Ah, good old Kreator. Our main reason for coming out tonight. Co-headlining tour with Lamb Of God, who unsurprisingly headlined the night. Still, Kreator had a good following all on their own in Forum this night, as we would soon experience.

“I just wanna say that it feels really good to come back and play for you again, and it’s cool so many of you came out tonight!”
- ‘Mille’ Petrozza (vocals/guitar)

It was easy to see that we were in a different league now, compared to Municipal Waste. Nothing against the younger band, but Kreator definitely had a broader focus on delivering an experience, not just music. Before the concert started, there was a curtain with the band’s logo covering the stage, although depending on where you were standing, you could sneak a peek in from the side. On either side of the stage, was what we quickly dubbed ‘the kebab men’; man-sized dolls in what could be thought of as religious cloths, impaled on more than man-sized spears. When the intro music, Sergio Corbucci Is Dead, finished and the curtain dropped, we could see tentacle printed stagedrops and a violent looking backdrop, depicting the Hate Über Alles cover artwork.
The stage was, as they say, set.

As the intro had been Sergio Corbucci Is Dead, it wasn’t a great leap of the imagination to set Hate Über Alles as the first song, but it was also just the type of aggressive thrash anthem that was perfect as an opener - break neck speed riffing for the headbangers out there, and a simplistic enough chorus (the title on repeat) that everyone could get into it directly, whether they knew it or not.
Kreator kept a good pace going throughout the show, focusing mainly on their post 2000 material, without really favouring any specific album, and Phobia still being the only song kept from their ‘90s era.
Visually, Kreator kept us engaged with a constantly changing backdrop, often depicting the album cover of the song being played. They also went for some pyro already in the second song, Hail To The Hordes, and this was expanded on in later tracks, fittingly having its zenith in Satan Is Real and 666 - World Divided.
Kreator also had a couple of monster clad creatures to stand guard at the front of the stage with glowing spears during the two taped interludes, Mars Mantra and The Patriarch, Petrozza had his flag of hate to wave around, and most surprising of all, four spearless kebab men fell down from the rafters with nooses around their necks in Phobia.

While the visuals were great, it wasn’t all about them. Remember, this was an experience for (almost) all the senses.
Sonically, Petrozza was alright at engaging the crowd - he was present and positive, he just didn’t spend much time talking - where he among other things talked about the long time this show had been under way, with its many cancellations and trying to get it going again. 666 - World Divided was apparently originally written specifically for the tour, but as you know, it now has three years on its back. Even though it hasn’t been included on a regular album, it was released as a split single back in the day, with Lamb Of God’s Checkmate on the other side, and later it was included on the Metal Hammer compilation disc Maximum Hate. If you can locate the split single, it has pretty amazingly creepy cover artwork, which was also effectively used as a backdrop here. But I digress.
The band as a whole also delivered a setlist filled with tried and true live staples, which worked wonders on the crowd.
They didn’t physically touch us, but they were good at getting the members of the crowd to get in on the action by themselves, by inviting us to crowdsurf, mosh, and make a great wall of death. The sweating caused by all these well supported activities would have to make up for the sense of smell, and we’ll leave it up to you to imagine how good that was…

The show wasn’t without problems. To start with, the crowd was taking it very easy, making me fear that they were only here to enjoy the two much younger bands - luckily, it only took a couple of songs for the Copenhagen crowd to warm up to Kreator, and after a few more, the fans were completely engaged, both physically, and in singing along. The latter especially shone in Become Immortal and it’s ‘oh oh’ break.
There were also some technical issues with the guitars. Petrozza’s guitar acted up in a way that made him miss out on the beginning of Strongest Of The Strong, and the volume of Sami Yli-Sirniö’s guitar was all over the place in the beginning of Violent Revolution.

These are minor things in the bigger scheme however, and Kreator delivered one hell of a show that felt like they were firing on the very top of their abilities.
The show fittingly ended with the biggest wall of death of the show, and a huge explosion of confetti, with the band throwing picks, sticks, and skins to the crowd before leaving. I don’t mind saying that this was the highlight of the night.

Setlist:

Sergio Corbucci Is Dead
Hate Über Alles
Hail To The Hordes
Enemy Of God
Phobia
Become Immortal
Satan Is Real
Hordes Of Chaos (A Necrologue For The Elite)
666 - World Divided
Mars Mantra
Phantom Antichrist
Strongest Of The Strong
Flag Of Hate
The Patriarch
Violent Revolution
Pleasure To Kill