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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
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Demo · 1982 ·
Thrash Metal
UMUR
"No Life 'til Leather" is the first demo recording by US, California based thrash metal act Metallica. The demo was independently released in July 1982. It´s not actually the first demo recording by Metallica, but it´s the first demo by the band which was recorded at a professional recording studio and which was widely distributed. At this point the band consisted of James Hetfield (lead vocals, guitars), Lars Ulrich (drums), Dave Mustaine (guitars), and Ron McGovney (bass). Some of the latter cassette tape copies credit Cliff Burton for recording the bass, but Burton didn´t replace McGovney until after the recording sessions for "No Life 'til Leather".
"No Life 'til Leather" features seven tracks and a total playing time of 29:41 minutes. All tracks would be re-recorded and included on Metallica´s July 1983 debut full-length studio album "Kill 'Em All", although the Dave Mustaine penned "The Mechanix" was re-arranged and re-titled "The Four Horsemen". Some of the tracks appear in early and quite rough versions and especially James Hetfield´s vocals changed significantly between this demo and "Kill 'Em All". On "No Life 'til Leather" he audibly lacks confidence in his voice and he´s also obviously very young and not a natural singer, which makes for a few odd strained vocal moments. It´s a minor issue though as the raw energy and fiercely aggressive playing make up for that.
The demo features a well sounding production job, considering that it´s a demo release, and it´s no wonder that labels began to show interest in signing Metallica when they heard "No Life 'til Leather". Metallica can rightly be proud of what they produced here and upon conclusion "No Life 'til Leather" is a good quality demo from Metallica and a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.
Album · 1986 ·
Thrash Metal
UMUR
"Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" is the second full-length studio album by US, California based thrash metal act Megadeth. The album was released through Capitol Records in July 1986. It´s the successor to "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!" from June 1985. The lineup is the same as the lineup who recorded "Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!", despite cracks in the foundation caused by alcohol/drug abuse and personal differences. While "Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!" certainly gave Megadeth a name, it was "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?", which made them one of the greatest thrash metal acts on the contemporary scene. The colourful cartoonish looking Edward J. Repka cover artwork is legendary and was a real eye catcher when the album was released. One should not underestimate the importance of cover artwork on heavy metal albums.
The original version of the album contains 8 tracks and a full playing time of 36:16 minutes and while that may not seem like much I´d take quality over quantity any day. Most later reissues feature various types of bonus material. "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" has seen several reissues through the years but since the remixed and remastered version was released in 2004, the original version has been out of print. it´s of course a subjective opinion, but I´d get the orginal version over the remaster anyday. THe remastered version may feature a more fat and heavy tone, but I´m not a fan of changing the dynamics of a mix as much as they´ve done here.
The music on the album is thrash metal with a melodic edge. Dave Mustaine´s attitude filled snarling vocals are definitely an aquired taste, but I´ve never had any problems with his voice on the band´s studio recordings (as opposed to how terrible they usually sound live). The band are very well playing and especially the guitar solos really impress. Melodic shred fests of a high quality and entertainment level. There are a few less remarkable tracks on the album and especially the Willie Dixon cover track "I Ain't Superstitious" disrupts the flow of the album, and it´s simply a sub par track. On the other hand there are strong tracks on the album too like the opening trio of tracks, "Wake Up Dead", "The Conjuring" and "Peace Sells" and tracks like "Good Mourning/Black Friday" and "Bad Omen".
The production is professional and for the time pretty powerful. It´s still very obviously an eighties sound production and there are some minor issues here and there, but overall the sound production suits the material well. And this is of course the original mix I´m talking about. I´ve already spoken of the remaster above.
"Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" is arguably an essential listen for thrash metal fans and the album is by many deservedly called a "classic/seminal" thrash metal album. I still think the band needed to mature a bit more (and lay off the booze and the drugs) before they released their best albums, but "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" is definitely an album worth a listen. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.
Album · 1985 ·
Thrash Metal
UMUR
"Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!" is the debut full-length studio album by US, California thrash metal act Megadeth. The album was released through Combat Records in June 1985. After being kicked out of Metallica in April 1983, lead vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine opted to create his own band and named it Megadeth. The band was initially called Fallen Angels, but after meeting bassist David Ellefson things fell into place and the band was renamed Megadeth. The original trio version of Megadeth recorded the March 1984 "Last Rites" demo, which led them to be signed by Combat Records. Soon after the demo was released original drummer Lee Rausch left and was replaced by Gar Samuelson. Guitarist Chris Poland was added as second guitarist and the quartet lineup who recorded "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!" was in place.
The music on the album is old school American thrash/speed metal, which means that there are lots of traditional heavy metal elements in the music as well as thrash metal ditto ("Chosen Ones" could almost have been a Motörhead song). Traditional heavy metal elements are something that Megadeth have actually always included in their music. While the music is unmistakably the sound of Megadeth, there are a couple of factors that make this album a sub par effort to my ears. The production by Dave Mustaine and Karat Faye is pretty horrible, lifeless and without punch. It´s pretty noisy and messy. I have the 2002 remixed and remastered version and the production doesn´t even sound good on that one. The original version is even worse.
The material is decent but not much more than that. There aren´t many tracks from this album which should ever make it unto a Megadeth live tracklist if you ask me. The choice to include "Mechanix", which is a song Dave Mustaine played and co-wrote with Metallica, is more a curiosity than a great song. To those who don´t know Metallica´s version of "Mechanix" (...have you been living under a rock?) it is called "The Four Horsemen" and appears on their debut full-length studio album "Kill ´em All (1983)".
So all the negatives aside, "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!" is still a decent debut album from Megadeth. But it´s arguably one of the weaker debut efforts from the early thrash metal scene, because of the sub par production values and the immature and uneven songwriting. The restless energy and rawness of the performances are some of the greatest assets of the album and definitely some of the saving graces. At 31:27 it´s a very short album and considering that 4:39 of those minues are spend on playing a cover of "These Boots" by Nancy Sinatra, there really isn´t that much original material featured on "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!". A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
Demo · 1984 ·
Thrash Metal
UMUR
"Last Rites" is the first demo recording by US, California based thrash metal act Megadeth. The demo was independently released in March 1984. After lead vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine´s departure from Metallica in April 1983 while in New York to record (he was unceremoniously fired because of his alcohol/drug abuse and irratic behaviour), Mustaine went back to California and formed the short-lived Fallen Angels. When he met bassist David Ellefson and realised that they couldn´t find a lead vocalist, Mustaine took up the vocal duties himself and about the same time the band name was changed to Megadeth. On this demo Megadeth is a trio completed by drummer Lee Rausch. Rausch left soon after and was replaced by Gar Samuelson and with the addition of guitarist Chris Poland the first stable lineup of Megadeth was born.
...but that´s getting ahead of the story. Stylistically the three tracks on the 11:26 minutes long demo are harsh, raw, and aggressive thrash/speed metal compositions, which all ended up in re-recorded versions of Megadeth´s June 1985 debut full-length studio album "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!". "Rattlehead" was also recorded during the same demo recording sessions at Hitman Studios in Hollywood, California, but was never officially released. That song was also re-recorded and included on "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!". So there´s nothing on "Last Rites" you haven´t heard before if you already own "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!", other than raw demo versions of tracks which appear on the debut album.
There´s certainly promise here and while Mustaine is a pretty unconventional thrash metal singer, his snarling approach provides Megadeth´s music with something unique. "Last Rites" features a decent although rough around the edges sound production, which suits the material well. For a 1984 thrash metal demo this is pretty well produced. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
Album · 1988 ·
Technical Thrash Metal
UMUR
"Dimension Hatröss" is the fourth full-length studio album by Canadian, Quebec based progressive metal act Voivod. The album was released through Noise Records in June 1988. It´s the successor to "Killing Technology" from 1987. The original vinyl and cassette tape versions featured 8 tracks, while the CD version featured the short cover of the "Batman" theme song as bonus material.
"Killing Technology" (1987) saw Voivod exploring new progressive thrash metal territories, and the album features a more sophisticated and complex sound than the raw and intense thrash/speed metal albums which preceded it. "Dimension Hatröss" takes that new direction and runs with it. It´s a highly technically challenging release, featuring unconventional time-signatures, dissonant riffs, abrupt changes in pace and adventurous song structures. When that is said Voivod successfully maintain their raw authenticity and sometimes anarchistic punk/thrash approach. The music is so unique that it´s almost impossible to label right. Suffice to say it´s progressive metal of some sort.
Lead vocalist Denis "Snake" Bélanger has a distinct sounding voice and singing style, which isn´t exactly pretty and it´s not your typical raw staccato delivered thrash metal vocal style either. He is probably best described as a punk singer completely out of his turf, but he is quite the charming frontman and a major part of why "Dimension Hatröss" is as unique as it is. The sci-fi lyrics (which is a continued story from the preceding releases) and imagery of the preceding releases are continued on this album.
While every track on the album deserves to be mentioned as a highlight, "Tribal Convictions" is a song which deserves a mention as a standout track. Predominantly because it´s one of the most easily accessible tracks on "Dimension Hatröss" (...an by no means does it mean that it´s not a technical and challenging song), but also because Voivod opted to shoot a promotional video for that particular track, which helped them gain more attention. I always felt that the chorus to "Macrosolutions to Megaproblems" was quite catchy too, but again all songs are high quality material which strike the perfect balance between energetic and raw thrash/heavy metal and more technical and sophisticated progressive metal. In terms of understanding and discovering Voivod (if you haven´t listened to them before), "Dimension Hatröss" is probably the quintessential release by the band. A 5 star (100%) 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.