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Thrash is a stagnant old soldier of a genre that hasn't exactly been flourishing in the last 20-odd years, but there have been several diamonds-in-the-rough sorts of bands popping up that have revitalized it a bit and kept the "old school" sound alive. While the modern school of Thrash is not usually viewed as anything worthwhile, this album is what I'd consider an example of that school done right - punchy, heavy riffs with melodic, winding solos and gritty, rough vocals that are still understandable and nowhere near the Metalcore territory. Kreator have been taking some heat for this one, but by the Gods I can't see why, as this is a damn fine album from a veteran band.

This album isn't always a straight ahead riff-hammer bludgeon attack, with some more melodic leads and matured songwriting tendencies over the 80s Kreator, but make no mistake, this IS a purebred Thrash record through and through, and Mille and co. do not let you forget that. The leads might be more melodic and profound than those on Pleasure to Kill, but Enemy of God is still 12 tracks and almost an hour of intense, face-ripping Thrash that is sure to please just about anyone who isn't stuck in 1987. The title track just fucking smokes, and it's easily the best song on the album, but then we have smoldering slabs of Metal like "World Anarchy," "Dystopia" and "Impossible Brutality" to keep the flame burning. The album takes a bit of a dip around "When Death Takes Its Dominion," but picks up again at the end with two killers in the form of the vicious "Under a Total Blackened Sky" and the slow, pummeling epic "The Ancient Plague."

Mille Petrozza is in top form here, shrieking and blaspheming his way through every single track with manic energy and rock-solid conviction, every bit the perfect narrator of the apocalypse. The guitar tone is thick and meaty and it will smash your skull to smithereens, and the production as a whole is just excellent - clear and polished, yet not at all neutered, with every bit of the aggression that a Thrash band should always have. Very well done.

Don't pay attention to anyone who tells you this is weak or limp or any of that, for Enemy of God is a triumphant Thrash monolith in a time when there aren't too many others. Not essential, and there are a few too many fillers here, but this is ass-kicking good all the same. Recommended.