the second installment of the recent wave of classic kreator album re-issues. "renewal" is kreator's sixth studio full length and the album title was quite the hint as to what awaits the listener when playing the record. the band's main goal before they started writing material for the album was not to think in stereotypes. they wanted to create something fresh and unique regardless of fan and press expectations.
well, no doubt they achieved this goal. "renewal" is as far away from classic thrash metal as can be. after randy burns, the producer of the preceding album "coma of souls", said goodbye to music productions, kreator searched for a new studio and producer to record with. they found the infamous morrisound studios and producer tom morris. unlike the most productions at morrisound they didn't head towards the death metal direction but towards hardcore and industrial instead.
the outcome generated very mixed opinions among fans and media. the overall sound (especially the drum sound) and the progressive song writing were hard to swallow for die-hards. i really can see why but when i dropped the needle on this re-issue, listening to the album for the first time, i was blown away. the artistic change in style may be dramatic but the songs are so fresh and so full of creative energy that "renewal" became one of my favourite kreator records in an instant.
especially "reflection" is my go to song here. fantastic. the presentation is great again. love the matte finish of the gatefold and of course the informative liner notes to album and lyrics by mille petrozza. the matching clear green vinyl is another well thought component of this re-issue. only the second disc is pretty unnecessary. two useless songs (a rare version and a re-mix of songs already on the album) and one new song seem too little for a bonus 12". anyway, good work all around. noise records. 1992/2018.
