Kreator

The band was called Tormentor (Ger) in the old days (1982-1984). Both demos were released under that name. The first lineup was Mille, Rob, and Ventor... a few second guitarists were sought out before Jörg Tritze joined before Pleasure to Kill. (Michael Wulf was in the band for a few days, and didn't play on Pleasure to Kill, despite his getting credit). Wulf died in a motorcycle accident in 1993.

With Tritze the band started their first tour ever (before the release of Pleasure to Kill they had only played 5 gigs total). In 1989 German director Thomas Schadt made a documentary about Kreator (focussing on the social aspect of Heavy Metal in the Ruhrarea) titled "Thrash Altenessen" (named after the band's hometown, a suburb of Essen). Tritze left Kreator after Extreme Aggression, which was (as his follow-up Coma of Souls) recorded in Los Angeles with producer Randy Burns (Also Megadeth among others). He was replaced by the former Sodom guitarist Frank "Blackfire" Gosdzik who should stay in the band until 1996.

After the Release of Renewal (1992), founding member Rob decided to leave the band as he wanted to spend more time with his family. He was replaced by Andreas Herz, who never played on any official release, as the band released nothing between 1992 and 1995. The reason was a long fight between the band and their label Noise Records because Kreator wanted to get out of their contract (this also contributed to Ventor's decision to leave Kreator, together with personal problems he had at this time).

When they finally signed a new deal with GUN in 1995, Herz was already replaced by Christian Giesler. Also new in the band was drummer Joe Cangelosi,a friend of Frank Gosdzik, who was fired after only one album. For him Ventor returned to the band and Tommy Vetterli (Coroner) joined for Gosdzik. The last line-up change up to today was made in 2001, when Sami Yli-Sirniö came in for Vetterli.