Kreator – London Apocalypticon – Live at The Roundhouse

5/10

Flow, that’s a pretty important thing when it comes to a live performances and with that taken into consideration it’s somewhat of a mystery that such an experienced live act as the German thrash veterans Kreator, on their new live album “London Apocalypticon – Live at the Roundhouse” seems to do everything in their power to mess the flow up.
Already in the second “real” song, “Hordes of Chaos”, the tempo totally dies as Mille Petrozza, for what feels like an eternity, craves for a “Wall of Death”, maybe the most ridiculous form of audience interaction ever, and one thing is for sure, listening to him incite the audience to kill each other isn’t a receipt for a good listening session.

Speaking of Mille and his efforts to get the mosh pits going there are a lot of that type of stuff going on, on “London Apocalypticon” and a funny thing is that Mille, who according to interviews though that the title “Satan is Real” from their latest Full length album was a bit cringe-worthy (and yes, it is) seems to find the constant call on to the audience to kill each other to be pretty god damn cool… Well, it isn’t…

So besides constant interruptions, extended outros and pointless intros (yes, why have one intro when you can have two…) what do we find on Kreator’s latest live-effort? On the pro side we get a live recording that, although sounding crisp and clear still manages to sound like a real live performance and if you ask me I think that this is exactly how Kreator sounded that evening in London, with no overdubs and such nonsense what so ever. That’s nice!

When it comes to the song selection this is a treat for everyone who likes the later part of Kreator’s career, where they shifted the sheer aggression for some more melodic stuff. Unfortunately that is not my favourite period with the band and although I find it a bit impressive that they managed to get a “second” career after some slow years in the nineties I would have loved if they, at least live wise, would have focused a bit more on their early, more brutal stuff!

As for now we only get three songs (People of the Lie, Flag of Hate and Pleasure to Kill) out of seventeen from the golden age Kreator (up until “Coma of Souls”, that is) and not a single tune from, in my eyes, Kreator’s Magnum Opus “Extreme Aggression” and that is a bit cheap if you ask me. Sure, some of the new songs is quite good, at least in the fast parts, but it isn’t until the frantic riffs of “Flag of Hate” explodes over London that you remember how great this band once was.

All in all this is for me somewhat of a disappointment, mostly due to the lack of the old, brutal Kreator stuff but also because of all of times the songs are interrupted and the continuity is disturbed. If you’re into the more present sound of Kreator I guess it will be different and maybe then this album is something for you, but if you’re like me, preferring the good old times, you better go blow away the dust on that old “Live in East-Berlin” VHS-tape instead.

Artist: Kreator
Title: London Apocalypticon – Live at The Roundhouse
Label: Nuclear Blast
Date of release: 14/02-20
Rate: 5/10
Stand out track: Flag of Hate