KREATOR Has Two Song Ideas For Next Album, Says MILLE PETROZZA

Alex Stojanovic of Metal Master Kingdom conducted an interview with Mille Petrozza of German thrash metal veterans KREATOR on October 29 at The Opera House in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the progress of the songwriting sessions for the follow-up to 2012's "Phantom Antichrist":

"I've got two songs. Well, I'm not sure about the arrangement of the second song, so I'd say I have one and a half songs. But two song ideas. One song is quite done, it's quite ready, and it sounds pretty brutal.

"I think the next album's just gonna be… I don't know what it's gonna be yet. But I hope it's gonna be as strong as 'Phantom Antichrist'.

"We wanna write songs that… The longer the band is existing, we feel like we are able to create something that lasts… If we write songs now, they need to last for the next decade or whatever. Because we're constantly touring and we're stuck with these songs. So songs like 'Hordes Of Chaos' and 'Enemy Of God', those are songs that will always be in the setlist from now on. And I hope we can write some more of these. And that's something that we focus on. And the more songs that have that quality, the better the album gets.

"I have a little bit of a concept for the album, like lyrical concept — what it's gonna be like — and I need to sit down with the band and explain it to them. We need to go into the rehearsal room, because we're very old school when it comes to that; we don't send files around, we don't rehearse on Skype… even though we could, but we don't. I think that's when the songs really come about. That's when everything is being developed and everything will fall into place."

On why it is taking so long to come up with new material:

"Before this [North American] tour [with ARCH ENEMY], I was so in songwriting mode and then I had to go on tour. Not that… I love being on the road — don't get me wrong — but I'm not the kind of person… I know so many musicians that just can knock out an album between two tours. They write the album in a week and then they go into the studio and next month they release it. I'm not like that. I need at least a year to make everything right, write the right words for it, come up with some… think about the next step of the band. And I think that's just very essential. If we put out another album that's just not as good as 'Phantom Antichrist', we won't release it. It needs to feel the same way, and it needs to feel like it's just as strong, if not stronger, so before we don't have that, there will be not another KREATOR album."

"There's no rush, and there's no pressure from anyone. Of course, you shouldn't overthink it and you shouldn't be too ambitious sometimes. Sometimes just trust your instincts, so to speak, but I've got a pretty good sense for when something's right. And I know that if we take the next year off and we write until the end of the year, there's a huge possibility that we'll get something done."

On whether KREATOR will work with Swedish producer Jens Bogren again after collaborating with him on "Phantom Antichrist":

"Hopefully yes. I've sent him one of my new songs, but he didn't respond yet [laughs]; maybe he doesn't like it. No… we wanna do another album with Jens, because he's just… psychologically, he's a very quiet person.

"Sometimes in the studio, bandmembers, you wanna do your best and you get a little nervous, and Jens is always, like, 'Okay…' He calms us down and he grounds us in a way where… If he likes something, he likes it a lot, and if he doesn't like something, he wants to make it better so he can like it, if you know what I mean?! But he will also tell you straightforward if a song is not that strong, so that's something that we need, because an outside perspective is always important for an album.

"A lot of bands, they just put out everything they came up with on an album, and it makes the album, like… sometimes you have too many fillers. But Jens is just… Working with him is all about… He has a way of… If we have a good riff, a good idea for a song, he makes it more musical or something… he puts certain harmonies, he puts certain… He just gets the sounds right and he just does something that helps the music and makes it more musical. We love working with him."

"Phantom Antichrist" sold 3,900 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at No. 1 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.