Creator

Creator
Kreator at the Reload Festival 2015.
General information
origin	Essen , Germany
Genre (s)	Thrash metal
founding	1982 as Tyrant 1983 renamed Tormentor 1984 renamed Kreator
Website	www.kreator-terrorzone.de
Founding members
Vocals , electric guitar	Miland "Mille" Petrozza
Electric bass	Rob Fioretti (until 1992)
Drums , vocals	Jürgen "Ventor" Reil (until 1994, since 1996)
Current occupation
Vocals, electric guitar	Miland "Mille" Petrozza
Electric guitar	Sami Yli-Sirniö (since 2001)
Electric bass	Frédéric Leclercq (since 2019)
Drums, vocals	Jürgen "Ventor" Reil (until 1994, since 1996)
former members
Electric guitar	Jörg "Tritze" Trzebiatowski (1986–1989)
Electric guitar	Frank "Blackfire" Gosdzik (1989–1996)
Electric guitar	Tommy Vetterli (1996-2001)
Electric bass	Andreas Herz (1992–1994)
Electric bass	Christian "Speesy" Giesler (1994–2019)
Drums	Joe Cangelosi (1994-1996)
Live support and session musicians
Electric guitar	Michael "Destructor" Wulf (1986)
Electric bass	Bogusz Rutkiewicz (1988)
Drums	Marco Minnemann (2009)

Kreator is a German thrash metal band that was founded in 1982 as Tyrant in Essen . The band is one of the best known and oldest German bands in this genre. Together with the bands Destruction and Sodom , Kreator form the so-called triumvirate of German Thrash Metal. To date, the band has sold over two million albums worldwide. The name is derived from the Latin creator ('creator'), but Miland "Mille" Petrozza's history teacher told him after the release of the debut LP that the name came from a Nordic forest troll from the Edda . This is due to the fact that Petrozza referred the name of the band to a demon in German mythology until years later he read the Edda and did not discover a figure named Kreator in it.

In the 1980s she contributed to the spread of this style in Germany and also gained popularity in the scene abroad . The 1990s were marked by numerous musical experiments that did not always meet with approval from the fans. In the new millennium, the band returned to their musical roots.

history

The 1980s

The roots of the band go back to a school band founded in 1982 under the name Tyrant, whose line-up included singer and guitarist Miland “Mille” Petrozza, bassist Rob Fioretti and drummer Jürgen “Ventor” Reil. In 1983 the first Blitzkrieg demo was released under the band name Tormentor . This demo and the second End of the World brought the band a record deal with the German independent label Noise Records . A little later the band changed their name to Kreator. Three of the four tracks from End of the World were re-recorded for the 1985 debut album Endless Pain . The album was recorded in ten days.

Due to the unexpectedly good sales of the debut, the band recorded the second album Pleasure to Kill in just two months at the insistence of their record company . With Jörg Trzebiatowski the band presented a new guitarist with whom they went on tour for the first time. The band was accompanied by Destruction and Rage . Before that, the band only played a few concerts. At the end of the year the EP Flag of Hate was released .

With their third album Terrible Certainty (released 1987) Kreator found their own style and the popularity of the band continued to grow. Kreator played with Celtic Frost in Europe and with DRI in North America. In 1988 Kreator signed a contract with the major label Epic Records, which from then on took care of distribution in North America. Extreme Aggression was released a year later . The album was initially recorded in Berlin under the direction of Randy Burns (including Megadeth ). Due to various difficulties, however, it was completed in Los Angeles . The music video for the song Betrayer , recorded at the Acropolis in Athens , received a lot of airplay at Headbangers Ball . Jörg Trzebiatowski left the band after the European tour with Raven and was replaced by the former Sodom guitarist Frank "Blackfire" Gosdzik . The first headlining tour through North America followed with the Suicidal Tendencies . In the same year, the director Thomas Schadt shot the documentary film Thrash Altenessen , which focuses on the social aspects of Thrash Metal.

In 1990 they played with Sabbat , Coroner and Tankard at the Noise Festival , the first metal festival in the GDR with bands from non-socialist countries. The video Extreme Aggression Tour 1989/1990 (later as DVD At the Pulse of Surrender ) was recorded at the festival, which was attended by more than 7000 fans . Noise quickly sent the band back to the studio to record a new album. The result was called Coma of Souls and appeared in October 1990. Stylistically, the work differs little from its predecessor and was similarly successful thanks to the hit People of the Lie . For the first time, Kreator played concerts in South America .

The 1990s

In the early 1990s, the thrash metal scene was in a state of upheaval. While bands like Metallica , Megadeth or Anthrax tended in a more commercial direction, Kreator experimented with elements of hardcore and industrial metal . The album Renewal from 1992, which was produced by Tom Morris (including Sepultura ), met with little acceptance from the fans, although the reviews were different, but overall relatively positive. The band shot a music video in Israel for the theme song . Kreator toured North America and Europe with Biohazard in 1993 . Then they took a break.

In the meantime, the band switched from Noise to the Gun Records label . The contract with Epic Records was not renewed. Jürgen Reil and Rob Fioretti left the band and were replaced by Christian "Speesy" Giesler (bass) and Joe Cangelosi (drums, ex- Whiplash ). With Cause for Conflict the band released a relatively modern album in 1995, on which influences from Pantera or Machine Head can be heard. In 1997, the eighth studio album Outcast , on which the former coroner guitarist Tom Vetterli and returnees Reil can be heard for the first time, the opinions of the press and fans differed widely. Kreator went on a European tour with Dimmu Borgir , Krisiun and Richthofen . In the meantime, Noise released a best-of album, Scenarios of Violence .

The album Endorama , released in 1999, was the most experimental work in the band's history. The pace was slowed down and the band approached symphonic metal stylistically . Lacrimosa singer Tilo Wolff can be heard on the title song . Despite good reviews, the album was not well received by the fans either. The band had hit rock bottom, even if singer Mille Petrozza was not very impressed:

“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 ... "

“We don't define success in terms of sales figures. Therefore all albums are a success for us because we achieved what we set out to do ... "

- Mille Petrozza : ExtreemMetaal.nl

At the end of the 1990s two more compilations appeared with Voices of Transgressions and Past Life Trauma .

The 2000s

Performance in Krakow on February 18, 2009

Kreator signed a new contract with SPV . At the same time the band separated from Tom Vetterli and brought in the former Waltari guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö as a replacement. Musically, Kreator returned to their musical roots with their tenth studio album Violent Revolution , but added elements of Melodic Death Metal . With brilliant reviews in the back, Kreator was able to re-establish itself among the leading Thrash Metal bands. After a tour with Cannibal Corpse , a tour with Destruction and Sodom followed in autumn 2001 under the motto "Thrashback", during which the three bands appeared in different order at each concert.

While touring many concerts were recorded and 2003 under the title Live creation as a CD or Live Creation: Revisioned Glory as DVD releases. In the same year the band performed at the Rock Hard Festival and went on a North American tour with Nile , Vader and Amon Amarth . The band then returned to the studio to record their eleventh album Enemy of God , which was released in January 2005. Produced by Andy Sneap, Enemy of God continued the course set with Violent Revolution and, like its predecessor, received very good reviews.

In an interview, Petrozza stated that the album title was inspired by George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden . Petrozza had seen on TV how the two referred to each other as enemies of God. Kreator went on a European tour with Dark Tranquility , Ektomorf and Hatesphere . This was followed by a tour of North America with Vader and Pro-Pain after the Death Angel , which had actually been planned, had to cancel. On June 3rd, 2005 Kreator played as the first foreign band at a festival in Casablanca ( Morocco ). Another US tour followed in February 2006 with Napalm Death , Undying and A Perfect Murder. During the summer Kreator played at various festivals in Europe. a. the summer breeze .

In October 2006, SPV released the CD / DVD Enemy of God: Revisited , on which the album in a 5.1 mix and video recordings of the performance at the Wacken Open Air 2005 can be found. In 2008 another appearance took place at the Wacken Open Air. In April 2007 the album and the live DVD Live Creation were indexed . According to Petrozza, the indexing was based on the violent texts, some of which are "now 20 years old".

The following album was called Hordes of Chaos and was released on January 13, 2009. With Moses Schneider , the band deliberately chose a producer who did not come from the metal scene and who had a different approach to the day. In November 2010 Kreator played together with Exodus , Death Angel and Suicidal Angels during the Thrashfest tour . There they also announced that there will be no tours for the time being in 2011 and announced a new studio album for 2012.

Kreator at the Rock Hard Festival 2015

Bassist Christian Giesler celebrated his birthday at Rockharz 2018.

The 2010s

After Kreators previous record company SPV had to file for bankruptcy, the band switched to Nuclear Blast Records . For the 13th studio album Phantom Antichrist , the band engaged the Swede Jens Borgren as producer. The album was released on June 1, 2012 and reached number five on the German album charts. The band then toured Europe with Morbid Angel , Nile and Fueled by Fire . This was followed by a tour of North America with Overkill and Warbringer . The band toured Australia with Death Angel . A European tour with Arch Enemy , Sodom and Vader followed in winter 2014 . Then work began on the new album Gods of Violence , which was released on January 27, 2017. With their 14th studio album, Kreator reached number one in the German album charts for the first time. Another European tour followed in February and March 2017, this time with Sepultura , Soilwork and Aborted as supporting acts. On April 25, 2017, Kreator performed the song "Satan is real" in the last season of " Circus Halligalli ", Pro 7 , with Joko Winterscheidt and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf.

As a replacement for Christian "Speesy" Giesler who left the band, Frédéric Leclercq (ex- DragonForce ) was introduced as the new bass player in September 2019 .

style

On the first Blitzkrieg demo , the band's style was “even more NWOBHM-heavy and oriented towards Speed ​​Metal ”, while “Thrash took over” on the follow-up, End of the World . The debut album Endless Pain is still influenced by Slayer and is considered a "milestone in Thrash Metal" and a source of inspiration for numerous Death and Black Metal formations. According to Petrozza, the producer Horst Müller wanted to label Kreator “absolutely as a Black Metal band [...] because he had produced Sodom shortly before. So he mixed the vocals with a lot of effects, and unfortunately the shot backfired. ”The lyrics were not printed on the debut album because, according to Petrozza, they were“ really not good ”. In the follow-up Pleasure to Kill they were not printed because "there might be difficulties with a US publication because of its brutality". However, the lyrics are not clichéd and brutal, Kreator is “not one of the bands that loudly propagates brutality. The violence dealt with in our texts has a real background; Real violence, crimes, tortures, things that really happen. ”The band has nothing to do with the glorification of violence, and he doesn't want the band's lyrics“ to be understood as the glorification of violence either ”. However, he stated that Thrash Metal was "undisputedly the most brutal genre of music" and "brutal lyrics go best with this type of music; at least better than peace-joy-pancake lyrics ”. Main influences on Pleasure to Kill included Slayers Hell Awaits and Seven Churches from Possessed . It was produced by Harris Johns (including Helloween , Voivod ) and is considered a classic of Thrash Metal.

Over time, Petrozza changed the lyrics more in a socially critical direction because, according to his own statement, he no longer felt like singing about "corpses on horseback and such". For example, Europe After the Rain deals with the problem of organized right-wing extremism, and on the album Enemy of God some lyrics refer to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 . On the album Gods of Violence , the song Side by Side is directed against homophobia in metal.

In the 1990s, many metalheads were outraged about “how a Thrash Metal band could dare to allow new influences”; shortly thereafter, bands like Machine Head and Sepultura came along “and did similar things, using the same samples in places. They were then celebrated everywhere as the absolute innovators. ”After Venter's return to the band and the recording of Tommy Vetterli, “ musically ambitious, but again polarizing albums ” were created with Outcast and Endorama ; Christian “Speesy” Giesler described Vetterli as an “exceptional guitarist”, but maybe he “put his stamp on us too much. I once asked him whether he would have joined Kreator or we would have started a new version of Coroner. I'm waiting for the answer until today. "

Discography

→ Main article : Kreator / Discography

Studio albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1985	Endless Pain Noise Records	-	-	-	-	-	First published: June 1985
1986	Pleasure to Kill Noise Records	DE99 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: April 1, 1986
1987	Terrible Certainty Noise Records	-	-	-	-	-	First published: September 22, 1987
1989	Extreme Aggression Noise Records	DE90 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: June 19, 1989
1990	Coma of Souls Noise Records	DE83 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: November 6, 1990
1992	Renewal Noise Records	-	-	-	-	-	First published: October 26, 1992
1995	Cause for Conflict Gun Records	DE48 (9 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: August 1, 1995
1997	Outcast Gun Records	DE91 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: July 22, 1997
1999	Endorama Drakkar Entertainment	DE68 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: April 20, 1999
2001	Violent Revolution Steamhammer	DE38 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: September 25, 2001
2005	Enemy of God Steamhammer	DE19 (3 weeks) DE	AT45 (2 weeks) AT	-	-	-	First published: January 10, 2005
2009	Hordes of Chaos SPV	DE16 (10 weeks) DE	AT33 (2 weeks) AT	CH57 (1 week) CH	-	US165 (1 week) US	First published: January 13, 2009
2012	Phantom Antichrist Nuclear Blast	DE5 (6 weeks) DE	AT31 (3 weeks) AT	CH22 (2 weeks) CH	-	US130 (1 week) US	First published: June 1, 2012
2017	Gods of Violence Nuclear Blast	DE1 (6 weeks) DE	AT4 (5 weeks) AT	CH13 (4 weeks) CH	UK72 (1 week) UK	US118 (1 week) US	First published: January 27, 2017 # 3 in the German vinyl charts

literature

• Holger Schmenk , Christian Krumm : buddies in frocks. Heavy metal in the Ruhr area , Henselowsky Boschmann Verlag , Bottrop 2010, ISBN 3-942094-02-9 .
• Hilmar Bender : Violent Evolution: The Story of KREATOR , Ubooks, 2011, ISBN 978-3-86608-144-4 .

Web links

Commons : Kreator  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Kreator at laut.de
• Kreator at Allmusic (English)
• Kreator at MusicBrainz (English)
• Kreator at Musik-Sammler.de
• Recorded and mixed , episode 03: Heavy metal - global export
• WDR Rockpalast mobil: On the way with Mille - Road trip to the Ruhr2010

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Volkmar Weber: Kreator . In: Slayer , No. 20, Blood Fire Death , 2010, p. 36.
2. ↑ "KREATOR er en demon i den gamle Tyske myten." Thomas Schumacher, Metalion : Kreator . In: Slayer vol. 3/4 - 1986 , p. 6. Quoted from: Jon Kristiansen : SLAYER. N ° 1 to 5 . Rosières en Haye: Camion Blanc 2009, p. 144.
3. ↑ ^{a b} biography .
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} laut.de: Biography
5. ↑ ^{a b} Stefan Glas: Tormentor . End Of The World. In: Rock Hard . No. 328 , September 2014, p. 71 .
6. ↑ ^{a b} Rock Hard Encyclopedia , page 200.
7. ↑ ^{a b} POWERMETAL.de: Kreator / Renewal - Review - POWERMETAL.de
8. ↑ Holger Stratmann: CREATOR . Renewal . In: Rock Hard , No. 66.
9. ^ Metal-observer.com: Review of Cause for Conflict
10. ↑ Boris Kaiser: KREATOR . Endorama . In: Rock Hard , No. 142.
11. ^ Kreator - Endorama .
12. ↑ Alex J: Kreator [Duitsland] ( Memento of the original from December 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
13. ↑ Mille Petrozza: A praise to the guardians of degenerate art . In: Deadline , issue 2/2008, pp. 54–55.
14. ↑ KREATOR's 'Gods Of Violence' Tops German Chart. Blabbermouth.net , accessed February 4, 2017 . 
15. ↑ KREATOR welcome Frédéric Leclercq as the new bass player! nuclearblast.de, accessed on September 16, 2019 . 
16. ↑ Slayer No. 3/4 of February 1986
17. ↑ ^{a b} Oliver Klemm: Kreator . Not a band that closes the shop overnight! In: Metal Hammer . No. 4 . Rockteam Medienproduktions GmbH and Co.KG, Lüdenscheid April 1986, p. 32 .
18. ↑ Boris Kaiser: Sometimes you have to hate . In: Rock Hard , February 2009, pages 23ff.
19. ↑ Byrne: HailMetal.com's Top 50 Thrash Albums Of All Time , 2006, accessed January 31, 2013.
20. ↑ MetalHammer: Kreator: Mille Petrozza on Homophobia in Metal , 2017, accessed October 17, 2018.
21. ↑ Tom Küppers: Metal in the Pott Part 5 . The nineties . In: Metal Hammer , October 2010, p. 83.
22. ↑ Tom Küppers: Metal in the Pott Part 5 . The nineties . In: Metal Hammer , October 2010, p. 84.
23. ↑ Kreator - Gods of Violence (vinyl). GfK Entertainment , accessed June 30, 2020 .