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Kreator - Pleasure To Kill review




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Reviewer:
9.0

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8.61
Band: Kreator
Album: Pleasure To Kill
Style: Teutonic thrash metal
Release date: November 1986


01. Intro (Choir Of The Damned)
02. Ripping Corpse
03. Death Is Your Saviour
04. Pleasure To Kill
05. Riot Of Violence
06. The Pestilence
07. Carrion
08. Command Of The Blade
09. Under The Guillotine
10. Flag Of Hate [bonus]
11. Take Their Lives [bonus]
12. Awakening Of The Gods [bonus]

Don't tell me you haven't listened to Kreator before. We all know this amazing thrash metal band. For many, they are the greatest German thrash metal band, when many others believe they are the best trash metal band ever. But if we take a look on their past albums, we can see they are one of the first bands (along with others, such as Possesed, Venom, etc) who played that thrash/death style which helped so much in the pioneering of death metal. Pleasure To Kill was their trademark album in that period before they turned into a pure thrash metal style. This album was a great influence for many future thrash and death metal bands.

"Choir Of The Damned," an instrumental song, is the introduction of the album. In the years to come, this song would be the opener of almost all live appearances of the band. After that melodic and peacefull intro the killing can begin! Great riffing, superfast drumming, Mille Petrozza's unique vocals and totally gruesome lyrics (which spread hate and violence to the world) will make you want to bang your head till death. Every song on this album is great!" Pleasure To Kill" is one of the fans' favorite and the band plays it in almost every show. This song talks about a zombie coming out of it's coffin with only one aim: to kill. The lyrics are very creepy and combined with Mille's vocals make you feel total wildness from the first listen! "Riot Of Violence" is another great song. The vocalist on this track is Ventor, the drummer. On the first two albums of Kreator, Ventor did the vocals on some tracks! "Command Of The Blade" (where Ventor does the vocals again) mentions for the first and also last time, the demon of Teutonian mythology "Kreator," for whom the band was named.

To sum up, this is a great thrash/death metal album. One of the starters of that style. It is terrifically fast and exceedingly violent! The vocalists do a perfect job, and the lyrics are very descriptive and churlish. The production is bad (this is the main reason why I didn't give this album a higher rating) but at least gives a good atmosphere to the album. This album is classic and I recommend it to all fans of extreme music. I cannot suggest best songs as they are all truly great. If you like "killing" music you'll love it!


Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 10
Originality: 10
Production: 7

Written by Deadmeat | 20.12.2008




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.


Comments

Comments: 27   Visited by: 191 users
09.06.2009 - 10:03
Shadowcross
The Summoner
Does anyone else think this album sounds a lot like Bathory's first 3 or so records? just a thought..
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07.08.2009 - 08:47
Rating: 8
Nicko's Nose

Written by Shadowcross on 09.06.2009 at 10:03

Does anyone else think this album sounds a lot like Bathory's first 3 or so records? just a thought..

I agree. It also sounds like a lot of "true" black metal albums. I guess it really influenced bands like Darkthrone and Mayhem.
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10.03.2010 - 21:08
Rating: 9
Winterthrone

This album should be a mandatory listen to all thrash metal, black metal and death metal fans around the world. I think it combinated the roots of all these genres to create a unique sound!
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10.03.2010 - 21:40
Rating: 9
Angelic Storm
Melodious
Agree totally with the review!

The album is chocabloc with thrash/death classics. lol "Ripping Corpse" (and its intro) has to be one of the best openings to a metal album of all time. Yet Kreator havent played the song live for many years. Why? "Riot Of Violence" is just beyond awesome, and is one of Kreator's best ever songs, in the top 5, definitely! Its great when they play that live and Ventor sings it with his head set on! He should definitely have sung more songs with Kreator...
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14.03.2010 - 19:25
Rating: 9
Deadmeat
Necrobutcher
Written by Angelic Storm on 10.03.2010 at 21:40

Agree totally with the review!

The album is chocabloc with thrash/death classics. lol "Ripping Corpse" (and its intro) has to be one of the best openings to a metal album of all time. Yet Kreator havent played the song live for many years. Why? "Riot Of Violence" is just beyond awesome, and is one of Kreator's best ever songs, in the top 5, definitely! Its great when they play that live and Ventor sings it with his head set on! He should definitely have sung more songs with Kreator...

as their song writing -and so drumming- became much more complex after each album i think that probably it was really difficult for him to do both playing drums and singing.
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Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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15.03.2010 - 22:33
Lord_Regnier

I absolutely love the old Kreator albums and still listen to them today.
However, this band died for me after "Coma Of Souls".
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"Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?"
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15.03.2010 - 22:39
Rating: 9
Deadmeat
Necrobutcher
Written by Lord_Regnier on 15.03.2010 at 22:33

I absolutely love the old Kreator albums and still listen to them today.
However, this band died for me after "Coma Of Souls".

imo someone can easily say that they are reborn after 2000.
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Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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16.03.2010 - 00:07
Lord_Regnier

Their new albums are much better than their 90s ones but I don't like them, mostly because of the production, which is too modern for my tastes. They're not bad, just not great like the old ones.

Don't take me wrong, I'm sure I like the old albums as much as you but the brutal change of style between the Thrash masterpiece "Coma Of Souls" is and this pile of garbage they titled "Renewal" was very hard to digest at that time. You're probably too young to remember but I do remember. I was a Kreator fan back then. And after that things didn't really improve until "Violent Revolution".
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"Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?"
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16.03.2010 - 09:49
Rating: 9
Deadmeat
Necrobutcher
Written by Lord_Regnier on 16.03.2010 at 00:07

Don't take me wrong, I'm sure I like the old albums as much as you but the brutal change of style between the Thrash masterpiece "Coma Of Souls" is and this pile of garbage they titled "Renewal" was very hard to digest at that time. You're probably too young to remember but I do remember. I was a Kreator fan back then. And after that things didn't really improve until "Violent Revolution".

yeah, i can completely understand you. you know, imo, some of their 90's releases are not that bad but surely they are not comparable with their thrash era. if you listen to those albums as if they're not Kreator's you may like them i think but what can i tell to you? you may have listened to renewal much more than me even if you like it less than i do.
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Υou've sold your human essence to the cold world of dead and empty things... You're SOLD!
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30.03.2010 - 10:51
JohnWayneGacy666

This is a masterpiece of thrash/death metal 10 out of 10 and to anyone who thinks this album influenced black metal go listen to CRADLE OF FILTH you emo shit. having said that "real black metal is great just completely irrevelent to kreator so stfu
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31.03.2010 - 16:48
soadbyob
Account deleted
Best Kreator album, EVER!!
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13.06.2011 - 21:01
Grody2themax

Performance given a 9? Listen to little whammy bar wank shred at the beginning of The Pestilence. It seriously goes in the top 5 worst leads I've ever heard from a signed band (and I love death metal whammy bar wank). Its a good album for sure though.
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13.06.2011 - 21:01
Grody2themax

Performance given a 9? Listen to little whammy bar wank shred at the beginning of The Pestilence. It seriously goes in the top 5 worst leads I've ever heard from a signed band (and I love death metal whammy bar wank). Its a good album for sure though.
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13.06.2011 - 21:14
Rating: 9
Angelic Storm
Melodious
Written by Grody2themax on 13.06.2011 at 21:01

Performance given a 9? Listen to little whammy bar wank shred at the beginning of The Pestilence. It seriously goes in the top 5 worst leads I've ever heard from a signed band (and I love death metal whammy bar wank). Its a good album for sure though.


Mille did used to be a terrible lead guitarist. His solos on this album sound just like me when i first started trying to play solos. lol Although he became quite decent by the time of "Coma Of Souls". But yep, if you compare say, the 2nd solo in "Riot Of Violence" on the album compared to the version of it played by Frank Blackfire on the "Live In Berlin" video, the difference is like night and day! But the lead guitar aside, I think the performances on "Pleasure To Kill" were amazing, especially for such a young band, and one making such groundbreaking music as they were at the time. xD
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14.06.2011 - 08:04
Grody2themax

Written by Angelic Storm on 13.06.2011 at 21:14

Written by Grody2themax on 13.06.2011 at 21:01

Performance given a 9? Listen to little whammy bar wank shred at the beginning of The Pestilence. It seriously goes in the top 5 worst leads I've ever heard from a signed band (and I love death metal whammy bar wank). Its a good album for sure though.


Mille did used to be a terrible lead guitarist. His solos on this album sound just like me when i first started trying to play solos. lol Although he became quite decent by the time of "Coma Of Souls". But yep, if you compare say, the 2nd solo in "Riot Of Violence" on the album compared to the version of it played by Frank Blackfire on the "Live In Berlin" video, the difference is like night and day! But the lead guitar aside, I think the performances on "Pleasure To Kill" were amazing, especially for such a young band, and one making such groundbreaking music as they were at the time. xD


They were pushing the genre definitely, but more in the sense of making metal more intense in my opinion. In which case, a lot of the credit goes to the drumming and vocals. While Mille may not be the best lead guitarist, with some very shitty solos, the riffs and songs were put together and played cleanly and in time on the record. But playing cleanly and in time should be a given on any recording, professional or not. My respect goes out to Kreator, but I can't help but say the leads suck lol. This reminds me of how much I love Cryptic Slaughter,despite how much I don't admire their skills on the guitar very much lol.
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10.07.2011 - 17:44
Beastofmetal456
Account deleted
Great review. Two months ago, I got this album, I started listening to it and it sounded like...Very bad. After that, I listened to loads of death metal then I got this one again with a higher quality. This time, I really enjoyed every moment of it. The vocals are very angry, the drumming is good (Although there's an annoying drum I didn't like.) the riffs are very fast and BR00TAL... Even the lyrics stand out, I especially liked it when they sung about the remaining flower in the end of riot of violence. Clarifies that the band aren't hateful or violent, but they have a purpose out of using such lyrical themes. Ah, no, I forgot to mention the solos... Long, shredding solos with whammy effect DOMINATE the album (Enjoyable but not the best solos). A must not only for thrash fans, but also for death fans too.
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04.10.2012 - 23:29
tuerda

The reason why it took me so long to like Kreator is because the only things I had heard were Outcast, and this -- This is actually a really good album, but the first real track, "Ripping Corpse" is horribly disorganized, badly produced, and the drumming makes no sense. It has also been mentioned that the solos are terrible throughout the album, which is true. The rest of the album easily pays for those sins, especially "Riot of Violence". Nonetheless, I believe that this album has too many glaring flaws to be considered among Kreator's best. With brilliant albums like COS to their credit, I find it hard to understand why there is so much hype surrounding PTK.
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18.01.2017 - 00:52
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Speedy thrash, young, aggressive, Alice Cooper said megadeth were angry young men, those were much angrier young men, image such music and football, in 80's before a derby days. it would give such killing energy to riot, I was so tired, after this brutal aggressively I woke up and now I why, ehh UI ork at night, sleeping is twisted, hail and koll
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Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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31.01.2017 - 23:13
Rating: 10
Passenger
Lost To Apathy
PLEASURE TO KILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
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You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it ~ Mean Streets
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02.02.2017 - 15:47
Rating: 6
Daniell
_爱情_
I think that this album is a classic only because Kreator was one of the pioneers of thrash in Europe. When heard 30 years later, it doesn't hold up. It's mediocre songwriting-wise, and terrible when it comes to musicianship and production. Kreator (partially) stopped being sloppy and clumsy on "Terrible Certainty". But the first really good album from them is "Extreme Aggression".
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02.02.2017 - 15:50
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by Daniell on 02.02.2017 at 15:47

I think that this album is a classic only because Kreator was one of the pioneers of thrash in Europe. When heard 30 years later, it doesn't hold up. It's mediocre songwriting-wise, and terrible when it comes to musicianship and production. Kreator (partially) stopped being sloppy and clumsy on "Terrible Certainty". But the first really good album from them is "Extreme Aggression".

On the contrary, one of the few thrash albums from the era that actually has any real character and bite to it.
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02.02.2017 - 23:17
Rating: 9
Alex F
Slick Dick Rick
Written by Guest on 02.02.2017 at 15:50

On the contrary, one of the few thrash albums from the era that actually has any real character and bite to it.

Character and bite is exactly what I would say help this album stand out to me. It's far more aggressive than most thrash (and metal in general) that came out in the mid '80s, which I suppose appeals to me.
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03.02.2017 - 05:22
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Mediocre album at best but still better than totally shite albums by Sodom and Destruction at the time.
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Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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03.02.2017 - 12:05
Rating: 6
Daniell
_爱情_
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 03.02.2017 at 05:22

Mediocre album at best but still better than totally shite albums by Sodom and Destruction at the time.

Early Sodom was shit, but I love Destruction's "Infernal Overkill".
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03.02.2017 - 21:04
3rdWorld
China was a neat
Written by Daniell on 02.02.2017 at 15:47

I think that this album is a classic only because Kreator was one of the pioneers of thrash in Europe. When heard 30 years later, it doesn't hold up. It's mediocre songwriting-wise, and terrible when it comes to musicianship and production. Kreator (partially) stopped being sloppy and clumsy on "Terrible Certainty". But the first really good album from them is "Extreme Aggression".

Couldn't agree more. Terrible Certainity, like the name suggests actually had a sense of urgency that I've never heard from their other early albums. I remember EA was kinda better than this too.
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05.02.2017 - 13:11
Mik
Account deleted
This and the sentence of death ep by Destruction are the best german thrash albums for me. Ballsy thrash which was quite ahead of its time.
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26.06.2019 - 21:57
Rating: 7
Metren
Dreadrealm
I'm torn between what Daniell and Jooe said... on the one hand the songwriting really isn't all that great (some fun moments scattered here and there), on the other, the aggression and "bite" is surely here. Is that enough for this album to deserve the status of being considered a classic? Fuck me if I know. As far as what enjoyment I get out of it, it's a 6 at best, but I suppose its influence and importance wouldn't make it fair to rate it below a 7.
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My one-man project's Bandcamp with free downloads: https://dreadrealm.bandcamp.com/
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