Kreator
Endless Pain

THE REVIEW

Kreator is a German thrash metal band formed in 1982 under the name Tyrant, later changed to Tormentor. In 1985, they changed it again, becoming known as Kreator. The band members are Miland "Mille" Petrozza as singer and guitarist, Rob Fioretti on bass, and Jurgen "Ventor" Reil on drums. They are influenced by Metallica and Slayer in terms of thrash metal, and by Venom regarding heavy/black metal. In the same year, they released this little gem: "Endless Pain", a concentrate of evil, raw, and violent thrash/black metal.

Each track is a pearl of wickedness thanks to the two singers, Reil and Petrozza; the first sings in a very "unripe" growl and the latter in a scream and seems like the devil himself, and it is precisely for this reason that the album is considered (in part) black metal, but his voice is still immature. The riffs are raw and violent, and the solos are fast and sharp, leaving a lasting impression on your mind. The drums are mostly offbeat, as Reil was not yet the war machine he is today. The bass can be heard only in "Storm of the Beast", and in other songs, it is almost inaudible, likely due to the rather poor production quality, as Rob Fioretti seems to have stopped playing the bass after that song.

As I mentioned earlier, the ten songs present in this album are aggressive, fast, and violent, and... monolithic, this is because there is not much technical and compositional fantasy, and the sound is completely immature, yet all that monstrous energy emitted by the songs transports you into the sick world of Mille & Co., and clear examples are the title track which is fast and brutal, "Total Death", a raw aggressive piece; moreover, "Tormentor" is one of the best tracks on the album and unleashes all of Mille's malice, then there's the battle anthem "Flag of Hate", an absolutely stunning piece, and finally, there's the excellent "Living in Fear".  Then there are other small pearls of sonic violence, such as "Storm of the Beast", "Son of Evil", "Cry War", "Bone Breaker", and "Dying Victims".

In conclusion, "Endless Pain" is a good album that I highly recommend to fans of extreme metal, as it inspired Varg Vikernes (Burzum)... that should say it all. The only drawback is the album's mediocre production.