KREATOR x 3: TERRIBLE CERTAINTY (1987); FLAG OF HATE (1986) & OUT OF THE DARK... INTO THE LIGHT (1988) + a beginners guide

All 3 of them are German first print vinyls on Noise like all my other Kreator LP's. I've written about this before there's a few bands I only want/own first print vinyls from (and usually have it on CD) Kreator being one of those bands in my LP collection.

Terrible Certainty was the 3rd album by Kreator released in 1987 and it’s a brilliant one of course. Even if I might rank it lowest among their 5 first full length albums Kreator ain't your typical boring standard Thrash Metal band their lowest is still very high.

The Flag Of Hate EP was released 3 months before Pleasure To Kill in 1986 and have 3 songs the title track also appears on the debut album Endless Pain (1985). Also one of my favorite Kreator songs Awakening Of The Gods appears on both EP releases a studio version on Flag Of Hate and live on Out of the Dark... Into The Light.

The 5 song 1988 EP Out of the Dark... Into The Light has one new Kreator song Impossible To Cure. Also a cover of the 1981 song Lambs to the Slaughter originally by the British band Raven and 3 live songs Terrible Certainty; Riot of Violence and the already mentioned Awakening of the Gods.

Both of these EP’s are great and worth buying if you’re a Kreator fan.

I've done many Kreator posts so in this one I want to recommend a bunch of songs from my favorite period of the band 1985-1990. You can look at mainly for people that might not be into them as some "beginners guide".

Of course the best way is to start with their debut album Endless Pain (1985) and then continue chronologically album by album. But in these Spotify days it’s easy to get lost on where to begin.

A bit off-topic but the kids/youth of today are so spoiled with listening too all these albums basically for free. Okay Spotify takes a small fee. But believe me it wasn’t so bad to save money in order to afford an album you really wanted. You actually learned to appreciate music much more that way. Trust me!

Like I wrote these are songs from the 5 albums and the 2 EP's from 1985-1990, not that the band hasn't recorded amazing songs and albums after that. There's plenty of them and way too many to mention those in this post. But just like with Slayer if I was to recommend songs or albums by them I would choose songs from their 5 first albums. Much due to those being the ones I grew up on listening to when I discovered Thrash Metal in the early 90's.

In order of release. Other then that the songs aren't in any particular order, but I added some extra ones from my original Instagram post over @herr_black_metal due to text limitations there. Those songs are marked with *:

Endless Pain (1985)

Endless Pain
Tormentor

Total Death
Storm of the Beast*
Living In Fear*

Flag Of Hate (1986)

Awakening of the Gods

Flag of Hate

Pleasure To Kill (1986)

Pleasure To Kill

Under The Guillotine

Command of the Blade

Riot of Violence

Ripping Corpse*

The Pestilence*

Terrible Certainty (1987)

Storming With Menace

Terrible Certainty

Toxic Trace

Storming With Menace*

Behind The Mirror*

Out of the Dark... Into the Light (1988)

Impossible To Cure*

Awakening of the Gods (live)*

Extreme Aggression (1989)

Betrayer

Extreme Aggression

Some Pain Will Last

Love Us Or Hate Us*

Don’t Trust*

Bringer of Torture*

Coma Of Souls (1990)

People of the Lie

Agents of Brutality

When The Sun Burns Red

Coma of Souls

Terror Zone

World Beyond*

Twisted Urges*

Kreator is the best German band of all time in my opinion. In the whole Thrash Metal scene I would also put them very high, I think only that Slayer from 1983 to 1990 have done better or equally amazing albums.

Sure bands like Sodom, Destruction, Sepultura, Metallica, Testament, Megadeth, Exodus, Dark Angel etc etc... have recorded some amazing albums but looking at their entire careers Kreator and Slayer stand out in my ears.

ENDLESS PAIN (1985) & EXTREME AGGRESSION (1989) by KREATOR

The two classic Kreator albums are both the German first print vinyls on Noise International. Why am I showing them together? Well I already posted my two favorite albums by Kreator. Number 1.) "Coma Of Souls" (1990) and number 2.) "Pleasure To Kill" (1986) and cannot chose which one of  "Endless Pain" or "Extreme Aggression" is my 3rd favorite by the best band ever from the excellent German Thrash Metal scene.

The debut “Endless Pain” have many classic songs like Tormentor; Flag Of Hate; Total Death and the title track Endless Pain but all songs are excellent of course because we’re talking about Kreator here. Btw. just got to love the fact my copy has a previous owners name written on the front. I have your LP Bianca... (even if it's not so easy to see).

“Extreme Aggression” was their fourth full length album and it have great songs throughout sure there’s outstanding ones like Betrayer; Some Pain Will Last and my favorite one the title track Extreme Aggression. Other songs like No Reason To Exist; Bringer Of Torture; Fatal Energy are also worth mentioning like the rest of the songs on the album. Like I wrote I’m not going to pick which one is better then the other because they have their own individual charm.

On their debut “Endless Pain” you can hear the hunger and passion Kreator had and on “Extreme Aggression” they’ve developed so much more and are better musicians. My final word on them is get both! Also amazing is that their 3rd album “Terrible Certainty” (1987) isn’t far behind these two but more about that and their 2 EP’s "Flag Of Hate" (1986) and "Out of the Dark... into the Light" (1988) in an upcoming post.

Last I want to tell that I kind of geeked out a bit in my last Kreator post of “Coma Of Souls”(1990) when Mille Petrozza himself liked my post on Instagram (and yes it’s his official personal account). It’s not the first time that musicians liked my posts or other peoples posts for that matter.

But you got to understand I’ve listened to Kreator since I was 12 years old and one of my favorite Thrash Metal bands of all time. To me it’s as cool if Trey Azagthoth or Kerry King would’ve liked any of my posts.

SODOM - OBSESSED BY CRUELTY (1986)

Here is the German first print vinyl on Steamhammer sadly my copy is missing the lyrics insert.

This was their second release after the debut mini-LP In The Sign Of Evil (1985). Both these releases are brilliant and if one is to compare Sodom in 1986 with the other German Thrash Metal bands like Kreator or Destruction I think Sodom had a more Black/Speed Metal sound back then.

The Obsessed By Cruelty album and Sodom certainly had an influence on the second wave of Black Metal bands from Norway and Sweden.

Euronymous of Mayhem used to mention them in very high regard in interviews and just take the song called Deathlike Silence is on the Obsessed By Cruelty album.

The band started 1981 in the West German town Gelsenkirchen by Angel Ripper (bass/ later vocals), Aggressor (vocals/guitar) and Bloody Monster (drums) but was shortly replaced with Witch Hunter. Sodom were influenced by bands like Venom & Motörhead.


Sodom had released two demos before being signed to a record label. Witching Metal (1982) and Victims of Death (1984).

Later Aggressor was replaced by Grave Violator (1984-85) on guitar who was replaced by Destructor (1985-86) replaced by Ahäthoor (1986) replaced by Frank Blackfire (1987-89) that returned to the band in 2018. During the 90's Sodom used a bunch of different guitar players too many to list...

Actually the Obsessed By Cruelty album was recorded twice. The North American release on Metal Blade Records is is the first rejected Berlin recording that was “accidentally used” somehow.

That recording was also used when they first released the compilation CD In The Sign Of Evil
/ Obsessed By Cruelty in 1988. All very confusing...

The one I got the Steamhammer vinyl release is the second recording in Studio Hilpoltstein with the exclusive song After The Deluge that doesn't appear on the Metal Blade release.

When it was reissued on vinyl in 2016 both the US and German versions appears on the 2 x LP.

On their following albums Sodom left the satanic lyrics & titles for a more war themed approach. They released many more great ones but more about those records in another post.

Obsessed By Cruelly in any edition is a must have if you’re into early Black/Speed Metal of the finest sort.

More German Thrash Metal excellence!

This time with Destruction both classic albums “Infernal Overkill”(1985) on a transparent orange LP that comes with 2 posters the LP for “Eternal Devastation”(1986) is on a blood red transparent with a poster. Both reissued last year on High Roller Records I'm not sure how many copies was printed of these ones they're also in all sorts of different color variants if anyone knows the print numbers please drop a comment. Destruction started in 1982 these were the bands 2 first full length albums. Schmier (vocals and bass) and Mike (guitars) are the only original members remaining during their career drummers have come and gone over the years but on these 2 records Tommy Sandmann pounds the skins. 

Their first releases was the classic cult demo “Bestial Invasion of Hell”(1984) and the EP “Sentence of Death”(1984) then they were followed by “Infernal Overkill” and “Eternal Devastation” all originally released on the awesome German record label Steamhammer. Destruction stayed with them until 1990 and released besides those already mentioned in the post the EP "Madbutcher"(1986), "Release From Agony"(1987), the live album "Live Without Sense"(1989) and "Cracked Brain"(1990). I never actually listened to Destruction when I was in my "Death/Thrash Metal phase 1991-94” before I got completely lost in Black Metal for a few years but Destruction would be mentioned as an inspiration by many Death and Black bands in interviews. First time I ever heard a Destruction song wasn't until 1996 and it was actually a cover when Marduk did Total Desaster on their EP "Glorification". In 2000 when Schmier had rejoined the band after being fired in 1989 I was much more musically open minded and they released the good album “All Hell Breaks Loose”(2000) on Nuclear Blast. I was 20 years at the time and had a job so I could afford to spend much money CD’s (I didn’t like MP3 back then).

“Eternal Devastation” is in my opinion the best Destruction album it also have according to me their best song Curse The Gods. The German Thrash scene have their own version of the big 4 or "The Big Teutonic 4" Destruction is one of the bands the other ones are Kreator, Sodom and Tankard (I never liked them but then again I never given their early albums a chance). I would definitely put Tankard dead last in that group of bands then Destruction and Sodom are closer but Sodom I rank slightly higher and the best German Thrash band ever Kreator is my number 1 for sure. But if you’re interested in this excellent scene (preferably 1984-1990) these Destruction 2 albums are essential to have in the collection.

Kreator - Pleasure To Kill (1986)

”Pleasure To Kill” (1986) by Kreator the first press vinyl on the classic Noise Records. A royal gift from Adde of Tyrant Wrath thanks again man! I known him for almost 25 years he’s a great and generous friend definitely check out his amazing band! I’ve been in a German Thrash Metal phase lately listening to Destruction, Sodom and my favorite Kreator.

First song by them I ever heard was People Of The Lie from “Coma of Souls”(1990) my sister recorded Headbanger’s Ball on VHS when I was 11 years old. It’s still my favorite Kreator song but Under The Guillotine; Riot Of Violence & Pleasure To Kill from this one are almost as amazing. “Pleasure To Kill” is probably my 2nd favorite Kreator album ever. I love that it says “Manufactured in West Germany” on the vinyl it makes me think back to the 80’s with the Cold War, Chernobyl, MTV, 8-bit NES and the assassination of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme.

The band started in 1982 and was first called Metal Militia then Tyrant but soon changed it to Tormentor. Members Mille Petrozza (guitar/vocals), Ventor (drums/vocals) & Rob (bass) changed the name to Kreator in 1984. “Pleasure To Kill” was their 2nd album and it was the last record when vocals was shared by Mille (5) and Ventor (3). I liked that Mille took over all vocals duties because he has one of the best vocals in the scene. Before this one they had released their debut “Endless Pain”(1985) and the EP “Flag Of Hate”(1986).

It’s cool to see other Noise releases on the insert like Celtic Frost, 2 first Running Wild when they were great, Warrant (Germany not the Cherry Pie dorks), Helloween when they were ok etc. The first 5 Kreator albums are classic essentials that everyone should own!