Kreator originally started under the name Tormentor. Starting their career in the early 1980s, they played thrash metal with heavy Slayer and Venom influences. Their style of music is similar with their compatriots Destruction and Sodom (usually referred by the fans as the Trinity of Thrash Metal). They differ from the Bay Area Thrashers by their brutality and speed.
However, classifying them as a Thrash Metal band would certainly be absurd. Kreator dabbed in various genres. "Endless Pain" and "Pleasure to Kill" are certainly Thrash Metal with some songs even flirting the Death Metal genre ("Ripping Corpse"). But with them going through an "industrial era" with some gothic sounds in the 90s. Even their early work (Endless Pain, Pleasure to Kill, Extreme Agression) Kreator sported some fairly obvious Speed Metal overtones. Better orchestration and the flawless timing come to enforce this point. In 2001, when they made a comeback with "Violent Revolution" the album featured a clearer Speed Metal sound. 2005 "Enemy of God" personifies Speed Metal to the ears of many fans. Kreator has moved from the muted wall of sound that is "Thrash" and excelled in both Industrial Metal and of course Speed Metal. "Mille" himself hasn't called Kreator "Thrash" in years.Kreator has never been a purely "Thrash" metal band (not even when they released Endless Pain and Pleasure to kill) in the mid to late Eighties. Rather, they were always more progressive.
Kreator is a main influence for countless metal bands originating from all the scene's genres.
Miland 'Mille' Petrozza - Guitars, vocals
Jürgen 'Ventor' Reil - Drums
Christian 'Speesy' Giesler - Bass
Sami Yli- Sirniö - Guitars
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Michael Wulf (R.I.P.) - Guitars (ex-Sodom) (1986, one show only)
Jörg "Tritze" Trzebiatowski - Guitars (1986-1989)
Frank "Blackfire" Gosdzik - Guitars (Mystic (Bra), ex- Sodom) (1989-1996)
Tommy Vetterli - Guitars (Coroner) (1996-2001)
Roberto "Rob" Fioretti - Bass (1982-1992)
Andreas Herz - Bass (1992-1995)
Joe Cangelosi - Drums (Whiplash, Massacre) (1994-1996)
Endless Pain (1985)
Pleasure To Kill (1986)
Flag Of Hate (EP)
Terrible Certainty (1987)
Extreme Aggression (1989)
Coma Of Souls (1990)
Renewal (1992)
Cause For Conflict (1995)
Outcast (1997)
Endorama (1999)
Violent Revolution (2001)
Live Kreation
Enemy Of God (2005)
Official Website
However, classifying them as a Thrash Metal band would certainly be absurd. Kreator dabbed in various genres. "Endless Pain" and "Pleasure to Kill" are certainly Thrash Metal with some songs even flirting the Death Metal genre ("Ripping Corpse"). But with them going through an "industrial era" with some gothic sounds in the 90s. Even their early work (Endless Pain, Pleasure to Kill, Extreme Agression) Kreator sported some fairly obvious Speed Metal overtones. Better orchestration and the flawless timing come to enforce this point. In 2001, when they made a comeback with "Violent Revolution" the album featured a clearer Speed Metal sound. 2005 "Enemy of God" personifies Speed Metal to the ears of many fans. Kreator has moved from the muted wall of sound that is "Thrash" and excelled in both Industrial Metal and of course Speed Metal. "Mille" himself hasn't called Kreator "Thrash" in years.Kreator has never been a purely "Thrash" metal band (not even when they released Endless Pain and Pleasure to kill) in the mid to late Eighties. Rather, they were always more progressive.
Kreator is a main influence for countless metal bands originating from all the scene's genres.