One of the highly-revered ‘big four’ of the thrash metal genre, alongside their contemporaries Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax, Slayer have always been defined by two thing; the ferocity and speed with which they play, and the deeply dark nature of their thematic approach and lyricism, where pretty much nothing has been off limits - everything from Satanism to necrophilia has cropped up over the course of their ten records to date. The group is currently comprised of King on guitar, bass-playing frontman Tom Araya, drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt; founding guitar player Hannemann passed away last year. The band made their name with their third album, “Reign in Blood”, in 1986; that record’s kind-of title track “Raining Blood” is effectively their signature song.
They’ve continued to both entertain, influence and provoke in equal measure ever since; from (albeit inadvertently) managing to release a record entitled “God Hates Us All” on September 11th, 2001 to routinely being accused of Nazi sympathies, Slayer have certainly earned more than their fair share of notoriety, but it’s perhaps in terms of their huge influence on the genre of metal in general that they’ll be best remembered over time; everybody from System of a Down to Slipknot to Darkthrone have attributed some of their style to Slayer over the years, proving their towering stature within the metal community.
Inspired by the likes of Black Sabbath, Metallica and Motorhead, the band took shape in 1982, with the original line up consisting of: Mille Petrozza (vocals, guitar), Jurgen “Ventor” Reil (drums) and Rob Fioretti (bass) firstly known as Tyrant and then Tormentor. The newly formed band released two demos “Blitzkrieg” in 1983 and “End of the World” in 1984.
In 1985, the band signed with the new German metal label Noise Records who encouraged the final name change and they settled on Kreator. It took them only ten days to record their debut album “Endless Pain” released later that year and created a huge buzz in the prominent underground metal scene emergent in Germany. With blistering and brutal thrash chords reverberating throughout the album, Kreator won an allegiance of fans. Promoting the album, the band added late Sodom guitarist Michael Wulf to play on the release tour.
In 1986 Kreator released their follow up album “Pleasure to Kill” which introduced the addition of guitarist Jorg ‘Tritze’ Trzebiatowski. The album considered a thrash classic demonstrated the band’s rapid progression of talent and technical ability, featuring the popular track “Flag of Hate” which made regular appearances on their live set lists. At the end of the year, the band released the three track EP “Flag of Hate”.
Releasing two albums and an EP between 1987-9, Kreator were given the opportunity to hop on tour with American thrash heavyweights Suicidal Tendencies on their North American tour which helped broaden the band’s appeal outside of Europe.
In 1989 the band featured in Thomas Schadt’s documentary “Thrash Altenessen” exploring the social effects of heavy metal in their local area. Following the release of their fourth album “Extreme Aggression”, Tritze departed in 2000 and was replaced by former Sodom guitarist Frank ‘Blackfire’ Gosdzik.
Whilst the 90’s became a pivotal point of genre experimentation for forerunners like Metallica and Anthrax in an attempt for commercial appeal, Kreator went against the grain delving deeper into death and industrial metal prominent in the 1992 album “Renewal”.
With a relentless touring schedule, it began to take a toll on the band as one by one they dropped out leaving Petrozza as the only original member. Fleeting member came and went and by the new millennia the line-up included: Christian ‘Speesy’ Giesler, Sami Yli-Sirnio and the return of Reil.
Over their extensive band history spanning decades, Kreator have become a beacon to many bands within the trash genre playing numerous festivals and sharing the stage with bands like: Napalm Death, Warbringer, King Diamond and Exodus. Kreator continue to provide electrifying, show-stopping performances ever enthused with an abundance of passion.
Slayer is frighteningly intense live. You could either get your skull cracked open in a mosh pit or from the sheer amplitude of Kerry King’s guitar. But that’s the thrill of attending a Slayer concert.
It is impossible to be anything other than fully engaged at a Slayer show with red lights of doom blaring on the stage, pentagrams and World War II imagery depicted in the background, and stacks of guitar amps blaring in your face at full volume all while trying to avoid getting beat to a pulp in a mosh pit. Slayer’s performance is fast and loud with their songs relying on fast tremolo picking, booming double bass pedals pounding away at the bass drums, and dueling guitars playing chaotic melodies in irregular scales creating dissonant sounds.
Slayer has a unique style of performing by playing at rapidly fast tempos and tuning their guitars to very low pitches getting deeper, heavier sounds. Slayer has gained critical acclaim already being nominated for five grammys, and are considered one of the most influential metal bands having directly inspired the genres of death metal and black metal. The singer, Tom Araya, adds much charisma to Slayer’s style with his death-like screams, and the violent imagery depicted in Slayer’s lyrics puts Slayer in a hardcore level of their own.
It is unpredictable what one might see at a Slayer concert. You might see a fan carving an upside down cross in their skin or you might see someone in a wheelchair crowd surfing, as I saw at my first Slayer concert. One thing you can predict is a mind-blowing thrill of a ride.
wjmcc
I got to see Kreator and Warbringer when I went to see Overkill at Stage 48 on a visit to New York. Although the band has been around since 1982, I hadn't heard much of their music before.
They have the expected heavy guitars and drums that are prevalent through all heavy metal, and have a sort of early to mid 90's Metallica sound that includes heavy, driving guitar riffs, easy to understand, somewhat melodic lyrics and a maintained drum beat throughout.
Heavy metal is a style that generates energy when it is good and relies on that energy in a live performance, and here Kreator was absolutely fantastic. Engaging the audience with both the music and fantastic visuals to jump, sing along to punctuate the songs, and generally move, dance, mosh and surf, Kreator got the crowd involved in the show and made it a truly interactive, energetic and just plain fun live performance.
While I sometimes enjoy listening to metal at home, it is nothing compared to the experience of a live metal concert where there are hundreds and thousands of fans all driving the energy of the music higher and Kreator is A+ with this. I would be glad to see them on the list of the next metal concert I go to.
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