Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, Germany
, formed in 1982. The band started their
career under the name
Tormentor. They originally
performed their type of thrash metal style with
Venom influences. The band is also influenced
by
Slayer,
Metallica,
Mercyful
Fate, and
Bathory. Their style of
music is similar to their compatriots
Destruction and
Sodom, the other two big
German thrash metal
bands. All three of these bands are often credited with helping
pioneer
death metal, by containing
several elements of what was to become the genre.
Kreator's work has been consistently in the vein of pure thrash
metal, with the exception of four albums (
Renewal,
Cause for Conflict,
Outcast, and
Endorama) released in the 1990s when they
experimented with other genres, incorporating
industrial,
gothic, and
avant-garde elements into their
sound.
Biography
Formation and early releases (1982-1987)
Kreator
formed as Tyrant in 1982 in Essen, Germany. The original lineup featured
vocalist/guitarist
Mille Petrozza,
drummer
Jürgen 'Ventor' Reil, and
bassist Rob Fioretti. They soon changed their name to Tormentor and
released two demos. They changed the name of the band again to the
final one, Kreator and signed to
Noise Records in 1985. The name
change came from the label, as there already was a band by the name
Tormentor from Hungary.
Kreator recorded their debut album,
Endless Pain, in just 10 days. Many
black and
death
metal bands consider it to be a very influential release. The
band hired the late
Sodom guitarist
Michael Wulf for the album's
tour.
Wulf was in the band for a few days and didn't play on the band's
next album, 1986's
Pleasure to
Kill, despite his getting credit. A new guitarist, Jörg
"Tritze" Trzebiatowski joined the band and he played on this album,
which is widely considered a thrash classic. Produced by
Harris Johns (
Helloween,
Voivod),
it is arguably one of the heaviest, fastest albums in metal, while
showing the band growing in talent and technical ability. The song
"Flag of Hate" became an early hit, and the band became one of the
most promising up-and-coming European metal acts. With Tritze the
band started their first tour ever (before the release of
Pleasure to Kill they had only played 5 gigs total). The
band closed out the year with their first
EP,
Flag of
Hate.
Rising popularity (1987-1991)
In 1987, Kreator released their third studio album,
Terrible Certainty, which is often
considered a high-quality Kreator album as the arrangements on the
album were more complex and the tempos more varied. The album
featured another hit "Behind the Mirror", and the band's popularity
continued to grow. They managed to find enough time and money
(coming from the concerts) to finance another EP
Out of the Dark ...
Into the
Light.
Kreator signed to major label
Epic
Records in 1988.
Their fourth studio album and debut with
Epic, Extreme
Aggression, recorded in Los Angeles
, became a metal hit upon its release in
1989. Continuing the
Terrible Certainty formula
while showing the band still progressing musically and with better
production by the well-regarded Randy Burns (also
Megadeth among others), the album featured the
band's first major singles and
music
videos, the title track and "Betrayer", becoming major hits on
MTVs Headbangers
Ball. They toured North America with
Suicidal Tendencies, which greatly
expanded their popularity outside of Europe.
In 1989, German director Thomas Schadt made a documentary about
Kreator (focusing on the social aspect of
heavy metal in the
Ruhr Area) titled
Thrash Altenessen
(named after the band's hometown, a suburb of Essen). Tritze left
Kreator after
Extreme Aggression. In 1990, with new
guitarist Frank "Blackfire" Gosdzik (also formerly of
Sodom), the band released
Coma of Souls. The album was not quite as
praised as the bands previous few albums (many felt the album was
"rushed" and repetitive), but still managed sell and maintain
popularity quite well, with the single "People of the Lie" becoming
a hit.
Experimentation (1991-2000)
The early 1990s brought a decline in the popularity of traditional
thrash metal. With many other thrash bands such as
Metallica and
Anthrax changing their sound for a more
commercial approach, Kreator began experimenting with
death metal and
industrial metal around this time.
The result was
Renewal,
released in 1992, which featured heavy death metal and industrial
influences. While reaching a newer, more commercial audience, the
band upset many longtime fans, accusing them of "
selling out". The band, once known for being an
excellent live act, had disappointing shows and tours for this
album due to the industrial influences.
The excruciatingly taxing touring commitments that followed took
the band as far as South America, but understandably left them
physically and creatively exhausted. The band began to fall apart
around this time. Founding member
Roberto Fioretti left the band after the
recording of the album as he wanted to spend more time with his
family and was replaced by Andreas Herz, who never played any
official release. In 1994 Reil left as well, leaving Petrozza the
sole original bandmember. Reil was replaced by Joe Cangelosi. Herz
left in 1995 and was replaced by
Christian Giesler. To make matters worse,
their contract with Epic was dropped. Now on
G.U.N. Records
the new lineup put out the album
Cause for Conflict that year. The
result was their most modern album at that time, the sound on this
album had influences from
Pantera and
Machine Head, a slight return to
a harsher sound than on the previous album.
Gosdzik and Cangelosi left in 1996 and were replaced by Tommy
Vetterli (formerly of
Coroner), and,
surprisingly,
Jurgen Reil. The band
continued to experiment with their sound, releasing
Outcast and
Endorama, both of which experimented with
goth and
ambient influences, incorporated
samples and
loops
and even found Petrozza trying a few different singing styles on
for size. It also retained the
groove
metal influences. The record sales went down, by the end of the
1990s the band reached both commercial and critical nadir. Though
frontman Mille Petrozza never cared about this:
"For us,
success doesn't define in record sales. So all our albums
have been successful for us, because we've achieved what we were
aiming for...".
Return in style and recent events (2000 onward)
In 2001, with new guitarist
Sami
Yli-Sirniö, Kreator released their "comeback" album
Violent Revolution,
which saw the band returning to their classic thrash metal style.
Despite containing a lot of melodic and so called "
Gothenburg metal" riffs, it was praised by
fans and critics alike. The tour was extremely successful and
introduced Kreator to a younger generation of metal fans.
Yli-Sirnio, who lived in Germany, was known to be a good guitar
player, so the band recruited him.A live album
Live Kreation and live DVD
Live Kreation: Revisioned
Glory were released in 2003, and a new studio album -
still retaining a style closer to old school thrash metal -
Enemy of God was
released in 2005. This album also saw a special edition re-release
in 2006 called
Enemy of God: Revisited. In early 2006,
Kreator toured North America with
Napalm
Death,
A Perfect Murder,
and The Undying. Kreator were to tour 2008 with
King Diamond,
Leaves
Eyes, and
Cellador, however the tour
was cancelled due to back issues with King Diamond.
In March 2008, the
At the Pulse of
Kapitulation DVD was released, featuring
Live in East Berlin and
Hallucinative Comas on
one disc. Both had previously been available on VHS only and were
long out of print. The band had also began working on their 12th
full length album in late 2007/early 2008 and began recording in
July 2008. Recording for the album, dubbed
Hordes of Chaos, was wrapped up
in late August, with the album being released in January 2009. On
January 23, 2009, the band began their "Chaos Over Europe" tour in
Tilburg (the netherlands) with Caliban, Eluveitie and Emergency
Gate as other acts. In April 2009, the band embarked on a North
American headlining tour, co-headlined by
Exodus, and featuring
Belphegor,
Warbringer, and Epicurean.
Members
Current line up
Former members
- Jörg "Tritze" Trzebiatowski - guitar (1986–1989)
- Frank "Blackfire" Gosdzik - guitar (1989–1996) (Mystic (Bra),
ex-Sodom)
- Michael Wulf (deceased) - guitar
(1986, one show only) (ex-Sodom)
- Tommy Vetterli - guitar (1996–2001) (Coroner)
- Roberto "Rob" Fioretti - bass (1982–1992, founder)
- Andreas Herz - bass (1992–1994)
- Bogusz
Rutkiewicz - bass (1988, one gig in Budapest
) (Turbo)
- Joe Cangelosi - drums (1994–1996) (Whiplash, Massacre)
- Marco Minnemann - drums (2009
September - October Tour Drums)
Discography
See also
References
- "Live Kreation: Revisioned Glory" DVD: The first Scene of the
history of the band section.
- Mille Petrozza interview
-
http://www.metal-rules.com/interviews/Kreator_HELL-sinki.htm
External links
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search