Thrash Metal: A Guide

The beginnings of thrash metal are highly debated. There are those who claim venom created thrash metal, those who claim Dave Mustaine created thrash metal, those who claim Overkill wrote the first thrash song, and etc. I will focus on the easy, and straightforward (as straightforward as it gets) beginning.

Thrash metal owes its existence to one movement: The New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM). Bands included in this genre are Iron Maiden, Saxon, Diamond Head, Holocaust, Angel Witch, Venom, Mercyful Fate, Tank... etc. These bands also had high speed, fast guitar solos, and utilized the technique of palm muting.

Thrash metal is often seen as a reaction to the commercial success, and bland songs of the glam rock/metal movement. Metallica relocated from LA for this reason (along with Cliff, but that's for later).

The first thrash metal bands are often viewed as Exodus, Metallica, Slayer, and Overkill. Of these, Metallica and Slayer are the most notable: Both releasing their "thrash" debuts in 1983, Slayer with the NWOBHM/Thrash album Show No Mercy, and Metallica with their angst filled album, Kill 'Em All. Other thrash acts were not far behind, Exodus with Bonded by Blood in 1985, Ex-Metallica's Dave Mustine's Megadeth with Killing is My Business... and Business is Good in 1985, Overkill's Feel the Fire in 1985, Kreator's Endless Pain in 1985, Anthrax's Fistful of Metal in 1984.. etc. Thrash metal had begun.

1986 and 1987 were the two biggest years in Thrash metal. Every single band of what I call the first wave of thrash metal either released a landmark album in 1986 or 1987. For a brief list, there is:

1986
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Megadeth - Peace Sells... but Who's Buying
Slayer - Reign in Blood
Kreator - Pleasure to Kill
Dark Angel - Darkness Descends
Flotsam and Jetsam - Doomsday for the Deceiver
Sodom - Obsessed by Cruelty
Destruction - Eternal Devastation
Tankard - Zombie Attack
Nuclear Assault - Game Over

1987
Exodus - Pleasures of the Flesh
Anthrax - Among the Living
Death Angel - The Ultra-Violence
Overkill - Taking Over
Voivod - Killing Technology
Sodom - Persecution Mania
Testament - The Legacy

These albums are almost all regarded as the holy grail of thrash metal, and many of them are revered classics that every thrash metal fan knows.

Bay Area Thrash

The most obvious and the most well known, the Bay Area produced some of the best and most diverse thrash, but it was also a place where many bands failed, and produced some questionable content. Exodus, Metallica, Death Angel, Sadus, Testament, and many others were formed here, and played here. Exodus is known as one of the staples of thrash, Sadus as one of the greatest technical thrash bands, and Metallica is known in its own right.

German Thrash

This is my personal favorite thrash scene. The big 3 of German thrash are Kreator, Destruction, and Sodom. The German scene was much less melodic, much more brutal, and utilized more tremolo picking. Many of the bands influenced the death and black metal scenes with their debuts and following albums. Other notable German thrash includes Exumer, Tankard, and Mekong Delta.

New England Thrash

Another well known scene of thrash, New England produced bands like Nuclear Assault, Overkill, and Anthrax. There was no real New England sound as there was a German sound. Overkill played a NWOBHM influenced thrash metal with Bobby Blitz's higher pitched vocals, and Anthrax inserted a bit of humor into their music.

Brazilian Thrash

An extreme thrash scene, and one that developed a bit later, Brazil produced some of the most extreme thrash. Sepultura and Sacrofago are the two most notable Brazilian bands. They would both, in their early works help lay foundations for death metal and black metal, and Sepultura would help pioneer groove metal with its later works.

Canadian Thrash

Another diverse group of musicians, the Canadians produced some of the most notable thrash acts. Razor, Annihilator, Voivod, and Sacrifice. Razor produced straightforward thrash and Annihilator wrote a masterpiece in their debut, Alice in Hell.

Others

As you may have noticed, many bands do not belong in scenes, and some of the most notable at that! Megadeth, Slayer, Coroner, Artillery, Loudblast, Massacra, and Celtic Frost. Megadeth was one of the most technical thrash metal bands, Slayer for obvious reasons, Coroner and Artillery were the most important European technical thrash acts, Loudblast and Massacra pioneered the French thrash/death sound, and Celtic Frost influenced black metal acts.

After the first wave cemented thrash metal's existence, many other thrash bands began to pop up. These thrash bands were generally more extreme in their direction. Some became more technical, some became more melodic, and same progressed towards death and black. However, many simply wrote "thrash".

Sadus, Artillery, Vio-Lence, Annihilator, Heathen, and Coroner were more technical, with Sadus being more brutal, Vio-Lence with a more chaotic basis, and Artillery + Heathen progressing towards melody.

Some bands that simply stuck to the thrash formula were Death Angel, and Testament, who in my opinion lack redeeming qualities.

By this time, thrash was already showing signs of age, and it showed in the albums of the old thrash giants. Metallica lost the youth and intensity of Kill 'Em All, and Ride the Lightning, and recorded ...And Justice for All, Slayer lost the speed of Reign in Blood with South of Heaven, and Exodus had begun to unravel since their second album, Pleasures of the Flesh. However, the likes of Megadeth, Kreator, and Sodom were still going strong with albums like So Far... So Good... So What, Extreme Aggression, and Agent Orange.

While it was apparent in the old giants, it was more apparent in the new bands. Many thrash bands sprung up and were almost instantly signed to major labels. Mediocre acts like Grinder and Testament were simply regurgitating old, and stale music.

In the early 90s, thrash was showing many signs of death. Megadeth, after the phenomenal Rust in Peace, released Countdown to Extinction. While it wasn't bad, it was a major step down. Metallica, after taking a fairly large step down with Justice, tripped with the Black Album, and soon would die with Load. Overkill, after Horroscope, released the groove metal horror known as I Hear Black, and Slayer would enter a slump from which they have never recovered after Seasons in the Abyss.

What killed thrash? Death metal and black metal killed thrash. Sure, grunge and rap or whatever got more commercial success, but death metal began to replace thrash metal. Death was simply more extreme than thrash, and attracted more fans. Black metal was equally inaccessible, and probably had more excitement with church burnings and whatnot. Death and black took from thrash its underground fan base.

My opinion, of course.

Slayer - Hell Awaits
Slayer - Reign in Blood
Metallica - Kill 'Em All
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Megadeth - Killing is my Business... and Business is Good
Megadeth - Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Exodus - Bonded By Blood
Exodus - Pleasures of the Flesh
Overkill - Taking Over
Overkill - The Years of Decay
Overkill - Horrorscope
Anthrax - Fistful of Metal
Anthrax - Among the Living
Kreator - Pleasure to Kill
Kreator - Terrible Certainty
Sodom - Persecution Mania
Sodom - Agent Orange
Destruction - Eternal Devastation
Destruction - The Antichrist
Sepultura - Schizophrenia
Annihilator - Alice in Hell
Sadus - Swallowed in Black
Morbid Saint - Spectrum of Death
Demolition Hammer - Tortured Existence
Tankard - The Morning After
Dark Angel - Darkness Descends
Artillery - By Inheritance
Coroner - Punishment for Decadence
Heathen - Victims of Deception
Vio-Lence - Eternal Nightmare
Testament - The Legacy
Death Angel - The Ultra-Violence
Paradox - Heresy
Sacred Reich - The American Way
Whiplash - Power and Pain
Watchtower - Violent Disassembly

1. Megadeth - PS... BWB
2. Kreator - Terrible Certainty
3. Demolition Hammer - Tortured Existence
4. Megadeth - Rust in Peace
5. Sadus - Swallowed in Black
6. Overkill - Taking Over
7. Destruction - The Antichrist
8. Overkill - Horrorscope
9. Exumer - Possessed by Fire
10. Kreator - Pleasure to Kill
11. Exodus - Bonded by Blood
12. Sepultura - Schizophrenia
13. Metallica - Ride the Lightning
14. Destruction - Eternal Devastation
15. Sodom - Persecution Mania

If you read Wikipedia, you will see the big 4 of thrash. I disagree with that label, and have my Big 5 (no, not Dave Mustaine's!)

1. Metallica - An Obvious choice. Metallica kinda maybe sorta started thrash, and created 2 very good albums, 1 good album, and 1 decent album. (If I didn't put it, the fanboys would kill me!)
VG: KEA, RTL
G: MOP
D: AJFA

2. Megadeth - Another obvious choice. Megadeth was technical before technical existed. 3 very good albums, 2 good albums, and 1 decent album.
VG: KIMB...ABIG, PS...BWB, RIP
G: SF, SG... SW, Youthanasia
D: Countdown to Extinction

3. Exodus - A difference from the big 4! Exodus is possibly one of the greatest thrash metal acts. Despite decreasing quality from the awesome Bonded by Blood, they have done decent. 1 VG, 2 G, 1 D
VG: Bonded by Blood
G: Pleasures of the Flesh, Force of Habit
D: Impact is Imminent

4. Slayer - Another obvious choice. Slayer is the most influential thrash metal band of all time, bar none. And Slayer has a good track record. 2 VG, 1 D, 2 G
VG: Hell Awaits, Reign in Blood
G: Show No Mercy, Seasons in the Abyss
D: South of Heaven

5. Overkill - A very big band, and a very good track record. It is also unique in Blitz's vocals, and Verni's thundering bass. 3 VG, 2 G

VG: Taking Over, Years of Decay, Horroscope
G: Feel the Fire, Under the Influence

:I realize of course, that rating albums like that isn't exactly the best way, but I feel those are the most notable thrash bands, and they also have decent track records + they were all there from the start and influenced numerous bands.