Kreator: Civilization Collapse – new video

Mighty KREATOR are back and fighting the system as vigilantly as ever; their new video was inspired by recent riots in Greece and incorporates photographs provided by Marios Lolos, president of the Greek union of journalistic photographers, himself a victim of police brutality. ‘Civilization Collapse’ comes off KREATOR's thirteenth album ‘Phantom Antichrist’ which was released in June 2012 on Nuclear Blast Records. German thrash titans' latest achievement and celebration of thirty years of existence was recorded in Örebro, Sweden at the Fascination Street Studio with producer Jens Bogren, and its artwork was created by Wes Benscoter. ‘Phantom Antichrist’, available here (Nuclear Blast Europe) and here (Nuclear Blast USA) as well as on iTunes or via Amazon, entered official album charts in Finland, Hungary and Canada at respective positions 11, 13 and 149. KREATOR's first video released in promotion of the album was produced by Grupa13 and awaits you below. In related news, ‘Civilization Collapse’ was just recently released on 7” vinyl, available only via Nuclear Blast mailorder, and as digital download containing the rare non-album track ‘Wolfchild’.

“… and yet KREATOR persist: still displaying, as the new material contained here bears repeated witness, 100 percent commitment to the original, metal-thrashing mad raison d'être that launched them in the first place. Filled with fire and fury, indefatigable energy, and truly incensed lyrical bile for men of such middle-aged ripeness - led as always by guiding light Mille Petrozza - the opening title track and ‘Civilization Collapse’ dispense a moshing master class, showing the young ones how it’s done, and how it’ll continue to be done as weaker, less driven bands young and old inevitably fall by the wayside,” [complimented Eduardo Rivadavia, AllMusic – read the rest here]

The unstoppable force also known as KREATOR (“certified worldwide superstars who still tour as widely and frequently as bands half their age - now that’s resilience” - courtesy Eduardo Rivadavia, AllMusic - more here) was created in 1982 in Essen, Germany by vocalist and guitarist Mille Petrozza, bassist Rob Fioretti and drummer Jürgen “Ventor” Reil. Originally called “Tyrant”, they became “Tormentor” for a while, until they finally settled upon the name KREATOR and as such they recorded their debut album ‘Endless Pain’ and released it in 1985 through Noise Records (“a savage debut, but its crude thrashing quickly had the underground metal world a-buzzing with excitement” – commented Mr. Rivadavia, AllMusic – more here). Their classic ‘Pleasure To Kill’, which followed a year later, was recorded with producer Harris Johns, and KREATOR's third album, 1987's ‘Terrible Certainty’, introduced new guitarist Jörg “Tritze” Trzebiatowski:

“It is certain that KREATOR's influence isn’t limited to stateside artists, as modern European metal has never been the same since the group unleashed a slew of powerful late-'80s discs, ‘Terrible Certainty’ arguably being the best of the lot,” [wrote Jason Anderson, AllMusic – more here]

KREATOR conquered the New World - with some help from Epic Records who became the group's North American distributer – with their 1989's Randy Burns-produced ‘Extreme Aggression’. Yet, their next effort, 1990's ‘Coma Of Souls’, “clearly suffered from the less than favorable circumstances in which it was created, seeming too much like a retread of earlier material and bogged down by filler” (as eloquently put by Mr. Rivadavia - more here) despite it being the debut of former SODOM guitarist Frank “Blackfire” Gosdzik. Consequently dropped by their American partners, KREATOR nevertheless bravely marched on with their sixth full-length, ‘Renewal’, in 1992, the last recorded with the original bassist Rob Fioretti, who was replaced with Christian Giesler on the only KREATOR album recorded without drummer Jürgen Reil, 1995's ‘Cause For Conflict’. ‘Cause For Conflict’ featured former WHIPLASH drummer Joe Cangelosi and was KREATOR's first issued through their new label, GUN Records.

“Looking to remedy the band's tenuous situation [“KREATOR [being] confused and uninspired - hopelessly out of touch with the day's reigning extreme metal trends, and surely traumatized by the recent departure of both Fioretti and Ventor”] Petrozza, called upon former CORONER guitar wizard Tommy Vetterli to help him guide KREATOR into realms unknown, getting even further away from their roots on their next two albums, the highly experimental ‘Outcast’ (1997) and ‘Endorama’ (1999),” [found his muse Eduardo Rivadavia]

KREATOR returned to their thrash roots on their “positively stunning” tenth album ‘Violent Revolution’, which featured yet another new second guitarist Sami Yli-Sirniö and was issued through Steamhammer/SPV in 2001. ‘Enemy Of God’ came next in 2005, followed by “reliably thrash-heavy” ‘Hordes Of Chaos’ in 2009, the first KREATOR album to debut on American Billboard Top 200 (at number 165).

KREATOR features: Miland “Mille” Petrozza - guitar and vocals, Sami Yli-Sirniö - guitar, Christian “Speesy” Giesler - bass and Jürgen “Ventor” Reil – drums