The U.S release dates for Kreator classic albums Coma Of Souls and Renewal will be Friday, March 2nd, 2018 and Cause For Conflict and Outcast will be released on Friday, March 9th, 2018.
North American tour dates confirmed for mid February to mid March 2018.
Formed in Essen, Germany in 1984, Kreator are arguably the most influential and successful European thrash metal band ever, like many of their European speed metal brethren, Kreator fused Metallica’s thrash innovations with Venom’s proto-black metal imagery. Often credited with helping pioneer death metal and black metal by containing several elements of what was to become those genres. The band has achieved worldwide sales of over two million units for combined sales of all their albums, making them one of the best-selling German thrash metal bands of all time. The band’s style has changed several times over the years, from a Venom-inspired speed metal sound, later moving in to thrash metal, and including a period of transitioning from thrash to industrial metal and gothic metal throughout the 1990s. In the early 2000s, Kreator returned to their classic thrash sound, which has continued to the present. Their last album ‘Gods Of Violence’ charted top twenty in ten countries, including a number one slot in their home country of Germany.
All titles available for pre order here.
Kreator’s fifth album, Coma Of Souls came towards the end of the thrash metal explosion of the 1980’s and retained their classic thrash sound whilst combining more melodic elements of classic metal bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Critically acclaimed by both fans and press, Coma of Souls was a strong, firm step forward for the band, it proved they weren’t content to sit and wallow in the thrash back waters but were determined to move into a new decade with a bold, thrusting sound.
Kreator’s sixth album, Renewal was originally released in October 1992, and took Kreator fans a little by surprise. While the band had established a reputation as a formidable thrash metal act, one of the best in Europe, this time they had really pushed away from their comfort zone. Bringing in both industrial and hardcore injections helped to make this one of the most fascinating and intriguing extreme albums of the era. At a time when the entire cutting edge scene was shifting, thanks to the emergence of grunge, Kreator proved they were still ahead of most of their peers.
Kreator’s seventh album, Cause For Conflict was originally released in July 1995, musically the band took a different path to the one that hard marked out its predecessor ‘Renewal’. While certainly not abandoning the experimental nuances which had been so crucial to the previous album. However, there was something of a return to familiar territory this time around. Both the songs ‘Lost’ and ‘Isolation’ came out as singles and the passage of time has given Cause for Conflict a sense of belonging, because there’s little doubt it remains one of the bands most undervalued records.
With hindsight, and a sense of history, Outcast is certainly one of Kreator’s most inventive and important albums. The German gargantuan-watt gladiators’ eighth studio release was different to anything they’d done in the past during a time when metal was in turmoil due to the grunge and Nu Metal explosions. The title Outcast was appropriate for how the band felt in the late 1990’s and when Outcast was released in July 1997 it wasn’t a huge selling album, nonetheless it proved they were still an exciting, individual and focused band.
Confirmed North American tour dates.
February 8th 2018 The Van Buren Phoenix, United States
February 9th 2018 The Wiltern Los Angeles, United States
February 10th 2018 The UC Theater San Francisco, United States
February 12th 2018 Wonder Ballroom Portland, United States
February 13th 2018 Showbox Seattle, United States
February 14th 2018 The Vogue Theater Vancouver, Canada
February 16th 2018 Union Hall Edmonton, Canada
February 17th 2018 The Palace Calgary, Canada
February 19th 2018 Revolution Garden City, United States
February 21st 2018 The Gothic Theater Englewood, United States
February 22nd 2018 The Truman Kansas City, United States
February 23rd 2018 Music Hall Minneapolis Minneapolis, United States
February 24th 2018 Orpheum Madison, United States
February 26th 2018 20 Monroe Grand Rapids, United States
February 27th 2018 House of Blues Chicago, United States
February 28th 2018 House of Blues Cleveland, United States
March 1st 2018 The Phoenix Toronto, Canada
March 2nd 2018 Metropolis Montréal, Canada
March 3rd 2018 House of Blues Boston, United States
March 4th 2018 The Paramount Theater Huntington, United States
March 6th 2018 The FIllmore Philadelphia, United States
March 7th 2018 The Fillmore Silver Spring, United States
March 8th 2018 The Ritz Raleigh, United States
March 9th 2018 1904 Jacksonville, United States
March 10th 2018 Jannus Landing Tampa, United States
March 11th 2018 Buckhead Theater Atlanta, United States
