KREATOR
Biography and discography of Kreator, the thrash metal band formed in Essen, Germany in 1982, with a page for each of their sixteen studio albums from Endless Pain in 1985 to Krushers Of The World in 2026, including running orders, CD details, liner notes and a record of their concerts in Japan.
Biography
KREATOR
Biography
Kreator are a thrash metal band formed in Essen, Germany, in 1982, counted with Sodom and Destruction as one of the three bands that built German thrash metal. They have made sixteen studio albums, from Endless Pain in 1985 to Krushers Of The World in 2026, spent the 1990s bringing industrial and gothic elements into their writing and then returned to thrash with Violent Revolution in 2001. Mille Petrozza, who sings and plays guitar, and the drummer Jürgen "Ventor" Reil have been there from the beginning.
The band and the first three albums (1982-1987)
They began in Essen in 1982 as Tormentor, with Mille Petrozza and Jürgen Reil still in their teens, and took the name Kreator in 1985. Noise Records released the debut, Endless Pain, the same year; Petrozza was seventeen.
Pleasure to Kill, in 1986, pushed the speed and the riffing as far as they would go and reached number ninety-nine in Germany. Its part in the making of death metal is written about often. On Terrible Certainty, in 1987, the structures settle and the songs are built more deliberately.
Those three records, with the EPs Flag of Hate (1986) and Out of the Dark... Into the Light (1988), are what put the band beside Sodom and Destruction at the head of German thrash.
Reaching further (1988-1992)
The band signed to Epic Records in 1988. Extreme Aggression, in 1989, reached number ninety in Germany and sixty-eight in the Netherlands, and their reach began to extend well past Europe.
Coma of Souls, in 1990, was recorded at Eldorado Recording Studios and Image Studios in Hollywood with Randy Burns producing. It is the first album with the guitarist Frank "Blackfire" Gosdzik and reached number eighty-three in Germany, setting out everything they had built in the 1980s in a recording you can hear clearly.
Renewal, in 1992, turned. It was recorded at Morrisound Studios in Tampa, Florida, produced by Tom Morris with the band, and it is what they themselves call their first experimental album: industrial elements brought into the thrash metal foundation. It is also the last record with founding bassist Rob Fioretti.
The experimental years (1995-1999)
Cause for Conflict, in 1995, moved them to GUN Records. Christian Giesler came in on bass, and Joe Cangelosi played drums in place of Ventor, who had left in 1994. Cangelosi appears on this album alone, and it is the last with the guitarist Gosdzik.
Ventor was back for good on Outcast in 1997, where the Swiss guitarist Tommy Vetterli joined. The sound goes further towards gothic and industrial, and on Endorama in 1999 it goes as far as it ever did: the vocals step away from the growl and keyboards and a sunken melodic line cover the record. While their countrymen were keeping the speed, Kreator were standing somewhere else, and those years divide opinion still.
Back to thrash (2001-2012)
Violent Revolution, in 2001, cut that line off. Andy Sneap produced it, the Finnish guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö joined on lead guitar and Ventor returned for good. Setting speed and melody in the same place is why the record is named as the starting point of the thrash metal revival of the early 2000s. It reached number twenty-one in Germany.
Sneap produced Enemy of God as well, in 2005, which reached number nineteen in Germany and carries a guest guitar part from Michael Amott of Arch Enemy. Hordes of Chaos, in 2009, was made live to analogue tape with few overdubs — the first time they had worked that way since Pleasure to Kill in 1986 — and became their first album to enter the Billboard 200.
Phantom Antichrist, in 2012, was their first for Nuclear Blast and reached number five in Germany and sixty-three in Japan.
Number one and after (2017-2026)
Gods of Violence, in 2017, gave them a first German number one, thirty-five years after they started, with number four in Austria, seven in Finland and fifty-five in Japan.
In 2019 Frédéric Leclercq, formerly of DragonForce, replaced the long-serving Christian Giesler on bass. His first album with them is Hate Über Alles, from 2022, recorded at Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin with Arthur Rizk producing; it reached number two in Germany.
The sixteenth album, Krushers Of The World, came out on Nuclear Blast on 16 January 2026, produced and mixed by Jens Bogren. Ward Records issued the Japanese edition the same day, as a two-disc set with a bonus live CD and as a single disc. It reached number two in Germany and Austria and number thirty in Japan.
About the members
The current line-up is Mille Petrozza on vocals and guitars, Sami Yli-Sirniö on guitars, Frédéric Leclercq on bass and Jürgen "Ventor" Reil on drums. The member list on this site holds only the four the band themselves credit on the Bandcamp page for Krushers Of The World, and no player is added to it by inference.
Petrozza and Reil have been in the band since it started in 1982, Reil apart from the years between 1994 and 1996. Yli-Sirniö has played on every album since Violent Revolution in 2001, and Leclercq since 2019.
Discography
There are sixteen studio albums: Endless Pain (1985), Pleasure to Kill (1986), Terrible Certainty (1987), Extreme Aggression (1989), Coma of Souls (1990), Renewal (1992), Cause for Conflict (1995), Outcast (1997), Endorama (1999), Violent Revolution (2001), Enemy of God (2005), Hordes of Chaos (2009), Phantom Antichrist (2012), Gods of Violence (2017), Hate Über Alles (2022) and Krushers Of The World (2026).
Beside them are the EPs Flag of Hate (1986), Out of the Dark... Into the Light (1988), Phantom Antichrist (2012) and Violence Unleashed (2016), the live records Live Kreation (2003), Dying Alive (2013) and London Apocalypticon - Live at the Roundhouse (2020), and several compilations. The album list on this site covers the studio albums.
Concerts in Japan
The band has played Japan many times. Eighteen of those concerts are registered in the LIVE section of this site, which is every one whose date can be established from a source.
The first visit was in April 1993. The Japanese Wikipedia records it, but nothing opened for this page gives the day or the hall. A concert page here carries its date in its own URL and stays up permanently once published, so a concert whose date cannot be sourced is not registered.
They played the Kawasaki thrash festival Thrash Domination three times: the 2005 edition on 17 and 18 September with Testament, Destruction and Laaz Rockit; the 2009 edition on 20 and 21 September with Testament, Exodus and Heathen; and the 2016 edition on 9 and 10 January with Destruction and Dark Angel, where they headlined both nights with partly different sets. Around the festivals came a double bill with Testament at Osaka's BIGCAT on 17 September 2009, another with Exodus at Nagoya Club Quattro on the 18th, and a headline show at Umeda Club Quattro on 12 January 2016.
There have been two more festival appearances. Loud Park 14, on 19 October 2014, put them on the ULTIMATE STAGE at Saitama Super Arena from 18:45. In March 2023 they played both days of Loud Park's one-year revival, Intex Osaka on the 25th and Makuhari Messe on the 26th.
There have been two headline tours. Kreator Japan Tour 2017 ran for three nights in September with Vader as special guest — Ebisu Liquidroom on the 13th, Nagoya Electric Lady Land on the 14th and Umeda Trad on the 15th — promoted by SMASH, with the Tokyo night sold out. In January and February 2024 they came back with In Flames on a co-headline tour called Klash of the Titans: Zepp Namba on 30 January and EX Theater Roppongi on 1 and 2 February, promoted by Creativeman.
About the sources
The facts here come from the band's own Bandcamp credits and official site; the schedule and history pages of the Thrash Domination site, as preserved by the Internet Archive; the timetables and line-up pages of the Loud Park 14 and Loud Park 2023 sites; the promoters SMASH and Creativeman; MusicBrainz; and the English and Japanese Wikipedia articles on the band, its discography and each album. No player's name and no concert date is supplied by inference.
Trivia
Kreator headlined Thrash Domination 2016 and played on both of its days. The festival's own timetable page announced in advance that they would play partly different sets on 9 and 10 January and that neither night was to be missed. It was held at Club Citta' in Kawasaki, doors at 15:00 and music from 16:00, 10,800 yen in advance with a 500 yen drink charge, with Destruction and Dark Angel on the bill.
Thrash Domination 2016 came with two related shows in Osaka, Destruction alone on 11 January and Kreator alone on the 12th. The festival's site called them DAY-1 and DAY-2 and sold a limited combined ticket covering both at 10,800 yen. Kreator played Umeda Club Quattro, doors at 18:00 and on stage at 19:00, with a single-night ticket at 6,800 yen in advance.
For Thrash Domination 09 in 2009 the band played one night in Osaka and one in Nagoya besides the two in Kawasaki. The organiser framed both as head-to-head bills, naming the Osaka night of 17 September at BIGCAT "Testament vs Kreator - Full Set Battle in Osaka" and the Nagoya night of the 18th at Club Quattro "Exodus vs Kreator - Full Set Battle in Nagoya", with each band playing a full set.
The Kawasaki dates of Thrash Domination 09 moved between the announcement and the event. Blabbermouth and BraveWords both announced 19 and 20 September at Club Citta' in April 2009, while the organiser's own history page, written afterwards, gives 20 and 21 September. All three agree exactly on the Osaka and Nagoya dates, so the Kawasaki pair is the only thing that changed. This site follows the organiser's own record.
The band played Loud Park 14 on its second day, 19 October 2014. The festival's own timetable puts them on the ULTIMATE STAGE at 18:45, on a day that also carried Periphery, the GazettE, Belphegor, Thunder, The Haunted, Riot, Within Temptation and Death Angel, with Dream Theater closing. The site's lineup page heads its two days "10.19 sat" and "10.20 sun", which are the previous year's dates left in a reused template; the timetable images read "2014.10.18 Sat." and "2014.10.19 Sun." and are the ones to go by.
When Loud Park returned for one year only in 2023, Kreator played both of its days. The official site gives Osaka, 25 March at Intex Osaka, as a five-act bill with Pantera, Nightwish, Stratovarius and Bleed from Within, doors at 12:30 and music from 13:30 at 15,000 yen. Tokyo the next day, at Makuhari Messe halls 9 to 11, added Carcass, Amaranthe, Outrage, H.E.R.O. and Jason Richardson & Luke Holland, with Bridear and Phantom Excaliver opening, doors at 10:00 and music from 11:00 at 19,000 yen.
Kreator Japan Tour 2017, in September, was three nights with the Polish band Vader as special guest. The promoter SMASH gives them as Ebisu Liquidroom on the 13th, Nagoya Electric Lady Land on the 14th and Umeda Trad on the 15th, all with doors at 18:00 and on stage at 19:00, all standing, 8,000 yen in advance with a drink charge extra, on sale from 10 June. The Tokyo night sold out.
The visit of January and February 2024 was a co-headline tour with the Swedish band In Flames, billed as Klash of the Titans. The promoter Creativeman gives three nights — Zepp Namba on 30 January and EX Theater Roppongi on 1 and 2 February — all with doors at 18:00 and on stage at 19:00. Standing tickets were 12,000 yen in advance and reserved seats 14,000, both with one drink included, on sale from 4 November 2023.
Current Members
Current line-up as named by the band themselves, verified on 2026-09-30.
Albums
Kreator's sixteenth studio album, from January 2026, produced by Jens Bogren; the Japanese edition came out the same day.
Kreator's fifteenth studio album, from June 2022 and the first with Frédéric Leclercq on bass.
Kreator's fourteenth album, from January 2017, and the first to enter the German chart at number one in thirty-two years.
Kreator's thirteenth album, out on Nuclear Blast in June 2012 and a defining record of their later melodic period.
Kreator's twelfth studio album, from January 2009 and the first since Pleasure to Kill recorded live in the studio.
Kreator's eleventh studio album, from January 2005, produced by Andy Sneap and the record that settled their return.
Kreator's tenth studio album, from 2001, the record on which they returned to the thrash metal of the 1980s.
Kreator's eighth studio album, from July 1997, made at the height of their gothic and industrial period.
Kreator's seventh studio album, from 1995, their first for GUN Records and the only one with a different drummer.
Kreator's sixth studio album, from October 1992 and the first on which they brought industrial music into their writing.
Kreator's fifth studio album, from November 1990, recorded in Hollywood and closing their 1980s thrash period.
The fourth album, out on 19 June 1989. Sessions begun in Berlin were stopped by producer Randy Burns and the record was made again in Hollywood in January and February 1989. Noise issued it in Europe and Epic in the United States, the band's first major-label release there.
The third album, released on 22 September 1987 and the first Kreator made as a four-piece, with Jörg Trzebiatowski on lead guitar. It was recorded at Horus Sound Studio in Hanover, and it is where arrangement starts to matter as much as speed.
The second album, out on 1 November 1986. It was made at Musiclab in Berlin with Harris Johns, the first professional producer the band worked with, and it is named as a starting point by death metal and black metal musicians alike.
Kreator's debut, cut and mixed inside ten days at Caet Studio in Berlin in March 1985 and issued by Noise that October. Mille Petrozza and drummer Ventor trade lead vocals from song to song, a split the band never repeated.