Kreator

Kreator
Kreator performing at the Reload Festival in Germany, 2018
Kreator performing at the Reload Festival in Germany, 2018
Background information
Also known asTyrant
OriginEssen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
GenresThrash metal
DiscographyKreator discography
Years active1982–present
Labels
MembersMiland "Mille" Petrozza
Jürgen "Ventor" Reil
Sami Yli-Sirniö
Frédéric Leclercq
Past membersMichael Wulf
Jörg "Tritze" Trzebiatowski
Frank "Blackfire" Gosdzik
Tommy Vetterli
Roberto "Rob" Fioretti
Andreas Herz
Joe Cangelosi
Christian "Speesy" Giesler
Websitewww.kreator-terrorzone.de

Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, formed in 1982.[1] Their current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Miland "Mille" Petrozza, drummer Jürgen "Ventor" Reil, lead guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö, and bassist Frédéric Leclercq. The band's lineup has changed multiple times throughout its 42-year career, most noticeably with their bassists and lead guitarists. Petrozza and Reil are the only two original members left in Kreator, although the latter took a break from the band from 1994 to 1996. Yli-Sirniö has been the lead guitarist of Kreator since 2001, while Leclercq joined in 2019 as the replacement of Christian "Speesy" Giesler, who had been a member of the band since 1994.

Kreator has released fifteen studio albums, two EPs, two live albums and three compilation albums. They gained a large underground fanbase within the international thrash metal community,[2] with their second studio album Pleasure to Kill (1986) regarded as an influential album of the genre.[1][3] Many of their subsequent albums — including Terrible Certainty (1987), Extreme Aggression (1989) and Coma of Souls (1990) — were also highly acclaimed.[4] Despite being an influential band,[5] as well as one of the first European thrash metal acts to sign to a major label (signing to Epic Records in 1988), Kreator would not achieve mainstream popularity until later albums, including their thirteenth studio album Phantom Antichrist (2012) and its follow-up Gods of Violence (2017), both of which charted highly in many countries, with the latter reaching number one on the German charts.[4][6][7] Their latest studio album, Hate Über Alles, was released on 10 June 2022,[8] and the band is currently working on new material for their next album.[9]

Kreator has achieved worldwide sales of over two million units for combined sales of all their albums, making them one of the best-selling German thrash metal bands of all time.[10][11][12] Along with Destruction, Sodom and Tankard, they are credited as one of the "Big Four" of Teutonic thrash metal,[13] responsible for developing and popularizing the German thrash metal scene as well as pioneering the then-emerging death metal and black metal genres during the mid-1980s.[14][15]

  1. ^ a b Eduardo Rivadavia. "AllMusic - Kreator Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 March 2007.
  2. ^ "Sunday Old School: Kreator". MetalUnderground.com. 22 April 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  3. ^ "The History of Thrash Metal". Metal and Horror Movies. Archived from the original on 28 April 2007. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Kreator > Longplay-Chartverfolgung" (in German). PhonoNet. Retrieved 16 December 2008.[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ "Artist Spotlight: Speesy (Kreator)". The ESP Guitar Company. 22 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline". Musicline.de. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  7. ^ "Kreator - Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  8. ^ "Kreator Releases Music Video For New Single 'Midnight Sun'". Blabbermouth.net. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Kreator - Confirm Japanese 'Klash Of The Titans' Tour Dates". Metal Storm. 15 October 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  10. ^ "Kreator To Embark on North American Tour". Blabbermouth.net. 8 August 2002. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Kreator". Memim.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  12. ^ "Kreator Bio". kreator-terrorzone.de. 26 January 2020. Archived from the original on 12 May 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  13. ^ "KREATOR, SODOM, DESTRUCTION, TANKARD: 'The Big Teutonic 4' To Release New 10-Inch Single". Blabbermouth.net. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  14. ^ "Metal Storm - The Categorization of Death Metal". Metal Storm. 23 November 2005. Retrieved 25 March 2007.
  15. ^ Mcpadden, Mike (2012). If you like Metallica : here are over 200 bands, CDs, movies, and other oddities that you will love. Backbeat Books. p. 105-106.