One thing‘s for sure: There aren‘t many bands with a history as long and eventful as Kreator‘s, who fascinatingly succeed in exploring new horizons while challenging and reinventing themselves time and again – as is perfectly illustrated by their new record ‘Gods Of Violence’. With this 14th studio album of their impressive career, the thrashers from Essen, Germany have crafted a work of art of utmost vigor, drawing its unfailing power from the pounding heart of one of the greatest, most versatile metal bands of all time.

Kreator mastermind Mille Petrozza was inspired having followed the latest news with growing concern. Especially the November 2015 Paris attacks that led Petrozza to interlocking current events with tales from Greek mythology, resulting in the song ‘Gods Of Violence’. “Currently, religion has regained a level of importance that I would have never considered possible 20 years ago“, Mille states. “An extremely dangerous polarization is taking place, giving rise to growing hate among us all. That‘s what I wanted to write about.“  This is also reflected in the sheer brutality of ‘World War Now’. The song deriving from the observation that we‘re in the middle of a World War III of sorts, but not in the way we‘ve always feared: A-bomb dropped, humanity wiped out. “These days, our weapons of mass destruction are called hatred and religious delusion“, says Petrozza.

Mille’s influences range from Hannah Arendt, Pink Floyd and Tocotronic to Slayer, even though he was born and bred in the metal scene. Nevertheless, he is and always has been open to inspiration from various sources, which is why his lyrics on this album are by no means merely based on corny genre templates but offer trenchant observations of our time combined with a witty aside to long-standing cliches: One of the best songs on ‘Gods Of Violence’ is really called ‘Satan Is Real’. Finishing ‘Gods Of Violence’ took the band – featuring Petrozza, Sami Yli-Sirniö (guitars), Christian ‘Speesy’ Giesler (bass) and Jürgen ‘Ventor’ Reil (drums) – about three years. After Petrozza had pre-produced all of the eleven tracks in winter of 2015, Kreator went to Sweden in order to team up with legendary metal producer Jens Bogren in his Fascination Street Studios once again. The result is an opus that surprises with some German lyrics from and an unexpected guest in the form of indie pop artist Dagobert. Moreover, Italian death metallers Fleshgod Apocalypse lent a hand with the orchestral parts of four songs and 12-year-old Tekla-Li Wadensten played the harp for ‘Gods Of Violence’.

Formed in 1982, Petrozza and ‘Ventor’ – the only two remaining founding members – have come a long way from playing in a small-scale student band. “In my history book, Kreator didn‘t really exist until 1985“, says Petrozza, laughing. “Although we had already started jamming together in `82, we only entered the stage two or three times up until `85. Back then, our set list consisted of five original tracks and five heavy metal cover songs, we went through several line-up changes and didn‘t really find ourselves until ‘Endless Pain’.Over the years, Kreator have sold more than two million albums worldwide and have played countless shows all around the globe.According to Petrozza – “I‘m an active person who enjoys working. In fact, I don‘t even consider it work. I keep the show rolling, simple as that.“ Keeping the show rolling: That‘s all it‘s been about since 1985.

Tracklisting

1. Apocalypticon
2. World War Now
3. Satan Is Real
4. Totalitarian Terror
5. Gods Of Violence
6. Army Of Storms
7. Hail To The Hordes
8. Lion With Eagle Wings
9. Fallen Brother
10. Side By Side
11. Death Becomes My Light