Friday, September 12, 2008

My Pleasure

Kreator was always a band whose name was often bantered about in my punk circle when I was a downy-moustached teen. We were interested in the band because word on the street was they were insanely fast, didn't use falsetto vocals, and weren't satanic or religious in any way. We talked about them a lot, talked about how we needed to hear them for weeks before we actually did.

Across the street from McArthur High School (my alma mater) was a mom & pop record store that specialized in metal called Record Haven. It was in a run-down strip mall. I think the owner was named Irv and he was a surly fucker. He and his wife chainsmoked in the store and the place reeked of nicotene and cat piss. I seldom went in there because of the smell and the fact that they didn't sell many hardcore records, but I was on a mission....Kreator's Pleasure To Kill. I also bought a used copy of Piledriver's Stay Ugly which had appeal even if only ironically. My friend Pat and I sat in my car in the strip mall parking lot ogling the cover, a buff demon pounding the shit out of a pile of hostile skeletons, one of them weilding a pretty menacing looking axe. Fuck, dude. We analyzed every element of the jacket while sitting in the car. We wondered why they were called Kreator when clearly destruction was their forte (later we would learn of another German band called Destruction). We waxed philosophical about the choice to spell the band's name with a "K" rather than a "C." We wondered, we hoped that the album would live up to the promises made by the cover and all our built up anticipation.

When we got the thing back to my house and dropped the stylus, we were immediately pummeled, our faces contorted into huge menacing smiles. Pleasure To Kill was everything we had hoped for and then some. Violent, frantic and always just on the verge of completely falling apart or blurring into a bloody smear. Instantly we understood this band's appeal to punks, and we felt like we were in on a real cool secret. For the next few months Pat and I were obsessed and annoying everyone we knew with the news of the coming of the Kreator.

39 comments:

Slobodan Burgher said...

I'm still talking about how I need to start listen to Kreator...got probably the complete discography on mp3 from my mate circa 5 years ago - he had played me one fast as hell track that was great and I allowed him to burn me some cd-rs...yeah, so i have like 15 Kreator cd-rs laying around at home, all unplayed of course.

Now I know at least a good place to start, cheers Aesop!

Anonymous said...

The term classic is one that is thrown about all too much in metal and punk. This is one of those rare albums where the term can be used and it is 100% true. I've already owned this for quite some time. But anyone who doesn't have this... please get with the program! Thanks for posting this up for those that haven't yet had the pleasure... to kill! This comment turned out about twice as cheesy as I planned it to be. haha.

- Dave

Anonymous said...

No,there is nothing disapointing about this.I didn't have a digitalized copy,only an old cassette I bought used at that big record store on the main drag in Santa Cruz.
What was the name of that place again. That is where I got my first At the Gates album besides " Slaughter of the Soul". I remember it as a good place!!!!!.......Troy

Anonymous said...

For me,Endless Pain and Pleasure to Kill will be the end all of Kreator. Finding Endless Pain in the Record Bar and that badass cover was all I needed to know this was going to be a great album. Those leads!?! so sloppy and perfect at the same time. Glad you are passing on the knowledge.

-J

Aesop said...

I'm actually quite fond of "Terrible Certainty" as well. Might even be my favorite Kreator album, but this one was my introduction to the band.

Dave G said...

Great record. I actually found Pleasure To Kill at the local salvation army a few months ago along with 60 other old metal Lp's by Celtic Frost, Possessed etc. That was one of my best record finds ever.

skullgrid said...

great story. even though i came into everything a few years after this was already out, i also always found Kreator to be one of the few metal bands that my punk/HC friends didn't have a problem with... funny that.

all three of their albums mentioned so far in these comments would rank as favorites for me.

never got to see em until 92 or 93, but when i did they mostly played older stuff from those three albums. i was in heaven.

nice one, as usual.

Anonymous said...

If you could get college credit for sitting around a converted garage drinking Lucky Lager and trying to pick out Riot of Violence on a Les Paul clone, I'd would of had a Phd in 1988.

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite bands. I got on board when Extreme Aggression came out. "Love us or hate us" pretty much crystallized my feelings about heavy music at the time.

Too bad Mille kinda sounds like Miss Piggy now a days.

nano247 said...

I got mine at B Side Records on State Street in lovely Madison wisconsin, they had an 'imports' section witch was realy a independant records section mostly punk and an ocasional metal album or two, me being the 17 year old metal head with a taste for hard core as well would poor over album by album each of the little rows of said section, I pulled a lot of great album out of that store, and this was one of them, yes the front cover is bad ass and the total 'metal' looks of the band themselves sealed the deal. Plus I remeber seeing in some liner notes (perhaps Destructon?) A Thank You to Kreator- so I was sold

And yes this album warrants the 'classic' seal

Zmaj said...

In my case, I was into metal before I was into punk. Always liked Kreator, and probably always will (even the new stuff haha).

nano247 said...

HOLYFUCKINGSHIT

http://www.b-sidemadison.com/photo.html

Aesop said...

I've been there, believe I bought Monster Magnet's "Dopes To Infinity" there real cheap.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad to see this band get coverage here. Didn't they put out a new album like two years ago?

Aesop said...

They are slated to release a new one this year, however my interest in post-Terrible Certainty Kreator is minimal at best.

Anonymous said...

Very cool story. Thanks!

brandi said...

This is one of my favorites of theirs and has been for so long. A number of years back, when the non-metal types started deciding that old metal shirts were the hip thing to wear (99 maybe? 2001?), I almost came to blows with these two bi-level haircutted chicks over a Kreator shirt. I was just about to ask the dude to take it down off the wall for me when these chicks just DECIDED that they had to have it. I was in a belligerent mood that day and the shirt was still decently priced and those chicks could really just go fuck themselves, the damn thing was going to be mine. I asked them to name just one album or one song and they just couldn't, but were strangely determined to have that shirt because it was just so utterly awesome. No. Name a fucking album. They were aghast. Dude behind the counter kinda looked at the commotion and came over and said, "lady's got a point. why this shirt?" and all they could come up with was, "it's so totally kewl!" He sold it to me. Bitches.

I wish I still had it, but I think I left it behind someone's bed a few years back. Shit happens.

Yay Kreator.

Aesop said...

I have the same shirt, a gift from a friend, and once I was in Wasteland (with my girlfriend) and the haircut behind the counter says "If you ever want to sell that shirt..." before he could finish the sentence I said "Never." I'm a bit too chunky to rock that shit now but still better than having to see it on some asshole on a fixed gear.

Wagnerian said...

I just don't see how NOT being Satanic is a draw.

brandi said...

Fuck yeah, dude.

I wish I still had mine. If I see Bob wearing it someday, I might have to beat him for it back. *IF* that's where I left it.

Aesop said...

Wagnerian, we saw being Satanic as being low brow, we liked songs about bombs and Reagan..

Papst Benedikt XVI said...

great record!

when I was 8 or 9 years old my mum came in when I was watching the documentary about KREATOR...
she tried to enforce new rules that said no more of that awful music among other thing the same day!

it seems like that plan didn´t really work!

Anonymous said...

yeah I freaked out on this when I first got it, not so much now though. I would've thought early Sodom would've been much more appealing to punks though...

Anonymous said...

I'd rock a Kreator shirt. Aesop, you don't look too chunky to me but wanna trade the shirt? it would be in good hands

Aesop said...

Troy, I can't. It's very sentimental and I keep it for thin-spiration.

Eurynormous, I din't hear of Sodom until later. We had only heard of Kreator, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Venom, and then it was all about Death Metal in Florida.

Roger Camden said...

This is kicking my ass.

The t-shirt story was funny.

Also, "fixed gear". Hah.

Anonymous said...

That's Ok. Ihave an old Apocalypse shirt that is a medium and is a tad too small.I'm a sucker for some goo grub though....

Anonymous said...

No Bay Area, but Ruhrgebiet thrash... ;) Great album, just got it out again and gave it another spin... Apparently I had forgotten that 'Death is your saviour' had been omitted from the titles on the backsleeve. (I guess alcohol destroyed the brain cell with that information on it...) ;)

Icky said...

I still have a lamp in my garage that I stenciled the band name logo onto the shade back in about 1988 or so.

IT'S TIME TO RAISE THE FLAG OF HATE!!!

The first three LPs are thrash classics.

Aesop said...

My mom still has the plaque I made in woodshop that has the word "Metallica" burned into it. Last time I stayed at her place I asked her for it and her reply: "No that's the only thing you ever gave me"

Nid said...

Once again, commenting long after anyone cares. I had to say something though. Kreator rules!

Aesop said...

Comments are always appreciated. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

This one and Dark Anegl's Darkness Descends are unsung peers of Reign in Blood.

Erik said...

Oh man... many many beers consumed back in high school listening to this bad boy. We used to have a theory that Ventor was kept in a cage until it was time to play a show, and then forced to inhale nitrous oxide while he played the drums. Drums, vocals, and screams indeed! Still have my Out of the Dark T-shirt, in fact...

wanwarlock said...

Aesop, the links dead... can you re-up?

i've ever only heard newer stuff from them, starting from renewal. that album was good, but not that heavy as previous ones. would like to give this a try.

they're still alive & kicking, have released a new cd last year or early this year. just like unkel tom & sodom! german bands kinda seem to go on & on....

Donovan said...

Something about Kreator that punks trying to break into metal just seem to "get". Coma of Souls was the first thing I heard, but up until then I had completely written off metal. Hell yeah!

Anonymous said...

link is RIP yo

Anonymous said...

this album is the real deal..violent ripping thrash,none of that stupid headleaner hair farmer fake thrash that came after

longjohn said...

Dude! I wanna finally hear Kreator, but the link to 4shared you give with this post isn't working anymore. Sucks to be me. (PS. Cosmic Hearse is the shit, keep it up.)