Time to Kreate

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With nearly 30 years of making some original pure metal music, Kreator from Germany is now back with its thirteenth studio album, Phantom Antichrist.

They were in India for the first time to headline the Bangalore Open Air Festival, and fans were super excited. In an email interview, frontman and guitarist Mille Petrozza talks about the band and music.
Kreator’s latest album is based on reality and is not fictional. Not wanting to discuss about their upcoming album, Mille says, “We are and will always be a thrash metal band. We hope it’s something special for our audience as well! We would rather have people say its special than saying it ourselves. That really matters,” says Mille.
For their new album, Kreator has worked with producer Jens Bogren, who earlier worked with other bands such as Opeth and Amon Amarth. “He’s very cool and an emotional guy. We have had very intense moments and sessions in the studio. It has been a great experience,” adds Mille.
The band has covered the Iron Maiden track, Number of the Beast, recently for their album. “It is more of a tribute. We had extra time in the studio and a magazine (Metal Hammer) wanted us to do a cover. Of course, we were more than happy to do a Maiden cover,” says Mille, who believes that no one should attempt a few great tracks like Highway to Hell and Hell’s Bells. Mille enjoys listening to everything from metal to electronic, “Almost everything. I like all kind of music but that depends on time of the day and my mood.”
The band’s previous album Hordes of Chaos was recorded on an analog tape. Any chances of similar experiments in the future?
“We used analog tape and vintage equipment — the 70s’ vintage equipment for the recording, stuff like ancient outboard gear. And we recorded the music in a live situation. For the Hordes of Chaos sessions, we kept everything that we recorded when we did the basic tracks. We only added melodies and solo guitar and vocals. For our new album, we only kept the drums and the bass so the foundation is very much like a live band, with overdubs, of course. But even for that, we used a lot of vintage equipment. We used a lot of guitars from the 70s and even older amps. It was really good,” he explains.
Its their first gig in India, “We know that we have a lot of fans in India and we’re glad to be a part of Bangalore Open Air. The best part is meeting the metalheads in India.”