The band also has three major festival appearances lined up for next spring
Metal titans Kreator are coming back to North American next year. The band, who last conquered American audiences and venues in 2024, will embark on a headline tour of the U.S., with stops at key festivals, including Welcome to Rockville, Sonic Temple, and Maryland Deathfest. The tour kicks off on May 7 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and runs through May 23 in Huntington, New York.
The artist pre-sale is set for Thursday, December 11 at 10am local time, with the general on-sale set for Friday, December 12 at 10am local time.
Check out the full tour itinerary below.
Ahead of the tour, Kreator will unleash their sixteenth full-length, Krushers of the World, on January 16 via Nuclear Blast Records. The band recently unleashed music video for their latest single “Satanic Anarchy,” which can be viewed below. The track follows the previously released “Seven Serpents” and “Tränenpalast.”
Check out the album’s cover art and tracklisting below, plus a link to pre-order and pre-save.
When Kreator’s earliest incarnation formed under the influence of Kiss and Judas Priest in the early ’80s none of the above was thinkable. For young adults, Essen, back then a 600k-plus city in the Ruhr area, was a grim place. Unemployment rates were surging, houses had been blackened by smoke from factories and coal mines, for some alcohol and drug abuse were the only escape route from this dismal, post-industrialized backdrop.
Whereas Birmingham spawned Black Sabbath and undoubtedly became the legitimate birthplace of heavy metal, the bands associated with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal like Iron Maiden, Venom, Saxon pushed the genre with a street-fighting attitude, US artists such as Metallica, Exodus, Slayer, and Swedes Bathory intensified the style even more, and altogether concocted a dangerous brew Kreator poured down their throats in gallons. For today’s remaining founding members Mille and drummer Jürgen “Ventor” Reil, music was the way out from these dire surroundings, and provided an outlet for the frustration and contempt boiling in their guts. And Kreator went all in. Naive, chaotic yet utterly determined.
And they left their own mark on heavy metal history, radicalizing thrash and inspiring legions of musicians including Arch Enemy, Cannibal Corpse, Behemoth and Ghost, with Papa Emeritus joining a TV performance of “Satan Is Real” in 2017.
Their newest studio album, Krushers of the World, shows a band that has lost none of its bite kicking off with the rabid aggression of “Seven Serpents.” It also tackles Petrozza’s love for horror flicks by paying tribute to Dario Argento’s Suspiria in “Tränenpalast” with extreme metal vocal coach Britta Görtz (Hiraes) adding her own vicious tone over dark yet catchy melodies. And of course, you shall have hefty doses of pure, thrashing aggression as well! “Barbarian,” “Deathscream” or “Psychotic Imperator” deliver your fix of merciless riffs, majestic leads by Sami Yli-Sirniö and some of Ventor’s fastest parts ever. Are you looking for powerful mid-tempo sections allowing bassist Frédéric Leclercq to shine? Then the monumental groove of the title track and stunning chorus of “Satanic Anarchy” will have you covered. Rounded off by a triumphant and — no pun intended — krushing production courtesy of Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios, who previously worked with the group on Phantom Antichrist (2012) and Gods Of Violence (2017), Kreator return in perfect shape.
A novelty to Krushers Of The World is immediately obvious when staring at its cover. With Zbigniew Bielak, renowned for his work for Ghost, art and design offer an interesting twist to Kreator’s history. Transforming classic visual trademarks dedicated fans will recognize from Coma Of Souls (1990), Out of the Dark… into the Light (1988) and Pleasure To Kill (the font!) into a highly detailed tapestry garnered with occult symbolism, Bielak crafted an outstanding piece paying homage to a band he loves since his teenager days yet with a daring and unique flair. The cover of Krushers of the World rewards everyone willing to analyze the grandiose sleeve design.
In essence, Krushers of the World is of course not a throwback to Kreator’s past, it is furious, massive sounding and creative in its own right, gifted with a songwriting quality honed over years. It displays a band which earned its spot among the giants of the genre, and developed its youthful anger further into a professional, internationally successful, nonetheless intimidating creature. Krushers tf the World underlines the fact that fueled by the reflective look at their own legacy sparked by 2025’s Hate & Hope movie, Kreator nowadays appear more mindful of their early days while simultaneously progressing uncompromisingly, unstoppable in their search for new realms to conquer and new worlds to krush.
May 7—Fort Lauderdale, FL—Revolution Live
May 8—Daytona Beach, FL—Welcome to Rockville*
May 10—Atlanta, GA—The Masquerade
May 11—Knoxville, TN—The Mill & Mine
May 12—Raleigh, NC—The Ritz
May 14—Worcester, MA—Palladium
May 15—McKees Rocks, PA—Roxian Theatre
May 16—Columbus, OH—Sonic Temple*
May 18—Davenport, IA—Capitol Theatre
May 19—Minneapolis, MN—First Avenue
May 20—Chicago, IL—Romova Theatre
May 22—Baltimore, MD—Maryland Deathfest*
May 23—Huntington, NY—Paramount
*Festival Appearance
Tickets will be available HERE
VIP packages are available HERE
Kreator – Krushers of the World [Nuclear Blast, 2026]
1. Seven Serpents
2. Satanic Anarchy
3. Krushers of the World
4. Tränenpalast
5. Barbarian
6. Blood of Our Blood
7. Combatants
8. Psychotic Imperator
9. Deathscream
10. Loyal to the Grave
Pre-order and pre-save now HERE