Mille Petrozza „Your Heaven, My Hell. Mein Leben, Heavy Metal und wie das alles passieren konnte “

In the organizer's words:

In his autobiography, Mille Petrozza tells the incredible story of his early years for the first time, how his mother signed his first record deal and how a heavy metal clique in the Ruhr area became one of the most internationally significant and long-lived thrash metal bands ever.

Ruhr area, in the seventies: Mille Petrozza grew up in the Altenessen district of Essen as the son of a family of laborers. His mother was a refugee from the GDR, his father a migrant worker from Calabria and he worked underground. In the multicultural melting pot of the Potts, the subcultures of the time meet structural change: colliery deaths, violence, alcoholism, sniffing Pattex. Heavy metal just crashes in: After a Kiss concert, Mille becomes part of an internationally networked grassroots movement. Through heavy metal, he emancipates himself from the boozing youth gangs. The first guitar gives him superpowers: with his band Kreator, Mille becomes an unplanned international thrash metal star.

Mille Petrozza, born in Essen in 1967, has been the guitarist, songwriter and singer of Kreator for over 40 years. The band has sold millions of albums in its career, which began in 1982, and most recently reached number 1 and 2 in the German charts with "Gods of Violence" (2017) and "Hate über alles" (2022). Germany's biggest thrash metal band is also hugely successful internationally. Petrozza lives in Essen and Berlin. He lives vegan, is involved with Peta and practices yoga.

Torsten Groß, born in Iserlohn in 1971, is a music journalist, author and presenter. Groß worked for "Rolling Stone" and was editor-in-chief of "Spex", he has worked on tracks for Arte and wrote Klaus Doldinger's autobiography. He presents "Soundcheck" on Radioeins and works for "Zeit Online", Deutschlandradio Kultur, "Focus", "Rolling Stone" and as a podcaster.

"Your Heaven, My Hell" by Mille Petrozza and Torsten Groß, will be published by Ullstein Verlag on August 28, 2025, 256 pages