KREATOR: Petrozza's angle on Angela (2017)

By ANDREW McKAYSMITH
GERMANY’s quintessential thrash front man and guitarist, Mille Petrozza, is on the phone to HM as part of the publicity rounds for the new Kreator album, Gods of Violence.
Far from the abstract theme of heavy metal’s traditional obsession with malevolent deities and demons, the album title takes on unfortunate relevance given the increasingly reported acts of criminal violence carried out under the banner of religion in Germany and the EU.
But is the title influenced by these events?
“Gods of Violence to me is more like a statement of how to deal with these things rather than commenting on it,” Petrozza responds
German chancellor Angela Merkel is under scrutiny at the moment primarily due to domestic security concerns and the surge in support for populist parties. HM asks Mille his views on the Chancellor’s leadership.
“I’m not an expert on politics really and I think that she probably does what every politician would do in her position. She’s trying to represent the country in the way that she thinks is helping the country or getting the country to more wealth, less unemployment. But on the other hand, she is only human and I think the real leaders are the ones that are working in the background. She’s only like the one representing the country but in the background, that is where the real deals are being made, if you know what I mean?”
One key policy pertaining to fierce debate is the issue of immigration and integration, it’s a policy Mille believes the chancellor has got right.
“She actually did the right thing helping the people that were fleeing from countries where there is war.”
Mille then went on to offer the example of an English journalist who made a comment regarding the positive impression the immigration policy receives from the more pious followers of faith and that Merkel’s policy can encourage a more affirmative view of the western world by those in other parts of the globe.
“They keep telling people that the western world hates them, and Merkel opened up the borders to help the people that needed help.”
Focusing on the music, Kreator once again teamed up with producer Jens Bogren who worked with the band on the previous album Phantom Antichrist. How does Mille think fans will react to Gods of Violence?
“Hopefully they will like it. It’s recorded, it’s produced so we don’t really have any influence on what is going to happen now from now on. One thing I’ll say, we hope they like it as much as we do!”
The band are themselves the subject of a lively discourse over the quality of their albums through the nineties. The band’s four releases starting with Renewal (’92) and ending in Endorama (‘99) represent a distinct change in sound and direction. Did Mille feel any pressure to update the band’s sound to fit in to a particular format during that era?
“Yes absolutely. I think that was very important for us to grow as a band. Maybe we went a little too far in to the category of putting a dogma on each album where nowadays we wouldn’t do that. We wouldn’t say we only write an album with only those songs and never do a fast thrash metal beat. But nowadays we combine all these styles all these experiences to put it in to an updated version of Kreator.”
Is the band familiar enough with the more seriously critiqued material on Outcast (’97) and Endorama to include them in the band’s live show on the upcoming tour?
“Yes, we do “Phobia” (from Outcast) still. I don’t think we are going to do anything off Endorama but that is a good idea! Maybe we will think about it. It gets harder and harder to put it together, a set list. With all 14 songs off one album would be maybe the title track or whatever and we’ll see what happens. We have a set list for the European tour. Maybe that’s going to be reworked at some point if we feel like doing it.”
Buried deep in Mille’s catalogue of musical offerings is the little know but highly regarded Voodoocult project, which released Jesus Killing Machine (’94). Voodoocult was something of a supergroup as it included drum maestro and Slayer’s former beat keeper, Dave Lombardo, and one of the most lauded guitarists and front men in extreme metal’s proud and illustrious history, Chuck Schuldiner, better known for his work in Death and Control Denied. Mille must have a ‘story to tell’ (Chuck fans will get that reference) about working with Chuck?
“Chuck was a great guy. He was an artist in the purest form of the word. He was very dedicated and very unique as a composer and as a human being. I loved the guy, he was great. He’s getting a lot more respect than when he was alive, having people realising the genius of Chuck Schuldiner now. If he would still be with us he would still put out amazing records, I’m 100 per cent convinced. Unfortunately, he’s not here anymore, so we’ll never find out. But I’m totally convinced that he would be raging still”
HM had the privilege of interviewing Overkill’s Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth recently and asked if a ‘big three’ concert, with Overkill, Exodus and Testament was on the cards. Blitz expanded that to a ‘big four’ (or ‘little four’ as his sense of humour determined was more appropriate) by bestowing Kreator with the honour, suggesting the band never quite got its commercial and critical reward. What’s Milles’ take on the idea?
“I would love to do that. It always like scheduling and it’s always like politics in the background. But we’re all friends. Especially with Overkill we did a tour and it was great. We played many, many shows with Testament and I would love to do a tour with Testament and Overkill. That would be perfect, it would be a dream for a lot thrash metal bands.”
If Mille didn’t have Kreator what does he think he would be doing?
“Good question, I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know [laughs]. I would probably do something different. I would probably be some sort of … hopefully I would be some other sort of artforms that I could express myself the same way I do now with Kreator. I was fortunate enough to be in Kreator. Life has been good so far so I’ve never thought about it. But yes, good question [laughs].”
Finally, Mille mentioned an Australian tour and that it possibly be with another notable band.
“We’re working on something you might like. In September … you might like the idea of the touring package.”
Given the reference to the ‘big four’, HM can’t wait for the tour to be announced! Oh… and fingers crossed a track from Endorama makes the set list!
Gods of Violence is out now via Nuclear Blast