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Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized by its fast tempo and aggression. Thrash metal songs typically use fast, percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work. Thrash metal lyrics often deal with social issues using direct and denunciatory language, an approach which partially overlaps with the hardcore genre. The "Big Four" bands of thrash metal are Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer, who simultaneously created and popularized the genre in the early 1980s.
The origins of thrash metal are generally traced to the late 1970s and early 1980s, when a number of bands began incorporating the sound of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, creating a new genre and developing into a separate movement from punk rock and hardcore. This genre is more aggressive compared to its relative, speed metal, and can be seen in part to be a reaction to the lighter, more widely acceptable sounds and themes of glam metal.
Thrash metal generally features fast tempos, low-register, complex guitar riffs, high-register guitar solos, double bass drumming, and aggressive vocals. Most thrash guitar solos are played at high speed, as they are usually characterized by shredding, and use techniques such as sweep picking, legato phrasing, alternate picking, string skipping, and two-hand tapping. Thrash lead guitarists are often influenced by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Thrash guitar riffs often use chromatic scales and emphasize the tritone and diminished intervals, instead of using conventional single scale based riffing. For example, the main riff of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" is a chromatic descent, followed by a chromatic ascent based on the tritone. Rhythm guitar playing is characterized by extensive palm muting and down picking to give the riffs a chugging sound, along with extensive use of the pedal point technique (creating what can be considered a distinctive, 'thrashy' sound). Speed, pacing, and time-changes also define thrash metal. Thrash tends to have an accelerating feel which may be due in large part to its aggressive drumming style. For example, thrash drummers often use two bass drums, or a double-bass pedal, in order to create a relentless, driving beat. Cymbal stops/chokes are often used to transition from one riff to another or to precede an acceleration in tempo. To keep up with the other instruments, many thrash bassists use a pick. However, some prominent thrash metal bassists have used their fingers, such as Frank Bello, Greg Christian, Jack Gibson, Steve DiGiorgio, Robert Trujillo and the late Cliff Burton. Several bassists use a distorted bass tone, an approach popularized by Burton and Motörhead's Lemmy.
Lyrical themes in thrash metal include isolation, alienation, corruption, injustice, addiction, suicide, murder, warfare, and other maladies that afflict the individual and society. Humor and irony can occasionally be found, but they are limited, and are the exception rather than the rule.
Inclusive thrash metal music subgenres:
- Crossover thrash, often abbreviated to crossover, is a form of thrash metal that contains more hardcore punk elements than standard thrash. It is sometimes referred to as punk metal, though this is generally incorrect due to the existence of other music genres that combine forms of punk rock and heavy metal, such as grunge, crust punk, and more recently metalcore and its subgenres. While thrash metal is heavily influenced by hardcore punk, the overall sound of crossover thrash is more punk-influenced yet more metal-sounding and aggressive than traditional hardcore punk and thrashcore. The term was coined by the band D.R.I. with their album Crossover, released in 1987. The term 'crossover' is based on the metaphor of crossing over from one genre into the other, thus capturing artists the operate within the transition zone between thrash metal and hardcore punk. With the metaphor comes the conception of directionality, such that the genre is applied to hardcore and crust punk artists who have crossed over into thrash metal territory, such as D.R.I., Discharge, The Exploited, The Accüsed, Agnostic Front and Suicidal Tendencies (who eventually ventured into alternative metal), and thrash metal artists who crossed over into hardcore punk territory, such as Nuclear Assault and S.O.D. A number of death metal bands (especially those of the first wave of Swedish death metal) draw on hardcore punk, mainly because their members listen to crossover thrash - these bands are included under the death metal subgenre here at the MMA.
- Death-thrash combines elements from thrash metal and death metal. The most common type of death-thrash is based on thrash metal music (often played a bit faster than standard thrash metal) with growled vocals. Sepultura's "Schizophrenia", "Beneath the Remains", and "Arise" are considered examples of death-thrash. Given that death metal is derived from thrash metal, many early death metal bands played a style that was anchored thrash metal and could be considered death-thrash. Many of those artists are included under the death metal genre here on MMA.
- Technical/progressive (or tech/prog) thrash metal is considered a legitimate genre by some (or even two legitimate genres), while others argue that it is a pseudo-genre. Bands included in this genre take emphasize technicality in their music, in the form of complex riffs and/or complex song structures, while others apply the ethos of progressive music more broadly without straying from their basic thrash metal sound. Examples of artists that are sometimes considered tech/prog thrash metal acts are Dark Angel, Death Angel (especially on "Act III"), Annihilator, Artillery (especially on "By Inheritance", "When Death Comes", and "My Blood"), and Invocator. Releases like "Master of Puppets" and "...And Justice For All" by Metallica are quite progressively oriented with complex song structures and numerous sections per song. Some bands like Voivod, Antithesis and Watchtower took the progressive approach so far that they are primarily considered progressive metal artists rather than thrash metal artists.
- Blackened thrash metal is thrash metal with black metal elements. Its thrash metal basis is more primitive and akin to early German thrash metal. Examples of blackened thrash metal bands are Assaulter, Aura Noir, and The Metaphor. It should be mentioned that much early black metal, such as Venom and Hellhammer/Celtic Frost actually had its roots in thrash metal.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrash_metalWritten by Time Signature.
Sub-genre collaborators (+ child sub-genres & shared with Speed Metal and Groove Metal): - Vim Fuego (leader)
- Nightfly
Showing only albums and EPs | Based on members ratings & MMA custom algorithm | 24 hours caching
EP · 1996 ·
Crossover Thrash
UMUR
"True to the Trade E.P." is an EP release by US, California based hardcore/crossover thrash metal act Attitude Adjustment. The EP was released through Rise Above It Records in 1996 and is the follow-up release to the band´s second full-length studio album "Out of Hand" from 1991. "True to the Trade E.P." is a posthumous release, as Attitude Adjustment disbanded in 1991.
The EP was originally released on 7" vinyl (limited to 1.200 copies), featuring 3 live tracks and 2 demo tracks on the A-side and two studio tracks on the B-side. Both the live and the demo tracks feature a raw, noisy, and lo-fi recording quality, while the 2 studio tracks feature a slighly better sounding production (recorded in November 1995 during a short reformation of the band). It´s fast, aggressive, and simple hardcore, and nothing out of the ordinary for the style. Drummer Chris Kontos is the star of the show with his powerful and skillful drumming.
Upon conclusion "True to the Trade E.P." isn´t the most necessary release. Not even for fans of Attitude Adjustment. The recording quality of the live- and the demo tracks are simply of such a low quality that it´s hard to enjoy the music, and the two studio recordings aren´t that interesting either. A 2 star (40%) rating is warranted.
Album · 2020 ·
Crossover Thrash
UMUR
"Rotten to the Core Part 2 (The Nightmare Continues)" is the ninth full-length studio album by US metal act Deceased. The album was released through Malt Soda Recordings in July 2020. It´s the successor to "Ghostly White" from 2018, but it´s not a new studio album featuring original music. Instead it´s a hardcore/punk covers album, featuring covers of artists like Final Conflict, Buzzcocks, and The Accüsed. It´s Deceased second album featuring hardcore/punk covers as they released the "Rotten to the Core" covers album in 2004.
Not surprisingly "Rotten to the Core Part 2 (The Nightmare Continues)" sounds like a natural successor to "Rotten to the Core" (2004) (the CD version of this album actually features all tracks from the 2004 album as bonus material), and if you enjoyed the first release of the series, you´ll pretty surely appreciate "Rotten to the Core Part 2 (The Nightmare Continues)" too. Deceased are a well playing band and they try to put their own spin on the songs, and are relatively successful doing that. The source material are however a little difficult to deal with in terms of making the tracks stand out. The simple and one-dimensional nature of the hardcore/punk styled tracks simply doesn´t provide Deceased with much to work with.
A few tracks of course stand out more than the rest like the cover of "London Calling" by The Clash, but the album is generally not the most varied listening experience. Although the album is relatively well produced and enjoyable while it plays (regardless if you know the original tracks or not), it´s not a release which holds up to the studio albums featuring the band´s original material, and it should be viewed as a "fun" release, the band recorded because of their love for the source material and for their own sake, rather than for the sake of their normal audience. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
EP · 2016 ·
Thrash Metal
UMUR
"Betrayer of Humanity" is an EP release by Swedish thrash metal act Lunatic Brigade. The EP was independently released in September 2016. Lunatic Brigade formed in 2015 by among others the two former Hatred members Kenneth Wiklund (guitars) and Sonny Svedlund (drums).
Stylistically this is pretty standard US influenced thrash metal and it´s artists like Forbidden, Demonica, and Lunatic Brigade´s fellow countrymen in Mezzrow, who are the valid references. The music is well performed, and lead vocalist Matte Kärvemo has a raw yet melodic tinged delivery. Tight, thrashy, and powerful playing and some relatively memorable songwriting. Lunatic Brigade arguably know what they´re doing.
"Betrayer of Humanity" also features a sharp, powerful, and heavy sounding production job, which suits the material perfectly, and fans of any of the above mentioned artists should find a lot to appreciate here. It´s not exactly unique sounding or innovative in any way, but it´s a good quality release on all other parameters and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
Album · 2014 ·
Thrash Metal
UMUR
"Pandemonium" is the third full-length studio album by Brazilian thrash/groove metal act Cavalera Conspiracy. The album was released through Napalm Records in October 2014. It´s the successor to "Blunt Force Trauma" from 2011 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as bassist Johny Chow (Stone Sour) has been replaced by Nate Newton (The Ocean Collective, Doomriders, Old Man Gloom). The usual suspects are Max Cavalera on guitars and lead vocals, Igor Cavalera on drums and percussion, and Marc Rizzo on guitars.
Stylistically "Pandemonium" leans a bit more towards the thrash metal past of the Cavalera brothers than the two previous releases, but still features a lot of heavy grooves and the occasional ethnic trial music moment (although it´s mostly the limited edition bonus track "Porra" which falls into that catagory). "Pandemonium" features quite a few fast-paced thrashy sections and the distinct sounding shouting raw vocals of Max Cavalera and it´s generally a highly energetic, heavy, and aggressive album. The lead guitar work of Rizzo is of high class and his playing is both varied and intriguing.
The opening track "Babylonian Pandemonium" is one of the highlights of the album, but "Pandemonium" is generally a well written and effective release. The sound production is professional, raw, and detailed, and the musicianship is top notch. So on most parameters "Pandemonium" is a good quality release. There are elements which aren´t as great as others though, and I´d mention some of the thrashy riffs, which do sound a little uninspired (especially compared to what the brothers produced on the late 80s/early 90s thrash metal releases by Sepultura) and the idea to often put distorting effects on Max Cavalera´s voice. It doesn´t sound great and contributes to "Pandemonium" being an album I seldom return to. With the talent involved in the creation of "Pandemonium", I just think I expect more. Still a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
EP · 1989 ·
Thrash Metal
UMUR
"Citadels on Fire" is an EP release by US, Texas based power/thrash metal act Obscene Jester. The EP was released through Chase Records in 1989. Originally only on cassette tape, and it wasn´t until 2015 that the EP saw a CD release through Divebomb Records. Obscene Jester proved a short-lived act forming in 1987 and disbanding in 1991 after releasing "Citadels on Fire" and a 1990 demo. A debut album was alledgedly recorded but it was not released because the band split-up, and it has yet to see the light of day (as of November 2024). Obscene Jester played one reunion show in 2015, featuring Jaret Reddick of Bowling for Soup on vocals replacing original vocalist Sammy Stovall (who performs on "Citadels on Fire").
Stylistically the material on "Citadels on Fire" is thrash metal with a lead singer who sometimes sings a little more melodic and therefore enters US power metal territory. Not completely unlike a contemporary act like Intruder (from Nashville, Tennessee). Although the band do venture into both melodic US power/heavy metal territories and even could be labelled a bit progressive at times ("Apocalyptic Prophecy" is a good example of all their stylistic elements on display), this is however still mainly a thrash metal release featuring hard edged thrashy riffs and rhythms, blistering lead guitar work, and a nice portion of aggression.
"Citadels on Fire" is well produced, featuring a powerful, detailed, and effectful sound production, which suits the material perfectly. It´s an EP release worth spending your time on if you enjoy artists who combine thrash metal with US power/heavy metal elements. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
Movie · 2004 ·
Thrash Metal
martindavey87
‘Some Kind of Monster’ is an interesting look at the personal problems that arise amongst band members after having worked together throughout careers that span decades. The biggest rock band in the world is on the verge of breaking up, with one member leaving, one member in rehab and one member being the most hated man in music. It’s compelling viewing, that’s for sure.
However, it’s been often stated that this will appeal to Metallica fans and non-fans alike, and I do consider that a bit of an overstatement. I’m a huge, huge die-hard fan of the band, but at two hours and 10 minutes in duration, and a couple of hours of extra material, even I find this quite a tedious viewing at times.
Essentially, it boils down to the egos of two men, James and Lars, and goes on to become nothing more than “Temper Tantrum: The Movie”. Still, it’s always fun and interesting to see what musicians I admire get up to when they’re not on stage. The process of recording their 2003 dud of album ‘St. Anger’, what they do in their spare time, the auditions for a new bass player and the endless promotional events they partake in.
While this isn’t essential viewing to the average movie-goer, fans of the band will enjoy this stripped and bare movie that shows that even rich and famous rock stars have egos and emotions, and the tolls that that stardom takes on them.
Movie · 1998 ·
Thrash Metal
martindavey87
It feels like a lifetime ago that I bought this DVD! Back in 2002, at the impressionable age of 15, this was such an awe-inspiring show to watch. Metallica were (and still are) so much larger than life, and everything about this home video release was amazing.
The main show, despite being at the peak of Metallica’s mid-90’s alternative rock era, shows a band who could rock out with the best of them, and while the set list may not hold up amazingly well by today’s standards, it’s still brimming with heavy metal and hard rock anthems.
There’s an abundance of extras that show the behind-the-scenes process of the show and it’s titular stunts, and the pre-show footage is a blast to watch, so much so, that lurking somewhere out there is a home video my friends and I (all aged 15 and in our first band) made of us embarrassingly recreating many of the scenes.
While Metallica has certainly released better home videos and DVD’s, ‘Cunning Stunts’, with its top notch sound and picture, and brimming with fantastic visuals, still holds up just as well today as it did 20 years ago.