Lagging behind a day but I was busy yesterday and went to bed before I could finish this.
I know my username is Slayer and all, but as I've explained before, including the origins of how I got here (and my stubbornness not to change my name since you all will still call me that anyway), Slayer is in fact not my favorite metal band (that'll be coming up in about five threads), or even my favorite thrash band. Depending on my mood my favorite thrash band tends to alternate between Testament and today's featured band: Kreator.
Just as we in America had what have been termed the "Big Four" of American thrash metal (and I shouldn't have to name them for you either), Germany produced their own Big Three of Teutonic thrash: Destruction (who I should have covered in the D thread, but I was busy), Sodom and Kreator.
Formed in Essen, (West) Germany in the early 80's as a trio by Mille Petrozza on guitar, Rob Fiorelli on bass and Jürgen "Ventor" Reil on drums, they originally released demos under the name of Tormentor before settling on Kreator. In 1985 they released their first album
Endless Pain, pulling no punches right out of the gate. Drawing its main influences from Slayer and Venom, the album was pure unabashed thrash metal, made even more amazing by the fact the band members were only 18-19 at the time. Originally Mille was intended to be the full-time vocalist but his vocal style, reminiscent of Quorthon from Bathory but much more raw, still needed work. Ventor, whose style was more enunciated and similar to Cronos from Venom, picked up vocal duties on half of the songs from EP, laying out the tracks to alternate between Ventor and Mille-led songs. Because of the raw sound and vocal work, this album is considered a major influence in black metal and a precursor to death metal as well.
(
"Endless Pain") - from EP (Ventor)
(
"Total Death") - ibid (Mille)
(
"Tormentor") - from EP (Mille)
(
"Living in Fear") - ibid (Ventor)
After EP, Kreator brought in Jörg "Tritze" Trzebiatowski as a second guitarist, solidifying their quartet for over the next four years. In 1986 (the year of thrash), Kreator released
Pleasure to Kill, a landmark thrash album and another precursor/influential album in death metal. Mille's vocal work had improved enough to handle more songs, although Ventor still picked up three songs on this album.
I can't heap enough love onto this album without bogging down this article in glurge, so I'll let the songs do the work here.
(
"Pleasure to Kill") - from PTK
(
"Riot of Violence") - ibid (Ventor)
(
"Carrion") - ibid
(
"Under the Guillotine") - ibid
Shortly thereafter they released the three song
Flag of Hate EP. The titular song was actually on
Endless Pain, but they re-recorded a more refined version of the song for this EP. The EP songs have since been packed together with PTK on one CD. The two songs posted below are still staples of Kreator's live-set
(
"Flag of Hate") - from FOH
(
"Awakening of the Gods") - ibid
Unrelenting, one year later in 1987 they released
Terrible Certainty. By this point Mille's vocals had improved to the point where he assumed full-time vocal duties with Ventor concentrating on drums. TC was also the turning point as the raw thrash from PTK began to give way to a more refined technical style. A good album in its own right, it tends to get overshadowed in their discography due to what came before and after.
(
"Terribly Certainty) - from TC
(
"Toxic Trace" - ibid
1989's
Extreme Aggression would see the second high point of their career, IMO. EA saw a continuation of the refined style of thrash from TC, with even some melodic guitar work mixed in some songs. Thanks to the video for "Betrayer" receiving good rotation on Headbanger's Ball, Kreator would also get their first major exposure on this side of the pond.
Depending on which way you want to go, I would recommend either this or PTK as the starting point for getting into this band.
(
"Betrayer") - from EA
(
"No Reason to Exist") - ibid
(
"Stream of Consciousness") - ibid
(
"Bringer of Torture) - ibid
The last great album from Kreator's high time came in 1990's
Coma of Souls, which contained a good mix of straightforward thrash songs and relatively slower technical thrash songs.
(
"Coma of Souls") - from COS
(
"Terror Zone") - ibid
After COS, Kreator fell into the same funk that hit many of the 80's thrash bands when the calendar hit the 90's. Tritze and Fiorelli would leave for personal reasons, with Fiorelli being replaced on bass by Christian Giesler, who remains with the band to this day.
Like many thrash bands struggling to stay afloat in a new unforgiving decade, they changed up their style, releasing the industrial and groove styled
Renewal (1992). Ventor would leave briefly and Mille would release another album in this style called
Cause for Conflict (1995). I'm not fond of either one of these albums, so no samples here. Ventor came back after CFC, at which point he and Mille decided to experiment with more gothic and ambient styled metal, with some industrial still mixed in for good measure. This produced 1997's
Outcast and 1999's
Endorama. I do like the style they used on these albums, but I'm not going to try and sell thrash fans on these, so no samples here either.
Once the 00's hit, it was like the flipping of a light switch as Kreator brought in second guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö and made their return to thrash metal that had some style updated for this decade (notably some Gothenburg influence), but still retaining their core sound. They've released three albums this decade, all of which are worthwhile purchases.
(
"Violent Revolution") - from
Violent Revolution (2001)
(
"Reconquering the Throne") - ibid
(
"Enemy of God") - from
Enemy of God (2005)
(
"Voices of the Dead") - ibid
(
"Hordes of Chaos") - from
Hordes of Chaos (2009)
(
"Warcurse") - ibid
