Kreator is a thrash metal band from Essen, Germany, formed in 1982 by singer and guitarist Mille Petrozza, drummer Jürgen “Ventor” Reil and bassist Rob Fioretti. It has released sixteen studio albums, from Endless Pain in 1985 to Krushers of the World in 2026. Start with Pleasure to Kill (1986), the record that made the German scene impossible to ignore.
The Short Version
- Formed in Essen in 1982; named Kreator in 1984.
- Start with Pleasure to Kill (1986).
- Newest album: Krushers of the World (January 2026).
- As of October 2026: no U.S. dates; closest show is Mexico City on December 3.
Who Are Kreator?
The band began in Essen in 1982 as Metal Militia, then became Tyrant, then Tormentor. It settled on Kreator in 1984. Petrozza played guitar and sang, Ventor drummed and sang too, and Fioretti played bass.
They were young. Petrozza was so young when Noise Records offered a deal that his mother had to sign the contract, Metal Hammer’s Dom Lawson reported in 2021. Decibel described the trio as school-aged teens who could not yet drive themselves to their own rehearsals.
Endless Pain came out on Noise in October 1985, recorded in ten days with producer Horst Müller. Petrozza and Ventor split the vocals song by song. “We thought that recording an album would be a one-off thing for us,” Petrozza told Lawson. He realized it wasn’t at a Venom, Exodus and Atomkraft show, when he saw a fan wearing a Kreator patch.
Kreator came up alongside Sodom, Destruction and Tankard, the four bands our Teutonic thrash guide covers as a group. This piece stays with Kreator.
Why Does Pleasure to Kill Still Matter?
Noise raised the recording budget for the second album. In 1986 the trio went to Musiclab Studio in Berlin, close to the Berlin Wall, to work with producer Harris Johns. “Harris Johns was really producing us,” Petrozza said. “He made sure that everything sounded right.”
The songs were faster and meaner than the debut. Petrozza named the targets: “Slayer‘s Hell Awaits and Possessed‘s Seven Churches. We wanted to be even heavier, really.” The band briefly planned to call the album Faces of Death, after the 1978 shock film, and wrote it as a record about different ways to die.
Decibel inducted it into its Hall of Fame in 2018, calling it “a high-water mark of not just Teutonic thrash, but the entire genre itself.” Cannibal Corpse cite it as an influence. It finally entered the German album chart in 2017, 31 years late, at No. 99, when a remaster came out.
“It could only have happened in 1986, in a studio close to the Berlin Wall.”
That was Petrozza’s explanation to Metal Hammer of why the record can’t be remade. Before it came out, Kreator had played only five gigs. That fall it played its first shows outside Germany, touring Europe with Destruction and Rage, Petrozza told Metal Hammer. In spring 1987 it reached North America for the first time, supporting Voivod on the Killing Technology tour. In Brooklyn, Petrozza recalled, Danny Lilker of Nuclear Assault came to the show and showed him around.
Kreator on a Major Label, 1987–1990
Terrible Certainty (1987) was the first Kreator album as a four-piece, with Jörg “Tritze” Trzebiatowski on lead guitar. The arrangements got more complex, and the video for “Toxic Trace” played on MTV. By 1988 Kreator was headlining its own tours.
That year Noise licensed the band to Epic Records for territories outside Europe and Japan. It was one of the first European thrash bands on a major label. Extreme Aggression was recorded in January and February 1989 at Music Grinder in Hollywood, with producer Randy Burns.
Billboard liked it, and wrote that “Epic is obviously looking for its own Metallica and this quartet could be it.” The “Betrayer” video went into heavy rotation on MTV’s Headbangers Ball, and Los Angeles station KNAC used the opening of “Love Us or Hate Us” in a promo. The same year, director Thomas Schadt made Thrash Altenessen, a documentary named for the band’s Essen neighborhood.
Tritze left, and Frank “Blackfire” Gosdzik came over from Sodom for Coma of Souls (1990), again with Burns. Billboard noted songs about environmental crisis, war and renewed Nazism in Germany. Hear “When the Sun Burns Red” and “People of the Lie.”
What Happened to Kreator in the 1990s?
Grunge pushed thrash aside, and by 1992 Kreator was out of its American deal with CBS/Sony. Renewal (1992) brought in industrial and death metal sounds, and many longtime fans walked away. Our piece on how thrash survived the 1990s covers the wider collapse.
The lineup came apart around Petrozza. Fioretti left after Renewal, and Ventor left in 1994, leaving Petrozza as the only founder. Joe Cangelosi drummed on Cause for Conflict (1995), and Christian “Speesy” Giesler took the bass. Ventor returned in 1996, along with guitarist Tommy Vetterli from Switzerland’s Coroner.
Outcast (1997) and Endorama (1999) leaned into gothic and ambient sounds with samples and loops. Sales fell. Petrozza stayed unbothered: “For us, success doesn’t define in record sales.”
Kreator Band Albums: Where to Start
Violent Revolution, released September 25, 2001, put Kreator back on fast thrash. It was the first album with lead guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö and was produced by Andy Sneap. It is now credited as a catalyst of the early-2000s thrash revival, and the tour introduced the band to a younger generation.
The run since has been steady. Enemy of God (2005) leaned harder on melodic, Gothenburg-style riffs, and Hordes of Chaos followed in 2009. After a move to Nuclear Blast, Phantom Antichrist (2012) and Gods of Violence (2017) charted high in many countries, and Gods of Violence became Kreator’s first No. 1 album in Germany.
Hate Über Alles followed on June 10, 2022. The band recorded it at Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin with producer Arthur Rizk, and its title track opened the Dallas show described below. In July 2024 Kreator headlined the Klash of the Ruhrpott festival at the Amphitheater Gelsenkirchen, in the same Ruhr region as Essen.
If you only buy three, buy Pleasure to Kill, Extreme Aggression and Violent Revolution. Then hear Krushers of the World to see where the band is now.
Every Kreator Studio Album
- 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)
- Krushers of the World (2026)
Kreator Band Members Today
Kreator is Mille Petrozza on vocals and rhythm guitar, Ventor on drums, Sami Yli-Sirniö on lead guitar and Frédéric Leclercq on bass. Petrozza is the only member on every album. Leclercq, formerly of DragonForce, replaced Giesler in 2019, after Giesler’s 25 years in the band.
Past members include bassist Rob Fioretti, guitarists Tritze, Blackfire and Tommy Vetterli, drummer Joe Cangelosi and bassist Andreas Herz, who died in December 2023. “The core of the band is still the same, it’s me and Ventor,” Petrozza told Metal Hammer.
Krushers of the World came out on January 16, 2026, through Nuclear Blast. It was recorded with producer Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden, their third album together. Petrozza said he booked the studio for May 2025 and the band stayed two months.
“I treat it like my first album,” Petrozza told Australia’s Inner-Strength Check. “I know it sounds absurd because it’s my sixteenth album.” Start with “Seven Serpents” and the title track.
The band’s story is also on film. Kreator: Hate & Hope, a 110-minute documentary by Cordula Kablitz-Post, premiered at the Munich International Film Festival on July 2, 2025. Testament‘s Chuck Billy and Anthrax‘s Scott Ian are among those interviewed. “It shows all the facets,” Petrozza told Music Interview Corner.
Kreator
Essen, Germany, formed in 1982. Start with Pleasure to Kill (1986), then Krushers of the World (2026).
Kreator in Texas
Kreator counts Houston’s D.R.I. among its influences. In 1988, D.R.I. toured North America with Kreator and Holy Terror behind 4 of a Kind, recorded that February. Our D.R.I. history tells the Houston side.
More recently, Kreator co-headlined the 2023 Klash of the Titans tour with Sepultura. It played the House of Blues in Dallas on May 22 and the Aztec Theatre in San Antonio on May 23, with Death Angel and SpiritWorld opening.
On October 20, 2024, Kreator played The Factory in Deep Ellum with Testament and Possessed. Music Fiends reported that the set opened with “Hate Über Alles.” “Dallas!!! We are Kreator. Welcome to the Klash of the Titans!” Petrozza shouted, then called for the first wall of death. For the final one, Petrozza shouted “Kill! Kill! Fucking kill!” and the band went back to 1986 with “Pleasure to Kill.” Testament headlined the night.
The Bomb Factory Open
The Canton Street complex was billed as The Factory in Deep Ellum when Kreator, Testament and Possessed played there in October 2024. Its old web address now redirects to the Bomb Factory. See our Deep Ellum history for the neighborhood.
Photo: The Bomb Factory via Google
Kreator’s early story runs parallel to Rotting Corpse’s. Petrozza has called the young band “tape traders” who wanted to be part of the underground. In 1986, the year of Pleasure to Kill, Rotting Corpse cut its first demo at Pantego Sound and mailed it to fanzines on four continents, as the history page and discography tell it. Our tape-trading explainer covers how that network worked.
Where to Hear Kreator Live
As of October 2026, Kreator has no Texas or U.S. dates announced. Its spring 2026 U.S. tour with Carcass ran from Florida to New York and the Midwest in May and skipped Texas.
The closest show is Thursday, December 3, 2026, at the Velódromo Olímpico in Mexico City, with Dimmu Borgir and Kataklysm, per the band’s Songkick calendar. Kreator then supports Slayer in Bogotá on December 5, Santiago on December 10, Buenos Aires on December 14 and São Paulo on December 17. Before that, it plays Europe and Central Asia from November 13 to 28.
For Texas announcements, watch Songkick, the Bomb Factory calendar and our shows page for Rotting Corpse dates.
Start with “Rotting Corpse” (1986)
It opens the spring 1986 demo, cut in Pantego the same year Kreator made Pleasure to Kill in Berlin, so it’s the right Texas companion for a night of 1986 thrash (lyrics on the lyrics page).
Sources
- Louder / Metal Hammer: Dom Lawson, The Story Behind the Song: Kreator’s Pleasure to Kill (2021)
- Decibel: Kevin Stewart-Panko, Hall of Fame: Kreator, Pleasure to Kill (2018)
- Wikipedia: Kreator
- Wikipedia: Endless Pain
- Wikipedia: Pleasure to Kill
- Wikipedia: Terrible Certainty
- Wikipedia: Extreme Aggression
- Wikipedia: Coma of Souls
- Wikipedia: Violent Revolution
- Wikipedia: Krushers of the World
- Wikipedia: Mille Petrozza
- Blabbermouth: Mille Petrozza on Making of Krushers of the World (2025)
- Blabbermouth: Mille Petrozza on the Documentary Hate & Hope (2025)
- Loudwire: Kreator and Sepultura 2023 North American Tour Dates
- Music Fiends: Testament, Kreator and Possessed at The Factory in Deep Ellum, Dallas (2024)
- The Concert Chronicles: Klash of the Titans Tour Comes to Dallas, Texas (2024)
- Blabbermouth: Kreator Announces May 2026 U.S. Tour With Carcass
- Blabbermouth: Slayer Announces Fall 2026 Reign in Blood 40th-Anniversary Latin American Tour
- Songkick: Kreator tour dates
- The Bomb Factory: events calendar
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Kreator formed?
In Essen, Germany, in 1982. The band started as Metal Militia, then became Tyrant and Tormentor, and took the name Kreator in 1984. Its debut, Endless Pain, came out on Noise Records in October 1985.
Who are the members of Kreator?
Mille Petrozza (vocals, rhythm guitar), Jürgen “Ventor” Reil (drums), Sami Yli-Sirniö (lead guitar, since 2001) and Frédéric Leclercq (bass, since 2019). Petrozza and Ventor are the two founding members still in the band.
What is the best Kreator album to start with?
Pleasure to Kill (1986). Then hear Extreme Aggression (1989) for the Epic-era sound and Violent Revolution (2001) for the comeback.
How many albums has Kreator released?
Sixteen studio albums, from Endless Pain (1985) to Krushers of the World, released on January 16, 2026, through Nuclear Blast.
Has Kreator played in Texas?
Yes. Recent visits include the House of Blues in Dallas and the Aztec Theatre in San Antonio in May 2023, and The Factory in Deep Ellum, Dallas, on October 20, 2024, with Testament and Possessed.
Is Kreator touring the U.S. in 2026?
Kreator toured the eastern and midwestern U.S. in May 2026 without a Texas stop. As of October 2026 no further U.S. dates are announced; the closest show is Mexico City on December 3, 2026.
