Metal Overview: Kreator (Part 1)

Hey fellow Otaku & Metalheads, and welcome to the first overview of 2018!

Today is a special day. My friend Alex is having his birthday today (Technically tomorrow), and as per usual, I thought it would be fun to do something special for him.....and a Metal Overview was just the right thing to do. The last time I did this, I covered Nu Metal legends Korn on his birthday, but this year I decided to take it up a notch. Deciding to go back to the world of Thrash Metal, I looked to the other side of the world for a band that would fulfill this goal of mine. Almost immediately, a light shown from Germany, and then I knew who called to me.......Kreator!

That’s right, one of the big 4 of Teutonic Thrash were chosen for an overview dedicated to my friend’s birthday. Since 1985, these Germanic titans have crafted some of the speediest Thrash Metal the world has even known. Though it took some time for them to gain a foothold in the United States, once they did their power was welcome with open arms! However, I can’t cover all of their albums in just one go. Much like Motörhead, Kreator has 3 periods of their career, with each one having unique & distinct records. So, to start off this month long celebration, we’ll take a look at the band’s earliest years. A 4-year period that showed off how vicious the band can be. With that out of the way, here’s part one of my look at Kreator. Enjoy!   

Endless Pain (1985)

In the early 80s, the realm of Heavy Metal was a massive black swamp. The waters were fetid, and the muck would just hold you down. Fantastic bands would bubble up through the mud, and emerge as beasts hungry for a meal. Enter Kreator! Forming in 1982 as Tyrant (Renamed to Tormentor in 1984), the band was composed of lead vocalist & guitarist Mille Petrozza (German of Calabria Italian descent), drummer Jürgen "Ventor" Reil, and bassist Rob Fioretti. The group was originally not in the realm of thrash, but rather they played more Black Metal & Speed Metal instead. It wasn’t until the mid 80s that the band began transition into Thrash Metal alongside the rest of their Germanic brethren (Tankard was already there beforehand). Release in October of 1985, Endless Pain was highly praised by Black Metal bands that added thrash elements to their music, and praised by Thrash Metal bands for being a little more bloodthirsty than most.

Best Track? Endless Pain in it’s entirety is an absolute blast to listen to. The primal speed & screeching of Black Metal, mixed with the brutality & venom of Thrash Metal, creates an experience that is heavy and awesome to listen to. However, I gotta give it up to the title track. Opening up this 80s classic, Endless Pain the song has the best parts of each aspect of the album playing every step of the way. Jürgen Reil really brings those Black Metal vocals to the front, but due to the Thrash Metal instrumentation, it’s almost like their chaingunning out demons & blackness. Definitely a song to listen to with the volume past 11!

Endless Pain

Worst Track? To be perfectly honest, I loved every song that’s on this album. The only bad thing about Endless Pain would be the production quality. While I don’t know how the 2017 re-release sounds, the version I listened to came across as rather dated. It sounds (Though not completely) like an early Black Metal album. It comes across as scratchy at time, and that style of music recording was always lazy in my view. Give that the recorded this record in just 10 days, I can’t fully complain, and to be honest I'm impressed by that.

However, if I wanted to be picky, the other point I could bring up as negative would be the dual vocalists. You’ve got Mille Petrozza for half of the albums (The even-numbered tracks), and Jürgen Reil on the other half (The odd-numbered tracks). Personally, I don’t have a problem with this: each singer did their job well, and neither overtook space from the other. Fans wanting a constant singer might gripe about this, but even then it might just be for some.

Endless Pain. An old sounding record, but an awesome record at the same time. If you like a nice mix of Thrash & Black Metal, then this release might be for you. Next album!

Pleasure To Kill (1986)

With the band seemingly immediately making a name for themselves, Kreator hired on late Sodom guitarist Michael Wulf for the tour for Endless Pain. He managed to stick with the band for a few days, but didn’t stay on for their second album. Release on the first of November 1986, Pleasure to Kill followed the lyrical themes of it’s predecessor, and the band took on new guitarist Jörg "Tritze" Trzebiatowski in Wulf’s stead. Pleasure To Kill is widely considering to be a Thrash Metal classic, and many Death Metal bands cite it as a source of inspiration for their work.

Pleasure To Kill was widely received by both fans & critics alike. AllMusic writer Jason Anderson gave the album a rating of four stars out of five, and wrote, "Many in the underground metal scene were already paying special attention to the German outfit's proto-death sound, but the cult status was shed after this critically and commercially successful second effort hit record-store shelves. As fierce and unyielding as the group's debut, Endless Pain, was, Pleasure to Kill provides double the sonic carnage and superior material."

Within it’s 2017 re-release, Pleasure to Kill charted for the first time 31 years after its release, reaching no. 99 on the German Chats.

Best Track? Though every song is a brutal assault on the ears, Flag Of Hate stands out a lot. Becoming a classic nearly out of the gate, the song has become a staple of Kreator at their live concerts. Though their Black Metal roots are diminished somewhat, this is made up with a heavier dose of Thrash that can kill lesser men & women. If you’ve got the body for it, give this song a go at full blast!

Flag Of Hate

Worst Track? Absolutely nothing! Much like Endless Pain, every song on here perfectly encapsulates just how powerful Thrash Metal truly was in the 80s, and unlike the previous album, Mille Petrozza is front & center when it comes to the vocals (Although Jürgen Reil sings on 3 tracks).

Pleasure To Kill. An advancement upon Endless Pain, while at the same creating it’s own material. All I can say is to give this record a go. Next album!

Terrible Certainty (1987)

As the 80s continued onward, Kreator were constantly refining their sonic might. Their Black Metal roots was slowly being weeded out, but their Speed & Thrash Metal aspects were being refined to a brutal edge that could cut through anything. So, on September the 22nd, 1987, Terrible Certainty was released to the masses. Terrible Certainty marks the band’s first full-blown Thrash Metal album. Slivers of their Black Metal past are still readily accountable, but it’s obvious from the first few notes that Kreator wanted to do something new & different for themselves. This change turned out to be for the best, as Terrible Certainty is one of the most headbang inducing albums of the band’s career. You’ll need a neckbrace by the time you’re done listening to this release!

Best Track? Toxic Trace comes to mind as one of the best songs on the album. There are speedy portions that can hit you like a Mach truck, and more slower portions for melody & rhythm to flow. On top of that, Mille Petrozza’s vocal work really adds to the intensity of the song! It should be noted that because of the band’s rising popularity at the time, Kreator was contacted by MTV to make a music video for Toxic Trace. It received a lot of airplay, and is one of the band’s most popular music videos even today!

Toxic Trace

Worst Track? Impossible To Cure is really the only bad song on Terrible Certainty. Available on the 2017 re-release of Terrible Certainty, it comes across has more of filler than anything else. With a running time of 2 minutes & 41 seconds, Impossible To Cure just seems to come & go as you listen to it. It’s a bit of a shame, as the instrumentation & vocal work is awesome! If the track went on longer, I probably wouldn’t say anything.

Impossible To Cure

Terrible Certainty. The first Thrash Metal album from Kreator, yet the band’s still has a little of their old Black Metal venom in it’s fangs. If you weren’t fond of the group’s first 2 releases because of the Black Metal influence, you’ll like this one. Next album!

Extreme Aggression (1989)

As the 80s went on, Kreator’s popularity kept increasing in their native Germany & beyond. This increased popularity is what influenced the  independent record label Noise Records to license Kreator for the territories outside of Europe and Japan to the major label Epic Records in 1988. The band’s first debut with Epic Records was their 4th studio album, Extreme Aggression. Release on June the 19th, 1989, Kreator continued with their Terrible Certainty thrash formula, but at the same time showed that the band was progressing musically, and had the added benefit of better production from Randy Burns (Who also worked with bands like Megadeth, Possessed, Nuclear Assault, Death, and Dark Angel). For me, this is Kreator’s most important album from the 80s, as they finally became a full-fledged Thrash Metal band with this record.

The album was typically received well by critics. Returning for the second time in this post, AllMusic writer Jason Anderson gave the album a rating of four-and-a-half stars out of five, and wrote, "The results are fierce and noisy on this 1989 Epic release -- the first major-label effort for the band. Petrozza and Fioretti's guitar work is as punchy as ever, and Reil's massive drums are unrelenting and continually improving."

Best Track? Bit of a tie between the title track (Which is also the opener), and an ode to the haters in the form of Love Us Or Hate Us. Both songs are speedy little gremlins: they come at you out of nowhere, chattering & crazed, and when they find you they leave you just as insane as they are. These two tracks are headbanging inducing, and if you don’t wear a brace, your neck might snap!

Extreme Aggression

Love Us Or Hate Us

Worst Track? Much like Impossible To Cure from their prior release, Bringer of Torture just comes across as another filler track. It has the time length issues as the previously mentioned song (26 seconds shorter this time), yet it still has great instrumentation & vocal like said prior track. Nothing else I can say really.

Bringer of Torture

Extreme Aggression. The band finally coming out of the Black Metal cocoon of their past, and emerging as a thrash-laden butterfly. If the 3 prior albums weren’t to your liking, then perhaps this one will, and I recommend Extreme Aggression highly.

So this was part one of my look at Kreator. This was the time where the band was at their most primal, and still had some connection to their Speed & Black Metal past. However, just as they completed one transformation, a new one would begin when the band went into the 90s. Just how drastic of a transformation would this be? Well, you’ll have to wait until after next week to find out. See you then!



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If you’re curious about listening to these albums, then click on the pink words below. Enjoy!

Endless Pain

Pleasure To Kill

Terrible Certainty

Extreme Aggression