Kreator
Pleasure To Kill

THE REVIEW

The year 1986 is universally recognized as the golden year of Thrash Metal, which reached its peak thanks to albums like "Master Of Puppets," "Reign In Blood," "Among The Living," "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" and "Game Over," which elevated the American Thrash scene above the others.
However, this flourishing period managed to spread across the ocean and reached our dear old Europe, especially Germany, where this genre was blossoming, achieving excellent results thanks to many bands. Among these, I mention Kreator, a band led by charismatic guitarist-vocalist Mille Petrozza, followed by Jurgen "Ventor" Reil on drums and Rob Fioretti on bass, who in 1986 released their second full-length album, "Pleasure To Kill," considered by many to be the band's true masterpiece.
We are faced with an album of unprecedented violence that, in terms of sales, was able to compete with the works mentioned above, which certainly enjoyed greater success in the future.

As in many Thrash albums, it starts calmly with the intro "Choir Of The Damned," which, with its guitar arpeggio, seems to invite us to calm... nothing could be more wrong: like a lightning bolt, "Ripping Corpse" imposes itself imperiously like a shovel to the face, showing us what the album is made of, which as it progresses gives us pearls such as "Death is Your Saviour," the title track, the great "Riot of Violence," the unstoppable "Command Of The Blade" and "Under The Guillotine," not to mention "Flag Of Hate" and "Awakening The Gods," present in the latest reissue.

I think this is one of the best works of the trio (which became such after the death of the second guitarist Michel Wulf, who you will find in the album photos), also embellished by the raw production typical of those years that adds further brutality to the album.
If you are looking for a hyper-technical work, I definitely advise you to stay away, since the three of them, at that time, were not known for their musical skills, as you can often hear errors from the guys, solos that seem random, and a Ventor still in its early stages earning the not-so-honorable reputation of being one of the worst drummers of the scene at the time, yet is redeemed by his vocal performances in "Riot Of Violence," "Death Is Your Saviour," and "Command Of The Blade."

Certainly a work that will appeal little to those who prefer metal with a less demanding pace, but will surely be pleasing to any old-school Thrash enthusiast.
A must-listen in one go.