PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
A rightly deserved place in the big four bands of German thrash metal, Kreator have come a long way from their beginnings as Tyrant in 1982, then Tormentor, then Creator, the word chosen from ‘Mountains’, a Manowar song before finally settling with Kreator. On June 9th 2017, BMG will be re-releasing their first four studio albums individually, re-mastered with a lavish digibook containing lyrics, archive photos, comments from front man Mille Petrozza and added text from Malcolm Dome. All CD’s contain bonus material.
Originally a trio, Mille was joined by Jurgen ‘Ventor’ Reil on drums/lead vocals and Rob Fioretti on bass guitar, releasing the debut studio album Endless Pain in October 1985 with Mille and Ventor sharing the vocals. It was recorded in just ten days which explains the rawness of it. Highlights are the title track, a hate filled adrenaline rush of youthful exhuberance with the lyrics literally spat out rather than sung. ‘Total Death’, ‘Son Of Evil’ and ‘Flag Of Hate’ still rage hard but final two tracks ‘Cry War’ and ‘Bonebreaker’ are beyond words! The bonus material are the Blitzkrieg demos from 1983 and End Of The World demos from 1984.
‘Satan’s Day’ is all stabbing riffs, punishing snare work and a demented lead vocal and ‘Messengers From Burning Hell’ is an early Motorhead like freak out but the annoyingly high pitched vocals would of sounded better in a lower register. ‘Armies Of Hell’ is Celtic Frost like doom that rushes headlong into a hellish tumult and fledgling takes of ‘Tormentor’, ‘Cry War’ and ‘Bonebreaker’ are more unhinged than the album versions.
Within twelve months Pleasure To Kill, a bona fide thrash metal classic was unleashed, fully deserving to be mentioned in the same breath as Kill Em All and Bonded By Blood as ground breaking albums. Production wise it was a major step forward as it thrashes full pelt from vicious opener ‘Ripping Corpse’ to the rabid closer ‘Under The Guillotine’. Other gems are the timeless ‘Flag Of Hate’ that really benefits from re-mastering as riffs scythe throughout and the jaw dropping ‘Riot Of Violence’ that help to make the album near faultless. Bonus material is the Flag Of Hate E.P, also released in 1986 mainly because they were unhappy with the production of the original version. Also included are ‘Take Their Lives’ which seems to be very NWOBHM influenced as the band change down a gear but the highlight is the seven minute epic ‘Awakening Of The Gods’ as the band show song writing maturity as it switches from full on rage to a headbanging chugger.
1987 saw Kreator become a four piece with the addition of another guitarist Jorg ‘Tritze’ Trzebiatowski and releasing ‘Terrible Certainty’ in September the same year. This is their first album to have all lead vocals sang by Mille and opener ‘Blind Faith’ sets the bar high with furious riffing and wrist breaking snare work from Ventor and unbelievably they speed up for follower ‘Storming With Menace’. Once again this is another ferocious release as strongest track ‘Toxic Trace’ goes into hyperspace with Ventor testing the resilience of his kit.
Bonus material is the Out Of The Dark…Into The Light E.P, a 1988 eight track live release from the Dynamo Club in Eindhoven and the crystal clear sound quality shows the band at the top of their game. An interesting cover of Raven’s ‘Lambs To The Slaughter’ precede a a breathtaking trio of ‘Terrible Certainty’, ‘Riot Of Violence’ and ‘Awakening Of The Gods’.
Extreme Aggression, the fourth and final release in June 1989 once again kept the speedometer needle in the red, point proven by the warp speed rhythms of opener and title track. A slow but heavy midway section is the calm before the storm for a frantic ending. Other highlights are the anger fuelled vocals and technical thrash riffing in ‘Love Us Or Hate Us’ and the slow burning ‘Some Pain Will Last’ that majestically riffs towards an intense galloping end. Bonus features are another live gig. Longer than the Eindhoven one and running in at fourteen tracks, it is from 1990 in Berlin. It’s another intense performance with stand out tracks being a roaring set opener of ‘Some Pain Will Last’. The rhythm section that pummels through ‘Under The Guillotine’ is phenomenal. ‘Betrayer’ flies along on a blur of riffing and fast footed drums but pick of the bunch is the almighty set closer ‘Tormentor’. It makes you wonder how they can rip through this with such vigour.
Current Kreator band line up :-
Jurgen ‘Ventor’ Reil – Drums.
Christian Gesler – Bass guitar.
Sami Yli-Sirnio – Guitar.
Mille Petrozza – Lead vocals/guitar.
Endless Pain track listing :-
Endless Pain.
Total Death.
Storm Of The Beast.
Tormentor.
Son Of Evil.
Flag Of Hate.
Cry War.
Bonebreaker.
Living In Fear.
Dying Victims.
Bonus material :- Blitzkrieg demo/End Of The World demo.
Satan’s Day.
Messenger From Burning Hell.
Armies Of Hell.
Tormentor.
Cry War.
Bonebreaker.
Pleasure To Kill track listing :-
Choir Of The Damned.
Ripping Corpse.
Death Is Your Saviour.
Pleasure To Kill.
Riot Of Violence.
The Pestilence.
Carrion.
Command Of The Blade.
Under The Guillotine.
Bonus material :- Flag Of Hate E.P.
Flag Of Hate.
Take Their Lives.
Awakening Of The Gods.
Terrible Certainty track listing CD 1 :-
Blind Faith.
Storming With Menace.
Terrible Certainty.
As The World Burns.
Toxic Trace.
No Escape.
One Of Us.
Behind The Mirror.
Bonus material :- CD 2, Out Of The Dark…Into The Light live E.P.
Impossible To Cure.
Lambs To The Slaughter.
Terrible Certainty.
Riot Of Violence.
Awakening Of The Gods.
Flag Of Hate.
Love Us Or Hate Us.
Behind The Mirror.
Extreme Aggression track listing CD 1 :-
Extreme Aggression.
No Reason To Exist.
Love Us Or Hate Us.
Stream Of Consciousness.
Some Pain Will Last.
Betrayer.
Don’t Trust.
Bringer Of Torture.
Fatal Energy.
Bonus material :- CD 2, Live In Berlin 1990.
Some Pain Will Last.
Extreme Aggression.
Under The Guillotine.
Toxic Trace.
Bringer Of Torture.
Pleasure To Kill.
Flag Of Hate.
Terrible Certainty.
Riot Of Violence.
Love Us Or Hate Us.
Behind The Mirror.
Betrayer.
Awakening Of The Gods.
Tormentor.
