KREATOR — Endless Pain (review)

Album · 1985 · Thrash Metal

3/5 · 2015-03-30
siLLy puPPy

KREATOR emerged from Essen, German in 1982 but was known as Tormentor until 1985 and are cited as being influential along with other early German thrash bands like Destruction, Sodom and Tankard in pioneering death metal with several early elements that later separated the two into subgenres. The debut album ENDLESS PAIN came out in the mid-80s and was clearly inspired by acts such as Venom but there is still a lot of traditional metal making its way into the mix as well such as the Judas Priest sounding “Storm Of The Beast.” ENDLESS PAIN also has the honor of being seen as a pivotal album for black metal bands as well for on this album guitarist Mille Petrozza and drummer Jürgen Reil share vocal duties and although they can sound like classic thrash vocalists most of the time, there are tracks like “Total Death,” “Flag Of Hate” and “Bone Breaker” that sound more like the shrieks and screams that the second wave of black metal would utilize for the darkening effect of the atmosphere, therefore ENDLESS PAIN has two honorable mentions for its influential qualities.

KREATOR is a band i got into late in their game and pretty came to this debut after hearing the much better ones that follow. Sometimes when i delve into the origins of a band i find i actually really like the less popular early ones better for they can be more experimental and bold in their approach. ENDLESS PAIN is bold in its approach and was probably quite the shocking aggressive fury for its time but at this point KREATOR were still getting their feet wet as a band and although the energy level is on full fire, the creativity flame is still in need of some kindling. While i don’t find this debut release to be awful despite the poor quality production even on the remastered versions, i don’t find it to be in the top league of thrash metal albums outdone by KREATOR themselves starting with their second release “Pleasure To Kill.” Nevertheless i do like to periodically listen to this one for it has a distinct proto sound to it that intrigues me.

more than 2 years ago
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Kingcrimsonprog wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I can't get into this one. Love the 4 albums that follow, love the 4 newest albums, but this one is a blind spot for me.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

They´ve released some pretty good albums along the way I agree to that. Unlike most people I´ve always thought "Renewal" was their best album. I enjoy the post-apocalyptic atmosphere of that album, and the fact that it sounds vastly different from anything else they´ve ever released.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Sounds like it truly was "Endless Pain" for you then :) Glad they got better cuz they've put out some great stuff

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Never cared too much about this one. My Brother used to play it endlessly, but I always prefered Pleasure to Kill and Extreme Aggression. The latter was the latest Kreator album released, when I started listening to them.