Kreator - Betrayer

What this video is

Released in 1989 as part of Kreator's 'Extreme Aggression' (Noise Records / Epic Records), 'Betrayer' arrived at the precise moment German thrash metal was making its first serious incursion into the American mainstream. The video's heavy rotation on MTV's Headbangers Ball introduced Kreator — and Teutonic thrash broadly — to a US audience already primed by domestic acts like Metallica, Slayer, and Megadeth. The…

Why it matters

One of the most widely-seen Teutonic thrash metal music videos of the 1980s, 'Betrayer' functioned as the genre's primary ambassador to MTV's mainstream metal audience. Its Headbangers Ball rotation helped establish that European thrash acts could compete with US counterparts for major-label…

The director

Steve Payne is credited as director of the 1989 Kreator 'Betrayer' music video on both IMDB (tt19886946) and IMVDb. No additional independently verifiable career biography details for this specific director could be confirmed beyond these music video credits.