Kreator "Pleasure To Kill + Flag Of Hate"

Pleasure to Kill is the second studio album by German thrash metal band Kreator, released on 1 November 1986 by Noise Records.

Pleasure to Kill is widely considered a landmark thrash metal classic, along with Master of Puppets by Metallica, Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? by Megadeth, Reign in Blood by Slayer, Eternal Devastation by Destruction and Darkness Descends by Dark Angel, all released in 1986. The album played a considerable role in the development of many extreme metal subgenres, and death metal bands such as Cannibal Corpse cite the album as an influence.

The lyrical themes follow those found on their first album Endless Pain, containing descriptions of macabre scenes of death and horror. Just like that album and Terrible Certainty, Kreator were a three-piece band during the recording of Pleasure to Kill; on some early pressings, guitarist Michael Wulf, who was briefly a member of Kreator, was erroneously credited as a band member in the liner notes.

In a contemporary review, Oliver Klemm of the German Metal Hammer called Kreator "the best death metal band in Europe after Celtic Frost" and described the album as obviously inspired by Possessed's Seven Churches, but "even louder, even faster, even more brutal". Rock Hard reviewer found the album very similar to Endless Pain and, despite the opaque drum sound, quite good by hardcore standards.

In a modern review, AllMusic writer Jason Anderson wrote that "many in the underground metal scene were already paying special attention to the German outfit's proto-death sound, but the cult status was shed after this critically and commercially successful second effort hit record-store shelves. As fierce and unyielding as the group's debut, Endless Pain, was, Pleasure to Kill provides double the sonic carnage and superior material." Canadian journalist Martin Popoff acknowledged the importance of the album in "propelling the band into the trinity of the genre next to Destruction and Sodom", but was not very pleased by the "tech-thrash ugliness" of the music.

Coinciding with the 2017 remastered issue, Pleasure to Kill charted for the first time 31 years after its release, and peaked at number 99 on the German album charts. The remastered edition of the band's 1989 album Extreme Aggression charted on the same day.

Flag of Hate is the first EP by German thrash metal band Kreator, released in 1986. It is included on the 2000 reissue of the Pleasure to Kill album. US version included three bonus tracks: "Endless Pain", "Tormentor" and "Total Death"; all from Endless Pain. A less common reissue of Pleasure to Kill has all six as bonus tracks.

Track list:

1. Choir of the Damned 00:46   
2. Ripping Corpse 03:36   
3. Death Is Your Saviour 03:58   
4. Pleasure to Kill 04:11   
5. Riot of Violence 04:56   
6. The Pestilence 06:58  
7. Carrion 04:48  
8. Command of the Blade 03:57   
9. Under the Guillotine 04:38  
10. Flag of Hate 03:56   
11. Take Their Lives 06:26   
12. Awakening of the Gods 07:29   

Time:   55:39  

The song "Awakening of the Gods" was featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned.

Official music video (made in 2017 in the context of a re-release):

- Pleasure to Kill

Mille was notably inspired by the film Faces of Death (1978) during writing/recording. He claims that every song on the album is concerning a different way to die.

"Choir of the Damned" is extended on the CD version (the running time listed is this version). The version on the LP is about a minute shorter and is missing the harmonized prelude from the CD version.

Bonus tracks taken from the Flag of Hate EP.

The vinyl matrix/runout is different from the original press.

No printed inner sleeve.

First album to feature the band's unnamed demon "mascot" on the front cover.

Recording information:

Recorded at Musiclab Studio, Berlin, 1986.

Mastered at Studio-Nord-Breman, Germany.

Recording information:

Recorded at Phoenix Studio in Bochum, Germany 1986.