KREATOR – Interview with guitarist/vocalist Mille Petrozza

All serious metal heads recognize the name KREATOR. Along with SODOM and DESTRUCTION, KREATOR was responsible for making thrash a major component of the German metal scene. After a brief stint as TORMENTOR (not to be confused with the Hungarian band), KREATOR released their first full length, “Endless Pain.” The said album along with proceeding recordings “Pleasure to Kill” and “Terrible Certainty” are often considered some of the best speed metal albums ever! These albums are mandatory items for every speed metal and thrash fan’s album collection. A close look at just about any jean jacket will reveal KREATOR patch, guaranteed.

When talking with many of the above-type fans, they most often cite the first couple KREATOR albums as their favorite. Those albums epitomized the ‘80s speed metal sound, but KREATOR’s career didn’t end twenty-plus years ago. Although the group briefly stumbled in the ‘90s with recordings such as “Renewal” and “Endorama,” their past three records show the band in top form.

Considered the follow up to “Comma of Soul,” “Violent Revolution” bridged the later-era thrash and hardcore sound with early speed metal numbers. It was a glorious return to form. Their follow up, “Enemy of God” relayed KREATOR bridged classic metal melodies with hardcore breakdowns and furious thrashing speed—making it one of their most balanced recordings and a top album in 2005.

KREATOR released “Hordes of Chaos” in the early part of this year. The said album is arguably the best of their career. It brings much of the same elements as “Enemy of God,” but with an in-your-face live recording. “Hordes of Chaos” has an unconscious connection to the topics laid out on “Enemy of God.” “Enemy of God” captured the insane psychology of the religious terrorist, which could have been a response to the atrocities of 911. “Hordes of Chaos” gives a partial look at how the power elite in modern society have capitalized on the fear of those events, thus dividing the populace and using misinformation to initiate war.

Few bands from KREATOR’s era have endured and successfully reinvented their sound as KREATOR. The big four (METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER, ANTHRAX) do not even come close. Their appearance in San Antonio, Texas with EXODUS, BELPHEGOR and WARBRINGER fully upholded the above statement. Before hitting the stage, Metal Centre climbed onto their elaborate bus to discuss “Hordes of Chaos” and their participation in the best thrash tour of the year!

Back in January, you released “Hordes of Chaos.” How has the fan response been?

I think the fans really dig the album. We play a lot of the songs live, and most of them have gone down really well. I think the fans are happy, we’re happy with the album.

How do you perceive the sound of “Hordes of Chaos” compared to your past recordings?

I would say it sounds more loose, but in a nice way, without sounding dated. We wanted to take a different approach, this time. We wanted to go in and do a live recording, rather than making it perfect. We wanted to have more of a feel of what the band is all about. We wanted to give our listeners an impression of what they will hear in a live setting. It wasn’t really the master plan to do this. It was more like “Hey, let’s make this album heavy as fuck!”

From “Comma of Souls” to your present sound, melodies play a large part in the KREATOR dynamic. How do you feel about the guitar melodies on your latest record?

The guitar melodies are really nice. We don’t over due them. To me, it is very important to get a balance. Some people like thrash and fast metal all the time, but it gets somewhat boring after a while, so we wanted to find a balance. Most of our influences are traditional metal—thrash metal mixed with traditional metal and hardcore.

JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN?

Yes, all the classics!

How do you feel about the mixing job done by Colin Richardson?

Colin did a great job. I think he is really the icing on the cake. He made the album sound brutal and direct, right in your face. I like his work.

You recently released a video for “Hordes of Chaos.” You play in front of a green screen showing barbarian warfare. Does this video explore the idea of this track or did you use it because it looked cool?

We gave the director of the video one hundred percent creative freedom, so that’s what he came up with. It doesn’t have anything to do with the lyrics (laughs).

It kind of reminds me of the barbarian on your “Endless Pain” album.

Yeah, that’s why I like it. Sometimes the director’s idea [Jörn Heitmann] and what we have in mind are just not the same. We trusted the director to do his thing.

Please explain the concept of “Hordes of Chaos.”

It’s not really a concept album. It’s ten new songs. The only songs that are connected are the last three (“To the Afterborn,” “Corpse of Liberty” and “Demon Prince.) It’s like a message to the people who live after we die. Other than that, it’s ten new KREATOR songs. It’s not a concept album. To make a concept album, at least for my taste, I would have to come up with something really good, and that’s hard. Also, it’s not easy to make a thrash metal concept album. Nobody has done that before. Maybe we will do it someday, but I doubt it. It might not be a concept album, though; it made be on just one subject. Like on this album, a lot of the songs are about what we see. Some of them are stories. Some of them deal with politics. I don’t want to describe the lyrics too much because I want to leave room for your imagination.

I read somewhere that it’s about war propaganda.

Yes, the first song (“Hordes of Chaos”) is definitely like that. That song talks about war propaganda. When we had the soccer World Cup here in Germany, it was all about patriotism. Here politicians signed things that people would normally get pissed about, but everybody was so euphoric and into the soccer games that they didn’t notice things had changed. They used the soccer game to do their business while nobody is really paying attention. They are just watching soccer. Over here (United States) also has issues with propaganda. All that we get from the media is only what they want us to see. There goes information and people don’t have the right to get information about what is going on with their wars. We base all of our opinions of the media, so we can’t even have our own opinion. That’s the sad part. Everything that is going on in government or wars is only what they want us to know. We can sit here and discuss it, and they know that we are going to (uneasily laughs). It’s like they have something to discuss, but they won’t tell the whole truth.

You refer to the elite in several passages throughout the album, and even put a subtitle, (A Necrologue For the Elite), on your title track. Who are the elite that you refer to and how do they configure into the album?

“A Necrologue for the Elite” is inspired by something I once read. It’s about ultra-capitalism, the people with power—the people with money.

The bankers.

Exactly. I wrote that before the financial crisis. So to me, this whole concept of capitalism only goes so far and then it’s fascism. In my opinion, it has gotten to a point where people are getting pissed off, but they can’t do anything because they are too busy working. That will lead to a lot of depression and a lot of people getting sick—alcoholism, shit like that. People aren’t happy.

What are your thoughts on the role of war propaganda in current events?

I think it’s a big part. If you think about it, the economy is bad so a lot of people just sign up for the army, and go to war because they don’t have any money. Then they make a lot of money…if they survive.

What do you think about the New World Order? Is this conspiracy theory garbage or a dark truth the mainstream media won’t touch?

New World Order, if you think about it, it’s already there.

You have the EU (European Union) in your country.

Yes, it’s a concept they took from the States because it works here. They look up to the U.S. and ask, “How far can we go?” Before, we had health insurance in Germany. It’s still there, but it is getting very limited now. A lot of people are not getting what they used to out of their insurance. They have to pay for all kinds of shit. If you want to go see a doctor, you have to go pay for it. After WWII, they put up something we call a Social Democratic State where a lot of the tax money will go into healthcare and stuff like that. Now, they are getting rid of it because of the EU. The EU is a similar concept to what worked here for a lot of years. People are working for money, but they don’t have time to spend it because they have to work three jobs a day. It shows the U.S. financial crisis, do you know what I mean (laughs)? It’s pushing the right buttons, spreading fear. It’s about spreading misinformation and making people insecure. People think “I have to do this because of the financial crisis!” They can’t think about it on their own. To get back to your question, the money is what I would call a New World Order. It has never been as powerful as it has today. It’s the banks, the people that have the money, the 300 (the Council of 300). They are invoking the Roman Empire.

On a lighter note, how is the tour going? Is this your first tour with EXODUS?

Yeah, actually it is. We did a couple of shows with them in Europe, festival shows. Other than that, this is the first real tour with them, and it’s great. It’s a great lineup [BELPHEGOR and WAR BRINGER comprise the other acts]. We have played many sold out shows in a lot of places. To me, this is a lineup that really makes sense.

WARBRINGER is one of the bands you brought with you. They are a young thrash band from Los Angeles. What do you think about this band and the explosion of new thrash acts?

I heard their new record yesterday, it’s really good. They are a really good band. I like them a lot. I like some of the bands that have come out of this New Wave of American and even World-Wide Thrash. There are a couple of bands from Brazil that are really good. They are full-on thrash metal. These bands do it with the right attitude, too, especially WARBRINGER. I sometimes get the impression that many people who are playing thrash metal are older. I’m not really looking down on these people, but if you listen to the new WARBRINGER, you’ll see it’s really good stuff. They have excellent riffs. They are getting there. Maybe one or two more albums and they’ll be there.

Yeah, there are a lot of great young acts in the scene. My personal favorite is MUNICIPAL WASTE.

Oh yes, I have one of their albums—“The Art of Partying.” There is also a new band from San Francisco, MANTIC RITUAL. VIOLATOR from Brazil is another good one. There are a couple of good bands. I think it pushes us older bands to stay ahead of the game.

What do you think about KREATOR having influenced a whole generation of thrash acts?

Not only KREATOR, but also EXODUS, SLAYER—all the old thrash bands. I think it’s great. That’s how it should be. We pass the torch onto them and see what happens. It’s up to them. If they get their shit together and are able to survive in this sometimes-really- rough music business, then they will be fine.

Last year, you released the live DVD/CD “At the Pulse of Kapitulation – Live in East Berlin 1990.” Do you have anything special like this CD in the works?

We are thinking about doing another live album, but we don’t know yet. We aren’t really sure yet. We will have to wait and see. A live DVD would be nice, too. It has to be right, though. I always think if I do this, it has to be one hundred percent brutal. It has to be really, really good; otherwise, I won’t do it. It has to be the right time, and I have to find the right people to work with to do a live or video recording. We also need to find the right place to record it.

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