Earlier this year, KREATOR frontman Mille Petrozza revealed to the official podcast of Italy’s Metalitalia.com that KREATOR would wait until the coronavirus pandemic has subsided before releasing an album.

“Last year, in August, we felt that we were done writing, and we were very enthusiastic about, like, ‘Okay, this is almost an album. We have 12 songs. And we take the 10 best, or whatever we come up with.’ And we already planned on going into the studio in February,” he said. “Now it’s February, and the world is still kind of fucked with the COVID. So we have to wait and be patient… I think going on a tour, the artwork, everything has to connect. So we’ll wait until that’s possible again, and then we’ll put out the album.”

On the topic of the musical direction of the follow-up to 2017’s “Gods Of Violence” album, Mille said: “It’s definitely different. It’s hard for me to describe, but I think it’s definitely more thrash again. It has a lot of melody, and it has a lot of traditional parts, and it has a lot of ingredients of the last four or five albums. But it also has some very old-school moments. I think it’s definitely the next step.”

Asked if KREATOR will once again work with producer Jens Bogren, who helmed “Gods Of Violence” and 2012’s “Phantom Antichrist”, Mille said: “At this point, it looks like we’re working with Arthur Rizk (CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, CODE ORANGE, POWER TRIP). That’s what we have planned at this point. And I’m kind of exchanging demo tapes and discussing recording techniques with him. So, yeah, it looks like we’re working with Arthur.”

KREATOR‘s next album will mark the band’s first with bassist Frédéric Leclercq, who joined the group in 2019.