Finishing »Gods Of Violence« took KREATOR - featuring Petrozza, Sami Yli-Sirniö (guitars), Christian “Speesy” Giesler (bass) and Jürgen “Ventor” Reil (drums) - about three years. After Petrozza had pre-produced all of the eleven tracks in winter of 2015, KREATOR went to Sweden in order to team up with legendary metal producer Jens Bogren in his Fascination Street Studios once again. What emerged from the recording sessions was bound to fundamentally redefine what KREATOR is all about. An opus that surprises with some lines in German and an unexpected guest in the form of indie pop artist DAGOBERT. Moreover, Italian death metallers FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE lent a hand with the orchestral parts of four songs and 12-year-old Tekla-Li Wadensten played the harp for »Gods Of Violence«.

As is often the case, it all started with a good idea. KREATOR mastermind Mille Petrozza had followed the latest news with growing concern. Especially the November 2015 Paris attacks made him realize that there had to be a continuum of human malevolence, running like a thread through the ages, from ancient times up to the present day. These thoughts led Petrozza to interlocking current events with tales from Greek mythology, eventuating in the song »Gods Of Violence« that was consequently chosen as the album‘s name giver. “Currently, religion has regained a level of importance that I would have never considered possible 20 years ago,” Mille states. “An extremely dangerous polarization is taking place, giving rise to growing hate among us all. That‘s what I wanted to write about.”

However, lyricist Mille Petrozza‘s unique feature lies in his playful approach to these tried and trusted themes: “Understanding the lyrics as an additional dimension is very important to me,” he states. This includes tackling issues of both personal and universal importance. “My wildest years are behind me and there are a couple of things I would have sung about back in the days that just aren‘t in line with my present life anymore. You can grow older and still live a metal musician‘s life for sure. But you have to make sure to preserve your dignity and to not become a parody of yourself - that‘s walking a fine line.”