Kreator: High-Tech Speed Metal

German precision engineering has managed to make the common man feel like a professional driving to work in the morning, taking snapshots of the kids--heck, even squeezing juice--so it figures that someone, somewhere, would find a way to apply solid German high tech to thrash metal too. At the Country Club on Saturday, Kreator, the first real speed-metal band from West Germany, seemed a lot like Slayer in the way a Mercedes is kind of like a Chevy, but kind of not: Autobahn-fast, anonymous, ruthlessly tight and rehearsed right down to the synchronized hair flips.

Judging a thrash band, you’ve got to ask some questions: Is there an extremely short drum solo? Do the kids up front pump their hands and “sing” along, even though the band is a little obscure and the lyrics impossible to decipher? Are the riffs properly minor key? Are the lyrics mostly about death and shrieked in guttural chest tones? Does it take a minute or two to realize what song they’re playing even if you’ve heard the albums a few times each? Is the hair fluffy enough? And how are the T-shirts?

Kreator scores on all of the above. The formula is state-of-the-art, of course--who knows his Sturm und Drang better than a German?