History
Mille, Rob and Ventor formed the band Tyrant (soon Tormentor) in the town of Essen in the industrial Ruhr area of West Germany in 1982 and issued two demos before changing the band’s monicker to the more original Kreator and adopting an ‘ultra-thrash’ sound. The band operated on a two-vocalist basis with Mille and Ventor alternating as vocalists on songs. The group signed with Noise Records and shocked the world with the ferocity and speed of its first two albums. Pleasure To Kill saw the addition of guitarist Tritze and the band became a quartet. While drummer Ventor was often criticized in this period for his lack of drumming skills his rolls, nonetheless, became a trademark for the band. The group played shows with the likes of Rage, Destruction, as well as Voivod, Possessed and Desexult. An EP in 1986 was called Flag Of Hate and featured a new song and a couple of rerecorded favourites.
Terrible Certainty, while extreme, saw the band adopt a more rational approach and also expand its lyrical horizons. The band toured with Virus and Celtic Frost in Europe and DRI and Holy Terror in America on the back of the album. A promotional video clip for the song Toxic Trace was also shot. Extreme Aggression was even more so despite the title. The album’s cover was changed because the band found the drawing too demonic and aggressive. Tritze then departed. Randy Burns recorded this album, and Coma Of Souls, in Los Angeles. The recording of Extreme Aggression had in fact begun in Germany, but the sessions were abandoned and the band was flown to Los Angeles to regroup and re-record. Tritze’s replacement was former Sodom man Blackfire. The band reached central and South America during this period.
Renewal was either that or a complete watered down industrial placeholder. Mille would later admit to having mental and drug problems during this period. The band lost many fans with this release and would suffer the departure of bassist Rob. Andreas Herz of Slasher replaced him, although Kreator would not record anything during his tenure. In fact, Kreator (like many of its peers) was in a dispute with Noise Records looking to buy its freedom from the label. Another blow was the departure of Ventor leaving Mille as the only original member in Kreator. Ventor/Reil would return three years later.
Free from Noise Records the band would sign with G.U.N. Records home of the band’s management and record an album called Cause For Conflict with drummer Joe Cangelosi and bassist Christian Giesler. The choice of Vinnie Wojno, who had worked with Machine Head, earned the band some criticism. The drummer would last only for this one record. Tommy Vetterli (a.k.a. Tommy T. Baron) of Coroner would soon join, yet would be replaced by Waltari’s Sami Yli-Sirniö in 2001 himself. The group would tour with Destruction again covering North and South America.
Violent Revolution would see a resurgence for Kreator with a sharper sound and a more humanist lyrical outlook. Enemy Of God would hit the German charts and would be supported by touring, festival appearances and a video clip. The band toured America with Napalm Death and Undying. A tour with Celtic Frost was announced for 2007. The planned King Diamond, Kreator, Cellador and Leaves' Eyes tour of America in April of 2008 was cancelled in 2007 due to King Diamond’s ailing herniated disc of the spine. The vocalist was not expected to be fully recovered in time for the touring. Kreator’s double DVD At The Pulse Of Kapitulation - Live In East Berlin 1990 was issued by SPV in March of 2008.
Reviews
KREATOR - VOICES OF TRANSGRESSION - A 90S RETROSPECTIVE - PAVEMENT
Licensed for North America by Pavement, the sampler at hand reminds me again why I haven't bothered with Kreator in the 1990's. In fact, last I seriously focused on Kreator was at a ten year old show where the Germans were playing with Biohazard - which should have told me something then! While a few featured tracks, namely those from 1995 and 1997 sessions, do have a respectable metallic feel, there is simply too much monotonous gothic/ industrial and hardcore influences here to take in for too long before the need to come up for oxygen. The band lost its way a long time ago, as Kreator's last good album was issued in 1987 - and that is a long time ago. - Ali "The Metallian"
KREATOR - PAST LIFE TRAUMA - NOISE
Not long ago Gun Records released a Kreator compilation called Voices of Transgression. Compiled out of the band's 1990's material, the compilation exhibited Kreator's downfall in that decade and the reason why the band has steadily lost popularity. That compilation is made so much more painful by the release of Past Life Trauma featuring music from the Kreator's heyday of the 80's when the band had not succumbed to 'progression' and slowed down to a crawl of pseudo industrial/hardcore irrelevance. While songs like Renewal and Winter Martyrium are as stale and boring as the day they were released, the appearance of gems from the band's first 2 1/2 albums complete with lyrics, band notes and vintage photographs give the fans the chance to remember Kreator as an innovator of 'ultra thrash' - in their own early words - and remind us that Kreator was one of the very first bands to revolutionize heavy metal to a new stage of speed and heaviness. Favourite track Toxic Trace is sadly omitted, yet there is enough vintage Kreator to make this sampler more than just another Noise reissue or compilation. - Ali "The Metallian"
KREATOR - VIOLENT REVOLUTION - STEAMHAMMER
I am from the minority who didn't think much of Kreator's efforts after Terrible Certainty. While some liked albums like Extreme Aggression and Coma Of Souls, these ears found them pale to be follow-ups to the extreme pleasure of the first three albums. The killer aggression of those Kreator albums has been AWOL since the late eighties and even though Kreator gave almost as many back-to-the-roots notices as Megadeth it never came to fruition. Violent Revolution is a return to Kreator¹s Extreme Aggression era. It is sure to please fans who howled at the mess that was the industrial, Machine Head clone or keyboard-burdened Kreator. On VR Kreator, thanks to Mille¹s restoration and new guitarist Sami Yli Sirni, finds its footing again and brings back thrashing semblance (along with Iron Maiden melodies) to the demon. It is respectable and even honourable after the aforementioned atrocities but it¹s a terrible certainty that the band¹s best output will forever reside in the eighties.
KREATOR - ENEMY OF GOD - SPV
The 2005 Kreator album, provocatively entitled Enemy Of God, is a maintain to the future album. That is, the album follows the path of the band's last album, 2001's Violent Revolution, with a relentlessly aggressive and relevant body of music that nonetheless features enough innovation to both keep the band moving forward and the fan-base content.
Vocalist Mille Petrozza is everything he should be, raspy, belligerent and emotional. The music is guitar-oriented thrash metal and the concept is timely and befitting of the times addressing "terrorism on both sides" as Mille has best put it. Still, and on the disappointing side of things, the 55-minute album's cover and the included video are too dull, unremarkable and monochromatic.
The title track is heavy and has a brilliant riff. Suicide Terrorist has some Slayer-isms in it, while Murder Fantasies features nifty guitar acrobatics and equal amounts of Iron Maiden and Slayer. The latter song sports a linear riff that is as effective as Mille is pissed off. The rhythm changes nicely accompany the "I want to kill youuuuu" scream. When Death Takes It's (sic) Dominion starts like Metallica's Call of The Ktulu and features a wobbly lead sound later. The dual-guitar interplays and the fabulous harmonies are balanced against a razor-sharp rhythm. Dying Race Apocalypse begins with an acoustic intro which is calm before surging to the edge of the abyss with an offbeat chord. The melodic guitar overlay and the catchy rhythm sound like Iron Maiden. The Ancient Plague ends the album slowly and deliberately with a big sound and chugging power.
Enemy Of God is a real stimulating album full of commendable riffs. Fans of thrash guitars wont be left wanting. The band is not at the 1985 to 1988 levels, but damn good anyway. - Ali "The Metallian"
KREATOR - ENEMY OF GOD REVISITED DVD – SPV 
The German thrash metallers that are enemies of god certainly make a good case for it on this DVD. Filmed at the Wacken open air festival the live portion of the DVD contains 13 tracks covering the old in Tormentor, Flag Of Hate and Pleasure To Kill and the new in Enemy Of God, Impossible Brutality and Suicide Terrorist. The aggression of Mille’s conduct between songs is perhaps surprising, where he asks the massive crowd if they are ready to kill each other and goes on to send a ‘fuck you’ to both the governments and terrorists of the world. The crowd seems responsive to it all and the quality of the live show reflects that. The DVD viewer could do without the grainy green filter but nevertheless Kreator easily out-deliver many of the younger bands in all metal aspects. Four video clips, including an animated one for Dystopia and one made by a contest winner for Dying Race Apocalypse are also included. Other extras include a four-song ‘bootleg’ of the band playing at Live At The Rockpalast and a complete audio of the Enemy Of God studio album in theater quality 5.1 DTS sound. – Anna Tergel
Interviews
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