It was their ‘Blitzkreig‘ and ‘End Of The World‘ demos changing hands in the era’s bustling underground tape-trading network that exposed them to the international metal community.
Positive word of mouth soon attracted the attention of Germany’s own metal start-up, Noise Records, which signed the newly re-christened Kreator to a deal.
Kreator’s tenure at the label spawned six studio albums and established them as one of the most influential on the thrash scene, one they dominate to this day.
Their 1985 debut, Endless Pain, was savage; its’ crude thrashing quickly had the underground metal world abuzz with excitement. 1986’s follow-up, Pleasure To Kill is considered the band’s first “classic” album and raised the bar with more tempo diversity, while losing nothing in terms of ferocity or speed.
1987’s Terrible Certainty further cemented the reputation that Kreator were one of the genre’s finest exponents. In 1989, the band closed the decade with the thrash triumph of Extreme Aggression, their biggest seller to date.
1990’s huge magnum opus Coma Of Souls solidified them in thrash history before they diversified their sound on the experimental Renewal in 1992.
© Down The Barrel Photography 2020
Under The Guillotine is a deluxe celebration of Kreator’s Noise Records discography and is the definitive collection of their first decade of recorded work. It retails at €168.67.
It contains:
Endless Pain – swirl vinyl with original artwork & inner sleeve
Pleasure To Kill – splatter vinyl with original artwork & inner sleeve
Terrible Certainty – splatter vinyl with original artwork & inner lyric sleeve
Extreme Aggression – half/half vinyl with original artwork & inner lyric sleeve
Coma Of Souls – splatter vinyl with original artwork & inner lyric sleeve
Renewal – swirl vinyl with original artwork & inner lyric sleeve
Some Pain Will Last DVD – containing From The Vault mini-documentary, plus two previously unreleased audio live concerts and an Andy Sneap remix of Live In East Berlin 1990.
A 12” x 12”, 40-page hardback book of photography, quotes, and lyrics from the first decade of the band’s existence. Contains rare and previously unseen photos from the era.
Reproduction End Of The World demo cassette.
‘Demon’ figurine USB drive containing MP3 audio of all the expanded editions of all the albums. All encased in a special executioner’s guillotine box.
In addition, the first 250 orders from the Noise Records store will also receive a signed art card by Kreator’s Mille Petrozza. Also available as an introduction piece is Under The Guillotine – The Noise Anthology: an 18-track double-vinyl collection of Kreator’s Noise-era classics, pressed on splatter vinyl, including rare and unseen photos.
For non-vinyl collectors, there will also be a 30-track 2CD version, housed in a media book. Both feature rare tracks and remixes from the band’s discography.
The first 250 copies will include a signed bonus item, so get ordering! Pre-order the boxset here.
Oran O’Beirne
www.overdrive.ie 2020
