Every Kreator album brings with it a great deal of expectation, more so than most other bands of the same ilk. I will admit right off the bat that on first listen Kreator’s 13th album seemed to fall victim to the apparent ill will that number carries with it. For someone who has weaned himself on the nuclear blitzkrieg of Pleasure to Kill, Endless Pain and the thrashterpiece that is Coma of Souls, to name but a few, post millennial Kreator material has never quite stirred up the blood like past releases have despite being solid for the most part.

Fortunately or unfortunately, whichever way you choose to look at it, this is still the case with Phantom Antichrist. I must credit a couple of good friends for egging me on to give the album a few more spins and truth be told I’m glad I did.

As has been the case with every release since 2004’s Violent Revolution, Kreator have tended to infuse a sizeable chunk of their thrash-ier material with a huge dollop of melodic tendencies, which they seem to have carried over from their experimental mid period. While a return to their heyday may be out of the question, what Phantom Antichrist does have going for it is far more cohesive songwriting than anything the band has achieved since Coma of Souls.

One of the album’s many redeeming qualities is the warm, organic production job that fits the songs like a glove and is a huge improvement compared to its sometimes cold and sterile sounding predecessor Hordes of Chaos.

Although I’m still not completely enamored by some of the more moody tracks like ‘From Flood Into Fire’ there is more than enough high quality melodic thrash to be found in the album’s title track and absolute rippers like ‘Death to the World’ and ‘Civilisation Collapse’. In fact, the conviction in delivery of the material on Phantom Antichrist is what really makes this Kreator’s finest effort in well over 20 years. There are few things more endearing than Mille Petrozza spitting red hot bile into a microphone instead of the wishy washy crooning found on past clunkers like Endorama.

For those expecting another Terrible Certainty or Extreme Aggression, forget about it. That was another time and another era but if you’re a fan of melodic heavy metal in general with a hankering for an injection of something a little more extreme then this is the perfect album to sink your teeth into.

Rating: 8/10