I got there late and so missed opening band Emergency Gate and only caught the very last song of Eluveitie. The departure of the Kirder brothers and the lack of a replacement has taken away much of the energy and fun of the band, although the remaining members soldier on with determination. Their commitment to touring and playing live will surely benefit them more and bring their rather average brand of Gothenburg styled metal to a wider audience.

Caliban meanwhile took to the stage with good humour, even though the house DJ’s failure to stop his music delayed their set by about five minutes. They remain one of the better metalcore bands I’ve seen, with great energy. I don’t know enough about their music or the band to be able to comment too much, but it was certainly a good opener for Kreator, and a great chance for the moshers to get warmed up and ready to go.

You always know what you’re going to get at a Kreator show. They’re so damn consistent that you just sort of smile knowingly when Mille launches into an impassioned speech about racism or hate or whatever, and yet you can’t help but be drawn in. Whether you’ve seen them once or fifteen times before, you’re just sucked into yelling ‘FLAG! OF HATE!’ when the opportunity arises.

They’ve drawn a good selection from their new album HORDES OF CHAOS to liven up the setlist, kicking off with ‘Hordes of Chaos’ and the rampaging ‘Warcurse’ that reminds us off Kreator’s thrash roots. ‘Extreme Aggression’ cements that reminder rather gently while it kicks us in the face, while “Is there someone following you?” from ‘Phobia’ gets the crowd chanting.

Slowing it right down with ‘Voices of the Dead’, then ripping back into the intensely popular ‘Enemy of God’, Kreator were in full fucking flow! Mille had so far been relatively quiet, letting the songs just flow and bulldozer their adoring hordes.

‘Destroy What Destroys You’ is another new offering, and one that is memorable enough for the crowd to sing along to the chorus. ‘Pleasure to Kill’ takes us back to 1986 and the heyday of thrash, while ‘People of the Lie’ is another great singalong. The favourites keep coming: ‘Coma of Souls’, ‘Violent Revolution’, ‘Terrible Certainty’ and ‘Betrayer’, all with that special well-worn Kreator familiarity and dependability.

‘Amok Run’ is one of the weaker songs on HORDES OF CHAOS, and isn’t improved much live, to be honest. ‘Riot of Violence’ wasn’t too familiar to me, but ‘Flag of Hate’ and ‘Tormenter’ ended the night on a reassuring high.