems that range from fun to just there. Do not be misled by my description: the album is in no way silly or anarchistic. It retains the social political consciousness that Kreator has been scripting since Terrible Certainty. It's simply got a punk aesthetic fueling it, which is little surprise, as Mille and crew have always been fans of decent punk. This manifests in tracks like "Phobia", "Nonconformist", "Against the Rest" and "Whatever It May Take". But they're not alone here, the band has written some simple (by their standards) thrashings like "Alive Again" and the groovy "Forever", which is one of the best songs on this album. There are also a few tracks like "Enemy Unseen" which make use of the industrial waste backdrop and provide a foreshadowing of the band's dreaded Endorama to come.

As far as atmosphere, the record is mixed extremely well, and despite the various tempos the tracks will move at, it all comes together to create a consistent experience, though unlikely to be memorable unless you're a diehard Kreator fan who followed the band through the peaks and valleys of their 90s output. I can draw some slight parallels here to other industrial/metal bands of that decade, a little Pitch Shifter, a little Thought Industry, but mostly to sewer thrashers Prong. Outcast is not heavy on electronics, they are used for sheer atmosphere. Also of note is that Kreator had recruited Tommy Vetterli (aka Tommy T. Baron of Coroner, another band to experiment with a cold industrial edge in the 90s), but I would consider him wasted here. His playing is fine, but being condemned to such simple song structures must have felt like Hell to one so talented. Or maybe not... The drums thunder, and Mille sounds quite good using these simpler patterns of lyrics and repetition.

Outcast is not a failure, far from it. It's an interesting change for the band which brings forward a few of the ideas initiated with Renewal. I like this album far more than its predecessor Cause for Conflict, or the following Endorama; just don't approach it with the thought you're going to hear Extreme Aggression or Coma of Souls' wall of manic, incredible riffing thrash.

Highlights: Phobia, Forever, Enemy Unseen, Whatever It May Take

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

The 90s will forever be remembered as the worst years for metal and especially for thrash metal. Kreator fell into a sort of limbo for two/three albums and this Outcast is the lowest point in their career. The following Endorama will be more gothic oriented while this album is darker and features modern elements in Kreator’s sound, grabbing directly from the modern influences that were invading the metal in that period. If you really want to listen to this album, there are few things I must say to you: forget about the violent death/thrash of the previous works, forget about the riffs, forget about the fast tempo parts and forget about the brutal vocals by Mille.

Now, are you ready? Let’s enter the new conception of music by Kreator in those days. The first song already shows how the album will be. The riffs are almost embarrassing and dull. There’s a will to make the melodies stand out and also the will to erase most of the metal elements. If the following Endorama at least will feature catchy lines, this song is incredibly weak. The modern elements can be found in some synth parts in order to create weird sounds behind the instruments, like programming and artificial noises. Yeah, the atmosphere is quite dark but the song is incredibly boring. The following “Phobia” is the song that I like the most here because it’s a bit heavier and it’s catchy. Still nowadays it’s played live and achieves the goal of bringing up the tempo parts and my general attention.

“Forever” is obscene because is supremely flawed and boring in the songwriting. The riffs are repetitive and tedious. The modern effects are still present and also some vocals parts are filtrated. The whispered vocals and the obscure moments are in contraposition with the loud restarts where the vocals are utter crap. The groove tempo and the guitars parts are even worst in the following “Nonconformist”. The stop and go parts are unbelievably shitty and the following “Enemy Unseen” follows the same style with all the flaws and the mallcore addictions. Kreator are now experts in crappy groove/modern sounds. The title track is mid-paced (yes, we need that after a BRUTAL song like “Enemy Unseen”!!). I’d rather cut my balls and eat my intestines instead of going on with this utter piece of steaming horse shit. But I must go ahead in describing more aborted pieces of music…

Actually, when we listen to songs like “Stronger Than Before” and “Ruin of Life” there’s nothing else to say. They are nu-metal and really addicted to modernism. The vocals are simply ridiculous and they’ve lost everything in nastiness and brutality. The riffs are inaudible (no, sorry…there are no riffs!) and there are various duets by the guitars with hyper tasteless and inoffensive melodies. “Whatever it May Take”, “Alive Again”, “Against The Rest” and the final “A Better Tomorrow” are very similar to the rest of the album. Thus, expect massive dosages of mallcore, weak parts, two riffs per song, dark parts and mid-paced tempo. The drums are on the same patterns from the beginning ‘till the end.

The boredom reigns supreme among these unbelievable compositions by a band that lost completely the way in this period. To me “Phobia” still remains the best here, while the other compositions could fit extremely well for “The Crow” film soundtrack. Thrash metal addicted, you have the chance, don’t enter in 1997 Kreator’s world.