Kreator - Krushers of the World ★★★★☆
- Jay
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
JANUARY 2026
THRASH / HEAVY / POWER
FOR FANS OF: TESTAMENT, ANNIHILATOR, HELLOWEEN
THRASH-O-METER
★★★★★★★☆☆☆ SONGWRITING
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ LONGEVITY
★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ THEMES
★★★★★★★★☆☆ PRODUCTION
★★★★★★★★☆☆ MUSICIANSHIP
★★★★★★★☆☆☆ CHARACTER
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ THRASHABILITY
SCORE:
★★★★☆ BADASS SH!T
When the teutonic tendencies take a deep dive into heavy metal you can come dangerously close to power metal - unless, even deeper down, your spine is forged from blood-soaked shrapnel and razor steel!
For more than a decade now Kreator has been operating with a different pulse. The machine-gun ra-ta-ta-ta is traded for a slower, heavier kind of bombardment - less spray-and-pray, more deliberate shelling of the terrain. And for the first time since that shift the band sounds downright liberated.
Who's ready to have some fncking fun!
'Krushers of the World' kicks off at a sprint and settles into an anthemic march; a pivot that previews a template for the next forty minutes to follow. Seven Serpents open fast and intense, but its with Satanic Anarchy's Eurovision-proof (sigh) choruses that the band starts cookin'. That almost tongue-in-cheek melodic stomp channels modern Helloween, and whatever the hell Nils Patrik Johansson is up to these days.
Indeed! All those misty-eyed power metal highs.
The album finally clicked as Blood of Our Blood tore in, with an infernal chorus of screaming guitars up front - I had my hands in fists without even noticing it. Damn it.
That was the moment where the energy stopped feeling like tomfoolery and started to reel me in with intent. I noticed I was having some good old fashioned fun with the album - that was a genuine surprise as I'm not the world's biggest fan of the teutonic front, and I'm plain fncking allergic to power metal these days.
Psychotic Imperator and Deathscream both conjured that sweet spot of intensity and melodic antics, without going overboard with either. The heritage of speed is ever present even if a lot of the feel of frenzied mischief has been tempered over the decades.
40 years and 16 albums later
After the 'Krushers of the World' has ran its course there's a kind of depressured center zone in my head, indicating that the album ran on one setting: full speed. Now, I'm not saying the album absolutely would've needed a mile-long ballad like Testament crammed into its 'Para Bellum' with Meant to Be.
Albums need to be more than highlight reel of “Here’s a thing! Now here’s another thing! And will you check out that motherfncking thing over there!” and when you bolt that onto the usual metal music's brotherhood sloganery(?) it feels like you've heard it all before.
The best albums always breathe - one way or another
Thematically we're in the thrash metal "safe zone" of world destruction and rebellions. I mean, sure, sh!t kinda works. But, the second a band starts telling me in big, vague strokes, what they or the audience are “about”, puffing its chest and declaring badassery, my eyes roll back into my head.
Sure, that posturing sells: it’s basically a staple of some of the biggest, most lucrative touring metal acts out there - but it also means you've simply run out of things to say.
Kreator has fully come to terms with their melodic era and there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s still enough speedy fisticuffs to keep the wandering thrasher grinning - even if the hardcore speed-a-holics have probably already bolted for harsher pastures.
Badass sh!t
