KREATOR: 'Phantom Antichrist' Video Released

"Phantom Antichrist", the video for the title track of the new album from German thrash metal veterans KREATOR, can be seen below. The clip was helmed by Poland's Grupa 13, which has previously worked with BEHEMOTH, ELUVEITIE, SONATA ARCTICA and DECAPITATED, among others.

Commented KREATOR guitarist/vocalist Mille Petrozza: "The clips produced by Grupa 13 are groundbreaking visual trips that justify the existence of music videos in this day and age. In support of the lyrical concept of our new album, I could not think of a better creative solution than a collaboration with these great visionaries."

He added, "Grupa 13 strikes again! The most apocalyptic video in the history of KREATOR is here!"

"Phantom Antichrist" will be released on June 1 in Europe and June 5 in North America via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was recorded at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden with renowned producer Jens Bogren (OPETH, KATATONIA, SOILWORK, DEVIN TOWNSEND, AMON AMARTH).

The cover artwork for the standard edition of "Phantom Antichrist" was created by Wes Benscoter (SLAYER, DIO, BLACK SABBATH) and can be seen below.

The limited edition of "Phantom Antichrist" will be made available as two-disc digipack, including a bonus DVD.

"Phantom Antichrist" formats:

- Jewel case CD *
- 2LP yellow vinyl *
- 2LP bi-colored vinyl (red/black): limited to 500 copies, hand-numbered *+
- 2LP picture vinyl **
- CD/DVD digi limited edition: 2 digipacks in a slipcase. **
- Limited mailorder edition: metallic box including CD/DVD digi limited edition, T-shirt, exclusive CD "Live In Wacken", poster, signing card, limited to 500 copies, hand-numbered **+

* = Featuring artwork by Wes Benscoter (DIO, BLACK SABBATH, SLAYER)
** = Featuring artwork by Jan Meininghaus
+ = only available at www.nuclearblast.de/shop

In a recent interview with Suicide Scriptures, Petrozza stated about "Phantom Antichrist", "We made sure that it contains all the trademarks that we're known for — crushing brutality, riffs that are very hard to play, lyrics that talk about things that I get angry about. You know, the full treatment, basically. We didn't try to do anything different. The only goal that we set for the band was we wanted to top everything that we'd done before and make this record an exciting record. That's always the main goal."

He added, "First off, we don't plan ahead too much. I take a long time to prepare the songs at home, in my little home studio, and then when I feel that have something lyrically and musically that I feel is good and exciting and powerful, then I play it to the other guys and then we discuss it. And we might come up with new ideas or we might arrange the songs differently, or we tear them apart and put them back together. It's a long process. We started this in the beginning of 2011, and we kept writing and rehearsing the songs until January 2012."

Regarding the lyrical themes covered on "Phantom Antichrist", Mille said, "Many things: injustice; the crisis in Greece; me thinking that religion is obsolete now in this day and age; personal things. I think the lyrics for 'From Flood Into Fire', they're very different, but it's very hard for me to explain what it's about. I want people to listen to it and leave room for their own imagination. I go to the movies all the time and I'm a big movie nerd, and I hate watching a 'making-of' [documentary featuring behind-the-scenes footage] before I go into a movie. So if I would explain the lyrics right now, [it would lose the magic]."

On the topic of the "Phantom Antichrist" artwork, Mille said, "I got in touch with [artist] Wes Benscoter in the middle of June last year and I gave him a couple of songtitles. And I told him that the album might be called 'Phantom Antichrist'. I already had the idea and I told him what the lyrics were about — it's all about the apocalypse, evil in the world… typical KREATOR topics that I always write about. I think he had 'Pleasure To Kill', and he knew about the band. I liked this AUTOPSY cover that he did, and then I found that he did a lot of great stuff for BLACK SABBATH, SLAYER and many, many bands. . . I talked to one of my colleagues that plays in a German band and he told me that he would draw, with a pencil, artworks and then he would give it to a professional artist. I don't have that much influence on the artwork. I think it's best to give an idea and maybe a title or something, maybe some music even… I think that's more of letting the artist be the artist. He needs to create the visual as we do with the music."

The "Phantom Antichrist" single was released April 20 on seven-inch colored vinyl and as a digital download via iTunes, Amazon and various other digital music providers. The release also includes the exclusive IRON MAIDEN cover "The Number Of The Beast".

A brand new promotional photo of KREATOR can be seen below (photo by Stefan Heilemann of Stuttgart, Germany's Heilemania).

KREATOR is:

Miland "Mille" Petrozza – Vocals, Guitrar
Sami Yli-Sirniö - Guitar
Christian "Speesy" Giesler - Bass
Jürgen "Ventor" Reil - Drums

"Phantom Antichrist" video:

"Phantom Antichrist" single artwork:

"Phantom Antichrist" limited-edition artwork:

"Phantom Antichrist" album artwork:

Photo by Stefan Heilemann of Heilemania