Kreator

Updated: September 22, 2026

Formed: 1982
Origin: Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Nationality: German
Members: Mille Petrozza, Jürgen Ventor Reil, Sami Yli-Sirniö, Frédéric Leclercq
Occupation: Musicians
Genres: Thrash metal, speed metal, death metal

Biography & Career:
Kreator is a German thrash metal band from Essen, formed in 1982 by three teenagers who cycled through the names Metal Militia, Tyrant and Tormentor before settling on the one that stuck. Vocalist and rhythm guitarist Mille Petrozza and drummer Jürgen Ventor Reil have been there since the beginning, while the guitar and bass positions changed hands repeatedly over four decades. The current band members are Petrozza, Reil, Finnish lead guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö and French bassist Frédéric Leclercq, who arrived from DragonForce in 2019 and made the lineup a genuinely international one.

The first album came out in October 1985 on Noise Records, recorded in ten days and raw enough to sit closer to early black and death metal than to the polished American thrash of the period. The follow-up a year later is still treated as a genre cornerstone. Alongside Sodom, Destruction and Tankard, the group is counted among the Big Four of Teutonic thrash, and combined worldwide sales have passed two million copies, making them one of the most successful German metal acts of all time.

The discography of Kreator now runs to sixteen studio albums, and it is not a straight line. The late 1980s brought a run of sharper, more technical records, the 1990s saw the band push into industrial and gothic territory, and the 2000s marked a deliberate return to fast, political, anthemic thrash. The new album landed in January 2026 through Nuclear Blast, ten tracks recorded at Fascination Street Studios in Sweden with producer Jens Bogren, who had already worked on two of the group's strongest modern records, and wrapped in cover art by Polish artist Zbigniew Bielak.

Live work is where the reputation was built, and 2026 has been relentless. A twenty-country European and UK tour ran from March to April with Carcass, Exodus and Nails, a US run followed in May with Carcass and Cold Steel plus festival slots at Welcome To Rockville, Sonic Temple and Maryland Deathfest, and a further European and Eurasian leg with Overkill was announced for November. Four decades in, Kreator still plays like a band with something to prove.

Kreator Albums:
Endless Pain
Pleasure to Kill
Extreme Aggression
Coma of Souls
Violent Revolution
Enemy of God
Phantom Antichrist
Gods of Violence
Hate Über Alles
Krushers of the World

Kreator Best Songs:
Pleasure to Kill
Flag of Hate
Extreme Aggression
Betrayer
People of the Lie
Violent Revolution
Enemy of God
Phantom Antichrist
Satan Is Real
Seven Serpents