Kreator Albums Ranked

Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, formed in 1982. 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 over its 39-year career, most noticeably with their bassists and lead guitarists. Petrozza and Reil are the only two original members left in Kreator, though the latter had been out of 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. The band 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. Along with Destruction, Sodom and Tankard, Kreator is one of the “big four” of Teutonic thrash metal, responsible for developing and popularizing the German thrash metal scene as well as pioneering the then-burgeoning death metal and black metal genres during the mid-1980s. Here are all of Kreator’s albums anked.

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10. Outcast (1997)

“Outcast has Kreator approaching their music in a more basic and straightforward way. The sound is a natural progression from their previous two albums where the songs are mid-tempo, heavy, and kind of industrial sounding. This album has Ventor back on drums where he belongs. Coroner lead guitarist maestro Tommy Vetterli has also joined the band;”

9. Hordes Of Chaos (2009)

“This is Kreator at their most brutal in their melodic era. Don’t get me wrong, this is still nowhere near their landmark Pleasure, but compared to the pair of the preceding two studio albums (Enemy and Violent the latter which is a modern era thrash cornerstone, by the way), this album is a less melody-infused.”

8. Enemy Of God (2005)

“This is the band that has influenced all the bands that influence the other bands. They really have three generations of metalheads headbanging under their spiked belt. Yet despite their long and seemingly endless career, they seem to have done nothing but improve. This is a masterpeice of thrash metal.”

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7. Phantom Antichrist (2012)

“Another thrash metal album I really enjoy. It’s unusually heavy but also very melodic, almost sounding like a melodic death metal album to me at times. Great riffs, ferocious vocals, memorable songwriting.”

6. Violent Revolution (2001)

“After one decade of searching new sound, and experimentation, Kreator back to what they are made of. “Violent Revolution” is continuation of thrash metal path, with harsh vocals, and high technical level. It fells like this comes after “Coma of Souls”, nice to hear real Kreator again.”

5. Gods Of Violence (2017)

“Sometimes it’s nice to know exactly what you’re going to get, which is why people have a favorite brand of cigarettes, or prefer a certain whiskey. It’s comforting and means you’re getting something of a quality you know you’ll enjoy. I feel the same way about Kreator, they never change that much, but why should they when they’re so good to begin with. Probably the most consistent of the “Big Four and Two German” over the last 30+ years, Kreator are a gold standard for thrash metal. So, exactly as you’d expect, God’s of Violence is no-nonsense thrash from the masters of the form.”

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4. Extreme Aggression (1989)

“All of Kreator’s early stuff is highly recommended but I think it’s Extreme Aggression that tops the lot in my opinion. By this stage they’d refined their sound into a still extremely aggressive (excuse the play on words), but less chaotic and better produced machine..”

3. Coma Of Souls (1990)

“Coma of Souls is a good thrash album that incorporates a more substantial amount of melody than Kreator’s preceding works. The music is more precise and clinical than, say, Pleasure to Kill, creating a more refined but restrained sound. I prefer the more wild nature of Kreator’s previous albums, but Coma of Souls provides interesting insight into their evolving sound.”

2. Terrible Certainty (1987)

“This is a very solid material from Kreator, a transitional effort. Standing on the bridge of the brutal past (Pleasure to Kill, Endless Pain) and the more refined future with elaborate soloing (Extreme Aggression, Coma of Souls) this album is the middle-ground. It takes the formers’ aggression and adds the laters’ melody progression and lead guitar style. It is kind of a forgotten album, it didn’t spawn major hits, but it does feature quite a lot of strong material.”

1. Pleasure To Kill (1986)

“It takes a real special album to separate fans of a specific genre from other fans of the same genre of music. It takes a really special piece of work to bond people simply by the mention of its title. The mere mention of “Pleasure To Kill” incites knowing smiles and silent nods by fans of the old school thrash scene and shrugs of ignorance or indifference by the rest. It turns people’s heads, it makes hearts beat faster and it stirs what feels to some like cauldrons of adrenaline, for it has all the hallmarks of a timeless thrash titan and a timeless thrash titan it is.”