helterskelter.ca

KREATOR
1985 - Endless Pain.
1986 - Pleasure To Kill.
1989 - Extreme Aggression.
1990 - Coma Of Souls.
1992 - Renewal.
2001 - Violent Revolution.
way more Helter Skelter.

October 1985 - 2020: 35 years of: Endless Pain.

Germany strikes back.

19-FUCKIN-85: Year One for speedmetal, the most vile and extremely aggressive music on the face of the planet. The war-dance started with the METALLICA / MEGADETH rattlehead lightning riding rivalry, then the pit went D.I.Y. with D.R.I., sped fast as a piranha with EXODUS and even Canada had it's very own warriors of ice in VOÏVOD and the evil invaders of RAZOR !

On the other side of the Atlantic, Switzerland had metal's morbid extremist CELTIC FROST terrorizing the genre since 1983 with their HELLHAMMER demos and Deutschland had the mad butchers DESTRUCTION and the sepulchral voice of SODOM. It was now time to welcome to the teutonic-thrashmetal arena: Essen's KREATOR.

Hate and suffering takes form on the title-track "Endless Pain", a speedmetal cut that raises the bar quite high in the brutal department. More zero to none annihilation is spat on "Total Death" and on the roaring double-bassdrums of "Tormentor", none shall survive this assault, none shall defy !

The raspy quasi-deathmetal vocals make an ungodly apparition on "Storm Of The Beast" and the über-speedmetal "Son Of Evil". But oh surprise, these screams from dying victims are not from main-man Mille Petrozza, but from skins-man Jürgen Reil, known to the metal-world as Ventor.

This album also contains, the now classic signature-cut "Flag Of Hate". The speediest of speedmetal at full speed. The flag has been raised, not the capitulating white flag, but the conquering flag of loud German-metal. At that point in time, KREATOR were the fastest band on the planet ...until October 7, 1986, in a cause for conflict when some Los Angeles band fought back with the Reign In Blood LP.

35 years of aural massacre that eventually mutated into a mental slavery of thrash progression. The Tyrant grew into the Tormentor, who became the KREATOR, one of thrashmetal's most respected acts. Love 'em or hate 'em, the phantom antichrist is still releasing top-quality out of the dark, into the night metal.

KREATOR: the agents of brutality of pristine execution.

*
Endless Pain = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-sFkku5IPg&list=OLAK5uy_kAqA1d6MDb-7-btBwwFQ61JD_ZEkyG1Zs
Live in 1985
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n7DU_CE188

April 1986 - 2021: 35 years of: Pleasure To Kill.

1986: the ultimate year for speedmetal !

Mosh with DARK ANGEL, RAZOR, NUCLEAR ASSAULT and Germany's SODOM. And by it's side, flexes the teutonic-thrash country-mate flag of hate raising machine KREATOR ...in full total-death-mode.

The pretty intro "Choir Of The Damned" sets an un-easy mood and POW, all goes into Mach IV with the destructive desecration of "Ripping Corpse". Fast riffing, fast drumming and fast spew of hate from the now: most extreme band on Earth.

The massacre continues with your only fate in "Death Is Your Savior" and the appropriately titled executioner's song "Under The Guillotine". Killing their idols, the race was on and KREATOR was a lap ahead, almost initiating a bloody "Riot Of Violence".

The Pleasure To Kill LP is another stepping stone, just like their 1985 debut Endless Pain LP was a bone-breaking exhibition from the storm of the beast, KREATOR was on top of the speedmetal food-chain.

The extreme-metal landscape would change in the following 3 years as thrashmetal would slow-down and turn more progressive while on the brutal side, the evolution of the new, most extreme music on Earth would arise from beneath the remains: Death-Metal !

*
Pleasure To Kill = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui4x-eNnOq4&list=PLLZUjlvnKF06tenbDyNgT6kx9mMCmGNtB
Live in Germany in 1986
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPEqItl8WW0

June 19, 1989 - 2024: 35 years of: Extreme Aggression.

Now they were out of the dark.

After 1987's Terrible Certainty LP, the band would clean up their looks and their tone. The glorious Class of '89 includes proud legend thrashers: LÄÄZ ROCKIT, SEPULTURA and EXODUS. After SODOM's Agent Orange, it was time for Germany's main bomber to launch the final strike. Bringing some politics and social awareness into the mix, KREATOR releases an extreme aggression.

Crushing with might, the "Extreme Aggression" title-track cuts deep to the bone, with both speed and accuracy. Faster and deadlier, the band gears up into a "Stream Of Consciousness", while the 2:16sec of "Bringer Of Torture" inflicts more mind control.

The mid-paced monster "Some Pain Will Last" resets the mood as we are once again thrusted into a riot of violence with "No Reason To Exist" and the dividing cry of "Love Us Or Hate Us". The MTV-video for "Betrayer" would crack new Western-markets as well as new eardrums. A new classic is hatched.

Now partnered with a CBS Records US-deal, more fans would be exposed to this choir of the damned. Incorporating more melodies with now ex-SODOM guitarist Frank Blackfire, their next cause for conflict shall elevate the sons of evil, to bona fide metal-perfection.

The new decade would be blessed with some of the finest thrash. From Rust In Peace, to Twisted Into Form, to Never Neverland ...to KREATOR's zenith of aggressive / melodic thrash: 1990's Coma Of Souls CD.

*
Betrayer = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQVo5T0L5yg
Extreme Aggression = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f82Z_71kXXE&list=PLsT9douBcx98YAhxij6HCNr0uWvUb0Z_-
MTV interview in 1989
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGqz3mHhnz0
Live in East-Berlin = full VHS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i9aGOnCTKM
Producer Randy Burns talks about the LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJufVCpyN78

November 6, 1990 - 2020: 30 years of: Coma Of Souls.

Thrashmetal perfection in ...once again ...1990 !

America: land of the Free, home of the Thrash ...and now the German panzer fights back with an astonishing thrashmetal masterpiece. Fully awake in this coma, riffs, drums and the voice of the endless pain attacks with a pleasure to kill. The unique balance between extreme aggression, suave virtuoso-leads and top cut-throat production.

Jump inside the mind of Germany's titans KREATOR. Coma Of Souls is the epitome of European thrashmetal in 1990. Brutally melodic and melodically brutal, there is none better.

While the Western-world had its big guns, Deutschland stood tall against it all... breaking down walls, with a clinched heavymetal fist !

*
People Of The Lie = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4wg2eBIvRk
Terror Zone = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjtH8m-B3m8
Twisted Urges = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1z1RnfWH9Q
Coma Of Sould = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge24NJ7Ukus&list=OLAK5uy_kp9ARsMlKxfIFgOjnXt0u0rS2STyyAYNM
Hallucinative Comas = full VHS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSqIE43Xjwg
Live in Denmark in 1991
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMNMuhx32uI

October 26, 1992 - 2022: 30 years of: Renewal.

Another kreation.

Nineties-thrashmetal: add some dirt on the guitars, add a touch of industrial rhythms and some DIY attitude. The sixth installment for this once speedmetal powerhouse. Re-inventing themselves, again, and going against the American street-groove of FEAR FACTORY and PANTERA ...the German battallion of KREATOR broke the tradition of the endless pain with a new kind of extreme aggression.

The primal opening-track "Winter Martyrium" mindlessly crushes the opposition. High vocals and metal despair, yet this time, drenched within a simpler architecture. The down-picking continues with the headbanging crushing title-track "Renewal".

Faster paced cortex of "Brainseed" and the acid-wash "Europe After The Rain" should please old-fans, but be warned, proceed only with an open mind. The mid-paced soul digging of "Karmic Wheel" and "Reflection" are synonymus with modern 90s rock / thrash, while the ethereal adventure of "Depression Unrest" exposes a tame, yet interesting updated band.

Following the top-shelf pristine 1990 Coma Of Souls CD, this new feast ain't no Black Album wannabe. During the 1992-93 era, all genres were under the gun. Renewal is raw, rusted and revamped modern thrashmetal. This machine would add more RPMs on the upcomming 1995's Cause For Conflict CD.

*
Renewal = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wihwj_oTE8c
Renewal = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9zJw0wYzWM&list=OLAK5uy_lR2s_lOL2gnUJadtmgG2Y4tdprmNIvDqs
Interview in 1993
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd3yPsR6F-0
Live in Moscow in 1993
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFfUFX5XGlk
some guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OciNfV6dcg

September 25, 2001 - 2021: 20 years of: Violent Revolution.

Another coma.

The speedmetal-titans took a turn on the left hand path during the late 90s, with 1997's Outcast and the moodier 1999 Endorama CD. But now it is time for a complete millennial metal-rebirth. From darkness to harshness, the mighty KREATOR raises the flag of hate and comes back storming with menace.

The revolution begins with hate in mind as KREATOR are "Reconquering The Throne". Pure late 80s clean thrashmetal, with a thick modern tone. The melodic-interlude "The Patriarch" sets the table for more aggressive metal as the killer title-track "Violent Revolution" slams and moshes away, while Mille Petrozza spews his deadly take-over plan.

Worship real modern thrashmetal at the Altar on "Servant In Heaven - King In Hell" and social inequities on "Ghetto War" and "Slave Machinery". The raw chugging picks up some more on "Second Awakening" and the bombastic "Bitter Sweet Revenge".

And just like it's powerful predecessor and artwork related, 1990's stellar Coma Of Souls CD, this selection is a fine amalgam of mean thrashmetal mixed with unison-melodies ...the rebirth of an icon. Perfectly produced by scene-player Andy Sneap, it is also the first for current Finnish lead-axe player Sami Yli-Sirniö. A dangerous re-kreation for this sick millennium, the band would repeat the beat-down with 2005's Enemy Of God CD.

*
Violent Revolution = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ntwKzpX9Cg
Violent Revolution = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0BZVo0oIZM&list=PLnUNgWk4CcybF95F_HxELtyN3hsbrGEpq
Interview in 2001
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWoOep4y4Uc
Live in Greece in 2001
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m8O32d6q5Y
Live Kreation - Revisioned Glory = full DVD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBSWaa1zTZs
some guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2Zi4_C-iIM