Phantom Antichrist
| Phantom Antichrist | ||||
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| Studio album by Kreator | ||||
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Publication |
June 1, 2012 |
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admission |
2011–2012 |
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| Label (s) | Nuclear Blast | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
10/11 |
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running time |
45:25 |
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| occupation |
Furthermore: |
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Studio (s) |
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Phantom Antichrist is the 13th studio album by the German thrash metal band Kreator . It was released on June 1, 2012 by Nuclear Blast and reached number five on the German album charts .
Emergence
Songwriting
Singer Mille Petrozza started working on Phantom Antichrist back in 2010 . While touring the previous album Hordes of Chaos , he collected ideas on his iPhone . For the songwriting, Petrozza set up a music room in his apartment in Essen , where he collected riff ideas . A drum computer was programmed with the help of a friend . This is how half of the album was created. The other half was created classically in the band's rehearsal room. Some songs came into being after the lyrics were worked out. According to Mille Petrozza, there are ten different versions of the title song alone. The song "From Flood into Fire" was originally written for Hordes of Chaos . However, it was not recorded because the song was "not finished" according to the then producer Moses Schneider . In contrast to the previous albums, Phantom Antichrist has influences from classic heavy metal , for example from bands like Blind Guardian , Manowar or Iron Maiden .
Recordings
The album was recorded with Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios in the Swedish city of Örebro . Singer Mille Petrozza chose Bogren as producer because he always wanted to work with the best new people and Bogren had been very intensively involved with the demo recordings . Like the previous album , Phantom Antichrist was recorded analogously. In contrast to Hordes of Chaos , the new album was not recorded live because the effort was too great for the musicians. First, the band played the songs in a group of four, with only the drums and bass recorded. The guitars were then recorded and introduced via overdub .
In addition to the songs on the album, the band recorded a cover version of " The Number of the Beast ", which originally came from Iron Maiden. For the Japanese version of the album, the song "Iron Destiny" was recorded. The cover artwork for the standard edition was designed by Wes Benscoter , who has worked for bands like Slayer , Dio and Black Sabbath . The Essen artist Jan Meininghaus drew the cover of the limited edition.
publication
New record company
After Kreator SPV's previous record company had to file for bankruptcy, the musicians decided to sign a contract with another company. According to Mille Petrozza, Kreator is a global band that depends on the support of their record company. Because of the bankruptcy Petrozza saw the future for himself and his band at risk. Eventually the band signed a contract with Nuclear Blast.
“Of course we're also good friends with the people from Nuclear Blast, so that's actually a cool thing, because basically only Metal fans work there. That's the good thing about this label, because you don't have to explain a lot if you want to do something. "
Formats
In addition to the regular CD version, the album was released in various versions on CD or record . The album is available as a record on yellow vinyl and as a picture disc . There is also a two-tone vinyl version in red and black, hand-numbered to 500 copies. The limited edition of the album includes a DVD containing a making-of documentary as well as live recordings. The live recordings were made at Wacken Open Air in 2008 and 2011. Finally, there is a mailorder edition limited to 500 copies . In addition to the CD / DVD version of the album, this contains a t-shirt , a poster and an autograph card .
Music videos
The band released the official music video for the title track "Phantom Antichrist" on May 3, 2012. The video was shot in collaboration with the Polish production company Grupa13 . Singer Mille Petrozza described the video as the most apocalyptic in the band's history. For the fall of 2012, the band announced to shoot another music video for the song "From Flood into Fire".
background
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The title of the intro "Mars Mantra" is made up of the name of the Roman god of war Mars and the mantra , which describes a short sequence of words that is repeated over and over again. According to Mille Petrozza, “Mars Mantra” should be understood as a repetitive war .
The theme song is about the manipulation by the mass media . Petrozza got the inspiration for this from a radio show about the death of the terrorist Osama bin Laden .
“He was considered the greatest terrorist in the last ten years and was suddenly discovered, shot and thrown into the sea. Nobody heard him, for example in order to evacuate the entire al-Qaeda network. Strange story. "
Petrozza stated in an interview that he asked himself whether the person bin Laden even existed. According to the media, bin Laden's body would have been thrown into the sea for religious reasons, even though there is no burial at sea in Islam .
"Death to the World" deals with the topic of environmental pollution and the destruction of our planet by humans. In an interview, Mille Petrozza cited the Fukushima nuclear disaster as an example. The song "From Flood into Fire" was inspired by the journeys of Odysseus . With the song, Petrozza wants to express that people shouldn't complain all the time, but should encourage changes themselves. " Civilization Collapse " is about the financial crisis in Greece . According to Petrozza, the land will be destroyed while the people have to pay for it.
“The Few, the Proud, the Broken” is about the Arab Spring , which has swept across the entire Arab world since the end of 2010 . The song "Your Heaven My Hell" is about a young acolyte who was abused by his pastor . As the altar boy gets older, he wants revenge and exterminate all religions. Petrozza stated in an interview that he found the plot itself naive and silly. "Until Our Paths Cross Again" is about the cycle of life and death.
reception
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Reviews
Katharina Beck from Metal.de wrote that the pieces on the album were convincing, “but unfortunately not without exception. Although there is not a single average song on the album, Kreator have set the bar so high with killer songs like the title track or "From Flood into Fire" that some parts, especially in the second half of the album, z. B. in "The Few, the Proud, the Broken" or "Victory Will Come," just can't keep up. "She gave the album eight out of ten points.
Reviewer Reini from Stormbringer.at said that Kreator “stayed true to themselves, but with some courage and a far more melodic approach based on classic metal, they achieved another Thrash Metal milestone. In contrast to the two previous albums, Mille & Co. could perhaps roam outside of the Thrash refuge this time and win over many a more traditionally oriented metal fan. ”He awarded five stars out of five.
Rock Hard's Holger Stratmann attests to Mille Petrozza that he has “rediscovered his heavy metal roots” and that Sami Yli-Sirniö is “better than ever”. He writes of "exuberant joy in guitar solos and twin guitar runs". As a point of criticism, he cites that “some guitar melodies are somewhat similar. Nevertheless, every single song has so much substance that Kreator can again be certified as a highlight of their discography ”. Stratmann describes the album as currently “one of the strongest metal albums of the year”. It awards 9.5 out of ten points, and Phantom Antichrist was voted album of the month by the editorial team.
The German metal hammer also named Phantom Antichrist album of the month. Jakob Kranz described the album from "Masterpiece, which sets the necessary accents both musically and in terms of content and additionally grinds the somewhat staid Thrash Metal its en vogue retro rust from the steel frame" and awarded seven out of seven possible points.
Chart placements
Phantom Antichrist entered the German album charts at number five. For the band, this was the highest ranking in history and the first place in the top ten. The album reached another high chart placement in Finland , where it reached number eleven. In Switzerland the album reached number 22 and in Austria number 31. In the United States the album reached number 130. In these countries, too, the band was able to post new record positions.
Awards
The editors of the German magazine Metal Hammer chose Phantom Antichrist as album of the year 2012. The album prevailed with one point ahead of Yellow & Green from the band Baroness . Rock Hard readers voted Phantom Antichrist album of the year. The album was also very successful in the readers' poll of the Metal Hammer and won in the categories of Best Album and Best CD Cover. In addition, the theme song was voted Best Song of the Year. The German magazine Visions had the album in their list of the 66 + 6 best metal albums of the third millennium in spring 2017.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Anzo Sadoni: With old makes new . In: Metal Hammer , June 2012, page 58
- ↑ a b c d Holger Strathmann: We went to the limit . In: Rock Hard , April 2012, page 38.
- ↑ a b Katharina Beck: Review: Kreator - Phantom Antichrist. Metal.de, accessed on February 23, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Reini: Review: Kreator - Phantom Antichrist. Stormbringer.at, accessed on February 23, 2013 .
- ↑ a b KREATOR: 'Phantom Antichrist' Formats Revealed. Blabbermouth.net , accessed April 5, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Thomas Meyns: Interview: Mille Petrozza from Kreator. (No longer available online.) Metalnews.de, archived from the original on February 27, 2013 ; accessed on February 23, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ KREATOR: 'Phantom Antichrist' Video Released. Blabbermouth.net, accessed April 5, 2018 .
- ↑ KREATOR To Film 'From Flood Into Fire' Video. Blabbermouth.net, accessed April 5, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Katharina Beck: Interview with Mille on "Phantom Antichrist". (No longer available online.) Metal.de, archived from the original on March 12, 2013 ; accessed on February 23, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Holger Stratmann: The sound check for Fukushima . In: Rock Hard, June 2012, page 14
- ↑ Peter Kubaschk: KREATOR: Interview with Mille. Powermetal.de , accessed on February 23, 2013 .
- ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts US
- ↑ Holger Stratmann: Kreator - Phantom Antichrist. Rock Hard, accessed February 23, 2013 .
- ↑ Jakob Kranz: Album of the Month: Kreator - Phantom Antichrist. Metal Hammer. Retrieved February 23, 2013 .
- ↑ Kreator in the Finnish charts. Finnishcharts.fi, accessed February 23, 2013 .
- ^ The editors: The album of the year . In: Metal Hammer, January 2013, page 33
- ↑ Michael Rensen: Reader Poll 2012: Your tops and flops of the year . In: Rock Hard, March 2013, page 33
- ↑ Your Metal-Hammer-Editors: Antichrist Superstar . In: Metal Hammer, April 2013, page 44ff.
- ↑ oA: The 66 + 6 best metal albums of the millennium . In: Visions, issue 289, pages 52–66
| predecessor | Metal hammer | successor |
|---|---|---|
|
Machine Head - Unto the Locust |
Album of the year 2012 |
Black Sabbath - 13 |