Endless Pain (1985)
Rawer than Iron Maiden’s 1980 debut, only blunter, punker, a relentlessly lo-firestorm of speed demon thrash demonstrating three faces of black metal: “Total Death,” “Flag of Hate,” and “Son of Evil.”
(4 stars)

Pleasure to Kill (1986)
Sophomore chaaarge (“Under the Guillotine”) smothers and swarms (opener “Ripping Corpse”), while band Kaiser and 30-year konstant Mille Petrozza gets birthed vocally on the title track.
(3.5 stars)

Terrible Certainty (1987)
Swedish sweethearts Ghost takes its Pope ghoul from the cover of Kreator’s third LP, black metal dissipating as the formula sets with proggy (“No Escape”), pile-driving (“One of Us”), and witchy (“Behind the Mirror”) certainty.
(4 stars)

Extreme Aggression (1989)
Sound of Hessians figuring out the next rung up. Three-speed closer “Fatal Energy” could pass for a Ride the Lightning demo.
(3 stars)

Coma of Souls (1990)
New paradigm debut – harder, denser, more “Twisted Urges.”
(3 stars)

Violent Revolution (2001)
Kreator’s Black Album, bookended by echoes of Rush and Queensrÿche’s Empire. Fuses classic Seventies with classic Eighties. The LP you want played live in its entirety.
(5 stars)

Live Kreation (2003)
Double-disc Violent Revolution in Brazil, Greece, Korea.
(3 stars)

Enemy of God (2005)
Rabid conceptual jihad (“Suicide Terrorist”) battering Slayer-like hate and death across the divide of deities. Explosive.
(4 stars)

Hordes of Chaos (2009)
Title track takes a divine drop into Maiden march-time.
(3 stars)

Phantom Antichrist (2012)
Blitzkrieg enviro-metal (“Civilization Collapse”). Concept: didactic. Execution/production: atomizing.
(3.5 stars) – Raoul Hernandez