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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
Album · 2000 ·
Thrash Metal
UMUR
"The Downside" is the 5th full-length studio album by US power/thrash metal act Hades. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in February 2000. It´s the successor to "$avior$elf" from 1999 and features the same five-piece lineup who recorded the predecessor, although bassist Scott LePage only plays on a couple of tracks, while the bass on the remaining tracks are predominantly played by guitarist Dan Lorenzo (except "Bitter Suite #1" which was recorded by D.D.Verni from Overkill).
The material on "The Downside" continue the groove laden US power/thrash metal style of "$avior$elf (1999)", but fortunately more than one feature have been given a lift of quality since the predecessor. The sound production which was a bit of an issue on the predecessor is decent sounding on "The Downside". It´s not the best sounding production job (the drums could definitely have been better produced), but it´s listenable. The musicianship was never an issue with Hades, although it´s only lead vocalist Alan Tecchio who stands out as something out of the ordinary. The rest of the band do their job and do it well, but there´s nothing extraordinary about their performances.
It´s in the songwriting department where Hades have finally reached a decent level though. The preceding releases by the band haven´t been awful or anything like that, but they haven´t exactly made my blood boil either. Middle-of-the-road US power/thrash metal with a skilled lead vocalist in front, but not particularly memorable nor distinct sounding. That description also fits large parts of "The Downside", but there are more quality tracks here than usual for a Hades release. The dark atmosphere and heavy riffs and rhythms of album opener "Ground Zero NYC" is for example a real joy listening to, and there are other equally good quality tracks featured on the album.
The inconsistency of both quality and musical style (and even inconsistency in sound quality between tracks) which have marred the preceding releases by the band are unfortunately also issues on "The Downside". Not as serious issues as before, but still issues, and it´s honestly a bit odd that a seasoned act like Hades at that point in their hadn´t been able to produce a well sounding release with consistent quality material. Normally I would praise diversity and an act branching out trying different sounds and styles, but Hades have a hard time creating a tracklist with a good flow, with the material they have recorded for "The Downside".
Ultimately I know my words above can be read as very negative, but remember I wrote that "The Downside" is a step up in quality from their preceding releases and that there are several strong tracks featured on the album, and we should not forget the considerable vocal skills of Tecchio either, which are always wonderful to listen to, so all in all "The Downside" isn´t a half-bad album, but actually more of a half-good one, and a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating isn´t all wrong.
Album · 2022 ·
Thrash Metal
Kingcrimsonprog
2022’s The Sick, The Dying And The Dead is Thrash Metal legends Megadeth’s 16th full-length studio album. At just shy of an hour, the Mustaine / Chris Rakestraw produced record is a nice, easily digestible slice of modern Megadeth.
The album’s backstory will doubtlessly overshadow the music (you know it all by now, Dave’s triumph over cancer, Ellefson’s removal from the band, Steve Di Giorgio’s stepping in etc). The music probably won’t be talked about as much, especially in a few year’s time.
Stylistically, its sort of the same direction the band have been doing since United Abominations. There are some pretty strong tunes that fans will love “Soldier On” “Celebutante” and “Night Stalkers” are all quite memorable, but there is a little bit of filler and like the previous album, Dystopia, its a lot of the right style with great guitar and drums, but slightly forgettable actual songs, that don’t live up to say Endgame or the first six albums.
The special digital edition of the album ends with two cover tunes, a Dead Kennedys B-side and a Sammy Hagar tune where Sammy himself actually provides guest vocals. A nice bit of fun as a bonus to round out the album and send you on your way. They end up being two of the most memorable tracks on the record. I would recommend this version.
TSTD&TD is an absolutely fine modern Megadeth album, and there are three or four songs from it that could make it into the live show for a short time, which at this stage in their career is really all you can ask for. Ranking it against their back catalogue, it feels kind of around the same tier as maybe Thirteen. Go in with tempered expectations, and you should have a good time. Just don’t expect an absolute career highlight. It’s the best album you can reasonably expect… just remember to have reasonable expectations.
Album · 2022 ·
Technical Thrash Metal
UMUR
"Dis Morta" is the fourth full-length studio album by US power/thrash metal act Toxik. The album was released through Massacre Records in August 2022. It´s the successor to "Kinetic Closure" from 2020 but is in fact the first full-length studio album solely featuring new material since "Think This" from 1989, as "Kinetic Closure" predominantly featured re-recorded versions of older tracks. Only guitarist Josh Christian remains from the original 1980s lineups, and since reuniting in 2013 (Toxik had their original run from 1985-1992) there have been quite a few lineup shuffles too, but on this release Christian is complimented by drummer James DeMaria, bassist Shane Boulos, lead vocalist Ron Iglesias, and guitarist Eric van Druten.
Stylistically the material on "Dis Morta" is technical thrash metal with US power metal leanings. The latter influence is predominantly heard in the vocals and some of the more melodic choruses, but "Dis Morta" is primarily a technical thrash metal release. Iglesias has a strong voice and he sings both raw and higher pitched screaming vocals. The music is very busy, energetic, and sometimes a bit chaotic sounding as so much happens in the soundscape. It´s not particularly dynamic music, and as a consequence the listening experience can be a little stressful. I´m often reminded of the UK thrash/grove/power/progressive metal act Biomechanical and their almost manic and multilayered approach.
Toxik are an incredibaly well playing act and as a listener you´ll be exposed to technical drumming, razor sharp thrashy riffs, blistering lead guitar work, and the above mentioned intense vocals (and backing, harmony, and choir vocals). The high level musicianship is arguably one of the greatest assets of "Dis Morta". The sound production is overall of a good quality, but it´s on the dry side and the multilayering of riffs, lead parts, and backing/harmony vocals sometimes drown the basic structures of a song. A better defined and detailed sound production could possibly have elevated the album to a higher state.
To fans of Toxik´s first two albums this may not be the comeback album they have dreamed about. For that it´s maybe a little too different sounding and harsh, but given a few spins it does become apparent that Toxik have composed a powerful, effective, and intriguing technical power/thrash metal release in the harder edged end of the spectrum, and the tracks begin to stand out more too. Because initially this is not an easily accessible release. It simply doesn´t invite you in, but instead demands of you that your ears and brain are to work hard to enjoy the listening experience. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.
Single · 2022 ·
Technical Thrash Metal
UMUR
"Creating the Abyss" is a one track single release by US power/thrash metal act Toxik. The single was released through Massacre Records in July 2022. It´s a digital single which is accompanied by a lyric video. "Creating the Abyss" was released to promote the release of Toxik´s fourth full-length studio album "Dis Morta", which was released in August 2022. It´s the second single release promoting "Dis Morta", as the one track "Power" single was released in June 2022. "Creating the Abyss" appears as the sixth track on "Dis Morta".
"Creating the Abyss" is one of the heavier mid-paced tracks on "Dis Morta" (although it ends on a furiously fast-paced note), but it´s still a greatly energetic and progressive inclined technical power/thrash metal track, featuring sharp riffs, blistering lead work (which is actually out of this world on this particular track), technical drumming, and a screaming raw vocalist in front.
As a single meant to promote the release of "Dis Morta", "Creating the Abyss" is a great teaser release. The quality is high, the song is intriguing, powerful, and raw, and perfectly represents the style and sound of "Dis Morta". A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
Single · 2022 ·
Technical Thrash Metal
UMUR
"Power" is a one track single release by US power/thrash metal act Toxik. The single was released through Massacre Records in June 2022. It´s a digital single which is accompanied by a lyric video. "Power" was released to promote the release of Toxik´s fourth full-length studio album "Dis Morta", which was released in August 2022. "Power" appears as the fourth track on "Dis Morta".
Stylistically this is technical power/thrash, featuring an incredibly well playing band. Toxik have a relatively chaotic sounding and very busy style, which often reminds me of Biomechanical, and they don´t sound much like they did in the 1980s. On the other hand the sharp riffs, the technical drumming, the blistering lead guitars, and harsh screaming vocals were also all features on the band´s 1980s releases. It just sounds more chaotic, heavy, and more thrashy here.
"Power" works well as a teaser single to promote the release of "Dis Morta" and having listened to the full album, it represents the sound and musical style of the album well. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) 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.