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 With his second guitarist languishing in the emergency room of Belfast's main hospital with a suspected broken arm, and only two hours to go until the gig, it's a wonder that main-man Mille Petrozza isn't a gibbering wreck. It's a testament to his easy, optimistic character that we're sitting backstage with the man, sharing a couple of beers, whilst chaos reigns outside. It's been eleven years since Kreator last played Belfast, and Ventnor's back in the drumstool, so you could say that tonight's support slot with Cannibal Corpse has been the hottest ticket in aeons...
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Congratulating Mille on new album, 'Violent Revolution', I put it to him that it conjures up the mighty 'Coma of Souls' opus, my particular favourite Kreator album. Laden with that klassik extreme aggression, I'd be shocked if reviews were less than rabid. Mille's typically modest about the reception to date "The press has responded quite well, but that's not important for us. For us, it's more important what the fans say. They really like the record and we see that the reactions at the shows now is just amazing."
The digital recording approach (the entire album was produced via ProTools software, with the exception of bass and drums) has yielded a surprisingly warm, organic sound. Andy Sneap (producer - Testament, Nevermore et al) seems to have worked his magic again. "Yeah, he's good, man. It's great to work with a producer that's a guitar player himself, and as soon as I have an idea he understands what I'm talking about, it's very easy to work with the guy." Quite. It seems that you should be booking him now for your next album.
It's an unfortunate fact that I put to Mille, namely that there'll be people here tonight who will see Violent Revolution as a purely opportunist album. After the relative failures of 'Endorama' and 'Renewal', they'll say that you just reverted back to a winning formula in order to boost flagging fortunes. What would be your reaction to that? Mille pauses for thought...
"I think what we did on those two records was experimenting and trying to go into different directions, because we wanted to see how far we could go in a melodic sense. We just wanted to explore the different kinds of music, we didn't want to limit ourselves. For people who didn't get into those, I don't care... I think it would have been fake if we had done Violent Revolution two years ago, because we didn't feel like doing a record like that." That's a fair point. Mille continues "I don't listen to those people anymore who were criticising our work. Yes, I think they (the two albums) were very important to get us where we are, because there's a very big influence of those, especially melodically, on what we've done on Violent Revolution. I don't regret doing those two records, they were some of our strongest ones."
I personally found 'Endorama' to be very satisfying . It's true that reviews at the time didn't really push the whole breadth of the album, labouring as they did over the Sisters of Mercy sound, but for me it was more akin to the darker vibe of Killing Joke. A brave album indeed, but such experimentation is inevitably going to alienate those fans who just want their favourite album rehashed time and time again ad nauseum. Mille's clearly had his fill of those who instantly denigrate any deviation from the Kreator blueprint...
"If you're really a fan of a band, you should really try to at least listen to what they're doing. But people don't even listen to the new stuff, and just say it's bullshit before they've even heard it, because they want to be 'old-school' or something."
Kreator's a bit of a Thrash-Metal guitarist clearing house of late... the past decade has seen Frank Blackfire from Sodom, Tommy from Coroner, and now Sami from Finland's Waltari... it's almost like over time Kreator is becoming the nucleus for the shrinking European thrash scene. Has this apparent concentration of personnel been inevitable?
"I think it's just a way of surviving as a band. I mean, it's hard nowadays to really keep going because you have to fight so many different things and factors. Record companies, fans that are complaining (laughs), and being on the road is not always fun, it's basically waiting, and it can be very boring. But I don't want to complain. It's my 'job' and I like doing this."
The band's been on the go for over seventeen years now, a lifespan littered with labels (Noise, Gun, Drakkar to name but three). Each label has been documented as having its own distinct failings, but how is SPV shaping up?
"We're working with a label who has bands like Priest, Motorhead, all my old hero bands, and the people that I'm working with on the label, I think they know what they're doing. They know how to promote the band, what to do with the band. They don't expect any wonders from the band, like writing a commercial smash-hit single. But that happens when you get to a major label... they only see the figures. They're like 'Ok, we have this band here, Madonna, and she sells 2 million records. You're only selling this much, what's up with you?'. It's a constant fight".
Yeah, I can understand why bands get so worn down by the machinations of the business side of music that they just throw in towel in defeat. I interviewed Away from Voivod a couple of years ago and he had some horrific stories about his time as an artist with MCA. They were like 'Ok, we want 2 hit singles from you, we want airplay, we want 3 videos'. And he was like, 'What?'. I mean, Voivod of all bands, they do concept albums, not singles. Mille concurs "Yeah, they promise so much, but you should always step back and think of what's really important as a band."
 Kreator, of course, started life in Essen as 'Tormentor', before coming to prominence as the spearhead of the European Thrash brigade. Platters such as 'Endless Pain' and 'Pleasure to Kill' were bona fide classics and the impact that they had on the second wave of Thrash Metal is incalculable. The entire German Thrash Metal scene has been of enormous significance to the development of the genre (think Sodom, Running Wild, Destruction, Grave Digger and so forth). I've often wondered just why Germany served as the European thrash nucleus, when it could just as easily have been, say, Denmark (who had such pioneers as Mercyful Fate and Artillery). How do you account for your country's global influence in Thrash scene? Was there simply a huge pool of self-confidence to sup from?
"Maybe confidence, because it was different from other countries. People from other countries often figure out a very unique style. I think the bands just really believed in what they were doing, and in doing it, no matter what. They were ignoring the English press, since German bands got so much shit from the English press, Kerrang and all... I think the main thing about the German bands was that they just did it. Because they didn't know any better, they just did their own thing, just kept going."
Lyrically, Kreator has a reputation for being cynical and negative. Or simply realistic. Like many Thrash acts, traditional Metal themes of satanism and the otherworldly were eschewed in favour of social and political commentary. Did circumstances in West Germany in the early 80's... pollution, high unemployment, the constant threat of invasion from the neighbouring Warsaw Pact, occupation by US and British armies... have an impact?
"Yeah, it was 80's paranoia. It wasn't only us that had the 80's paranoia in the lyrics, I think a lot of bands in the 80's had nuclear holocaust lyrics. Nowadays, it's all but disappeared. The threat's still there but no one thinks about it. I don't for some reason, I wonder why I don't because it's still there." All too sadly, that's the reality.
Ok, let's finish with a toughy... is Thrash Metal still alive?
"Surely it is. Definitely, though in a different form nowadays. Yesterday, when we played Dublin, there were a lot of kids in the audience, which was really surprising, and they got into it. I don't ever know if there's going to be a 'thrash revival' or something, but you never know... it's about the scene. When we started the band, there were people who didn't have anything to do with the music at all. They were kind of doing the business side of things, so they came from outside and were doing things because there was money involved. Nowadays, those people have disappeared because there's no money to be made. Now, it's up to the scene to organise itself, the real Metal fans, to organise the next generation."
He speaketh true.
Interview and words by Spandex Oo-er
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