Kreator are central to the evolution of German thrash. Initially flirting with speed metal, they upped the vileness with 1989's Extreme Aggression, its landmark title cut shot through with whiplash-inducing tempo shifts. Most of their songs sound as if singer Mille Petrozza is coughing up his spleen: His bark on 2001's dive-bombing “Violent Revolution” is so guttural it borders on death metal. Kreator also have dipped into industrial and goth metal—“Endorama” comes suffused with dystopia-evoking riffs and atmospheric dread.