We coulda seen this one coming from the other side of the Berlin Wall -- if it was still standing, that is. Kreator's new video "Hordes of Chaos" has swept past clips by Arise and Ruin, Abigail Williams, Five Finger Death Punch and Warbringer to earn a slot on the next episode of "Headbangers Ball," which airs Saturday night from 2 to 3 a.m. on MTV2. Read more...

photo by Jon Wiederhorn

If you were out of town last week, or your computer was in the shop because you had to have all the viruses removed that you acquired surfing for porn, don't worry, we've got your back. Here's a recap of some of the coolest stuff we posted:

We were there when Slipknot, Coheed and Cambria and Trivium blew the roof off Madison Square Garden and checked back with a full review of the show.

Click "more" for a recap on what else you might have missed. And keep up with all the metal on Twitter.com under the name HeadbangersBlog. Read more...

photo by Jon Wiederhorn

On the last "Headbangers Ball," we premiered the new Kreator video "Hordes of Chaos" and Arise and Ruin's "Forever Damned." We also programmed new clips by Warbringer and Abigail Williams.

Now it's your turn to pick one of these or another clip from the list below to return for next week's program. Remember, past winners are ineligible and only one vote is allowed per IP address. Voting runs through Wednesday at 3 p.m. Click more to watch last week's winner again and see this week's choices. Read more...

If you love good German thrash, World of Warcraft, "Conan the Barbarian" or other random acts of senseless violence, you owe it to yourself to check out the new video by Kreator, "Hordes of Chaos." See it on the big screen tomorrow night between 2 and 3 a.m. on MTV2's "Headbangers Ball." Click "more" to watch the clip. Read more...

The new video by German thrash legends Kreator for the track "Hordes of Chaos (A Necrologue For the Elite)" will premiere here on HeadbangersBlog.com in the days ahead. But for now, we've got a bunch of exclusive stills from the video not available on the band's MySpace.

The video was shot November 2 in Berlin, Germany with director Jörn Heitmann, who filmed Kreator's "Enemy of God" and who has also worked with Rammstein. The clip depicts the band performing on a hill of bodies while "Gladiator"-style battles rage around them. Click more to see shots from the video and read commentary by frontman Mille Petrozza. Read more...

Long considered one of the top three German thrash metal bands -- along with Destruction and Sodom -- Kreator are likely to hop to the top of the tier (if they weren't there already) with their new album Hordes of Chaos. Click more to listen to samples of all 10 tracks. Read more...

The unholy German triumvirate of Kreator, Destruction and Sodom helped bridge thrash metal between the U.S. and the rest of the world in the mid '80s and also injected the music with a new level of savagery. Obviously Slayer, Exodus and (early) Metallica were extremely heavy, but their German counterparts were even more raw and unhinged -- less musically accomplished, but decidedly more evil sounding.

While all three bands have been through various lineup shifts since their inception, they continue to tour and record. In fact, Destruction released a new album, D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N. on August 22 and Kreator's new disc, Hordes of Chaos, drops on January 13. But where's Sodom? Read more...

photo courtesy of festivals2go.com

Between July 31 and August 2 more than 75,000 people descended in the German town of Wacken to witness one of the largest and most illustrious summer gatherings, the Wacken Open Air Festival. The festival, which was launched in 1990 has grown exponentially since its first year, which featured the obscure local acts 5th Avenue, Axe 'n Sex, Motoslug, Sacret Season, Skyline and Wizzard.

This year Wacken featured Iron Maiden, Avenged Sevenfold, Carcass, At the Gates, Children of Bodom, Exodus, Gorgoroth, Watain, Kreator, Killswitch Engage, Opeth, Obituary, Warbringer, Mortal Sin and many more performing on multiple stages. Click more for a professional slide show of the event. Read more...

While it's not particularly shocking compared to most Cannibal Corpse covers, in 1986 this image from German thrash band Kreator's second album was pretty graphic.

Created by Phil Lawrence, who also designed the band's Terrible Certainty album as well as Celtic Frost's Morbid Tales/Emperor's Return, the art for Pleasure to Kill sets a violent, vicious tone that perfectly matches the speed and brutality of the album. The horned demon, who bears resemblance to something from a Frank Frazetta painting (or a Jesse Helms nightmare), isn't just killing the weapon-wielding skeletons, he's dismembering them one after another and climbing atop the pile of shattered bones to continue the battle.

Even today, it doesn't get much more metal than that.

As for the album, Pleasure to Kill is the Reign in Blood of German thrash metal, and holds up against pretty much any modern death or black metal discs in terms of ferocity and aggression.

Now, here's a video for the far more commercial cut, "Chosen Few":

CHOSEN FEW /KREATOR

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