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I remember buying "Pleasure to Kill" on tape back in 1987. Ouch. Back then that was a little bit too brutal for me I guess so I never played the tape much. This CD here is a re-issue of the album along with 3 bonus tracks that comprised the "Flag of Hate" EP.

As far as I'm concerned, "Pleasure to Kill" is THE must-have in the Kreator discography. This is essentially 80's thrash metal at its best and anyone who say otherwise needs to have their ears examined. ;) The album starts on a quiet acoustic intro that absolutely does not prepare the listener for what's coming (I've freaked out a few people with that one in the past). What follows is an onslaught of raw and brutal thrash metal that just doesn't stop until the album ends. The vocals are very fast and raw-sounding and match the music perfectly. The music rarely slows down on the album and even the slowest passages still convey a dark or brutal atmosphere. Looking for a bad song? You won't find it here. It's that simple.

Speaking only for this remastered edition (as I haven't seen my tape in years...), the individual instruments are quite easily distinguishable, which I think is very fortunate because the drumming and the riffs on this album are just great. I really need to find that tape and compare the two sometime.

I'm usually not too fond of those re-issues that include more than one release - in this case the "Flag Of Hate" EP, but in this case not only are all three songs killer, they are also in the same vein as the material on "Pleasure To Kill" and therefore do not feel like they out of place, unlike most bonus tracks that are usually just thrown in just for the sake of being a bonus.

"Pleasure to Kill" represents Kreator in their prime and is easily among my favorite albums of all times - yeah, even though I couldn't stomach it the first few years. ;) Any fan of thrash metal probably have this in their collection, and "newbies" who like the genre should get this excellent album.

Additional Information

Originally released in 1986