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.

Kreator - Coma Of Souls (1990)

“Coma Of Souls” by Kreator the first press vinyl on Noise International. Still remember seeing the classic artwork when I was 10 years old in 1990 on the back of one of my sisters Okej magazines in the mailorder section and thinking it looked more cool then the Iron Maiden albums. 

I have all her old magazines now and if you’re Swedish and old enough to remember those I hope you get for some nostalgia with Slayer, Testament, Kreator, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Iron Maiden and even a Venom VHS etc. Most are cool records but there's also some trash there like Warrant, MC Hammer, George Michael... 

Recently wrote I’m in a German Thrash Metal phase at the time with bands like Sodom, Destruction and my favorite of them Kreator. Although all of the 5 first Kreator albums are excellent this is my absolute favorite record of theirs. People Of The Lie was the first ever song I heard by them and “Coma Of Souls” was the first CD by Kreator I bought back in the day. People Of The Lie wasn’t the only promo video from the album they also made videos to: Coma Of Souls; World Beyond; Terror Zone and Twisted Urges. 5 videos from 1 Thrash album. Amazing!

Metallica was the first Thrash Metal band I started listen to some years after “... And Justice For All”(1988) had been released but before "Metallica"(1991) then Megadeth both thanks to a friend who were really into those bands. Then when Slayer came and changed my view on extreme Metal forever. 

Kreator was the 5th Thrash Metal band I started listen to and just like Sepultura they felt very unique being a German band also the excellent vocals by Mille Petrozza made them different in a good way. “Coma Of Souls” was released 1,5 years after their previous “Extreme Aggression”(1989) album and has one of my favorite cover artwork of all time it looks so fucking Metal with their demon mascot Violent Mind. 

Since this album their career have had both highs and also many lows. But “Coma Of Souls” is definitely in my top-5 Thrash Metal albums of all time maybe even top-3. An absolute must have record in the collection for anyone who enjoy their Metal to be extreme!

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!