number three out of four. kreator's seventh full length appeared in 1995 and is marked by a time of change. after "renewal" the band quit most parts of their collaboration with noise records and found a new label in gun (great unlimited noise) records also from germany. gun records, which was shut down in 2009, was a sub label of sony music. noise records still took care of the international distribution of the album.
the band's personnel did also change. two of the three founding members called it a day. bassist rob fioretti and drummer jürgen "ventor" reil had to be replaced due to personal problems within the band. kreator toured extensively in support of "renewal", this took its toll on the members. a new rhythm section was found in drummer joe cangelosi and bassist speesy geisler. latter one has been a member ever since.
musically the band went back to more familiar spheres. with "cause for conflict" kreator went back to their thrash roots. of course there are still many progressive industrial elements, we're still knee deep in the nineties here, but this is almost a traditional thrash record in comparison to "renewal". nevertheless one can feel the upheaval that surrounded the band and thus i feel that "cause for conflict" lacks a bit the energy of previous records.
still, full length number seven is no fuck up at all and belongs in every self-respecting kreator collection. the presentation of this re-issue is, as you probably have guessed if you read the previous two posts, fantastic. shitloads of insight information provided by mille petrozza and photos, flyers and tickets from the archives. the records come on lovely opaque blue vinyl, although three bonus tracks on a bonus 12" seem a bit like a waste of resources. noise records. 2018.
