Kreator/ Exodus/ Belphegor/ Warbringer

Warbringer:

Total War
Severed Reality
Living In A Whirlwind
At The Crack Of Doom
Combat Shock

Belphegor:

The Goatchrist
Seyn Todt In Schwartz
Belphegor: Hell's Ambassador
Stigma Diabolicum
Luciferus Incestus
Justine Soaked In Blood
Bondage Goat Zombie

Exodus:

Bonded By Blood
Iconoclasm
A Lesson In Violence
Children Of A Worthless God
Piranha
Deathamphetamine
Blacklist
War Is My Shepherd
Toxic Waltz
Strike Of The Beast

Kreator:

Hordes Of Chaos
Warcurse
Extreme Aggression
Phobia
Voices of the Dead
Enemy Of God
Destroy What Destroys You
Pleasure To Kill
People Of The Lie
Coma Of Souls
Violent Revolution
Betrayer
Amok Run
Riot Of Violence
Flag Of Hate/Tormentor

Warbringer and Belphegor

By the time I got into the city (after going to dinner with the family for Dad’s Bday) I unfortunately missed Warbringer and Belphegor.   I really enjoyed Warbringer’s thrash debut “War Without End” and the video/single ‘Combat Shock’.  In style and sound a nice offspring of Forbidden from the States and German’s Kreator, they are.    Their sophomore release “Waking Into Nightmares” is out now building on the debut showing growth with stronger arrangements (like ‘Severed Reality’ and “Scorched Earth’) with developed tempo and riffing changes. 

With an album title like “Bondage Goat Zombie” you’ve gotta know Belphegor are gonna be most likely death or black metal.  Well take both genres and put em together and you get blackened death metal (example; ‘Stigma Diabolicum’ with its black metal riffing and death vocals).  A band in the same vein as Behemoth, as intense, brutal and at times as dynamic (somewhat). 

Exodus  

Cali thrash pioneers Exodus continue to tour in support of their latest anti religious statement “The Atrocity Exhibition…Exhibit A”, tonight playing from it “Iconoclasm” and “Children of a Worthless God” (boy…how much worse can it get when you have a worthless God?).  Long time original members Gary Holt on guitar and drummer Tom Hunting are joined by now long time bassist Jack Gibson, with newest additions Lee Altus on guitar and Rob Dukes at the mic. 

Dukes is just a ball of intensity.  As he sings (well actually yells) the guy looks like at any moment he’s gonna blow a blood vessel.   It’s like being screamed at by your father for over sixty minutes, haha.  The rest of the band…well they are just no better.  Playing the equally berative music to get Rob all fired up (which is the point of it all…right!). 

Aside from two new songs, the rest of the set consisted of Exodus classics like the title track to “Bonded By Blood”, ‘A Lesson In Violence’, ‘Piranha’, and ‘Strike Of The Beast’ also from the debut, the mid tempo crowd fav ‘Black List’, and of course the spin cycle mosh pit instigator ‘Toxic Waltz’. 

Kreator

Kreator treated the hordes of chaos in New York to a nice long setlist tonight and it was great to see the guys playing on a large stage in the U.S. finally.  ‘Warcurse’, ‘Amok Run’, ‘Destroy What Destroys You’ come off the new disc “Hordes of Chaos” and fit well into the band repertoire.  As always, fast, furious, politically and socially charged thrash metal preached by frontman Mille Petrozza.  ‘Phobia’ (from the album “Outcast”) was a nice addition and the title track to “Coma of Souls” was long sought out by this fan.  

Mille (vocals and guitars) and Jürgen "Ventor" Reil behind the drum kit are the lone survivors from the debut album “Endless Pain” in 1985 where the live staple ‘Flag of Hate’ comes from.   Others from Kreator’s regarded past, and regulars in the setlist, include the title tracks to “Pleasure to Kill” and “Extreme Aggression”, “People of the Lie”, and “Riot of Violence”. 

After 25 years of music, “Hordes of Chaos” is the German’s twelfth studio album and succeeds 2005’s “Enemy of God”, easily one of Kreator’s all around best albums.