MetalMusicArchives.com — the ultimate metal music online community, from the creators of progarchives.com
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 · 2023 ·
Technical Thrash Metal
UMUR
"The Shadow Inside" is the sixth full-length studio album by US, California based thrash metal act Sadus. The album was released through Nuclear Blast in November 2023. It´s the successor to "Out for Blood" from 2006 and there´s been a significant lineup change since the predecessor as bassist and founding member Steve DiGiorgio opted not to reunite with drummer Jon Allen and lead vocalist/guitarist Darren Travis for the recording of "The Shadow Inside", and as a consequence the latter has recorded the bass parts on the album.
Sadus were a pretty prolific act on the brutal and technical thrash metal scene of the late 80s/early 90s but since they released "Elements of Anger" in 1997 only two studio albums (including this one) have come out of their camp and it´s hard not to think of them as a hobby project these days. Even DiGiorgio who always fought hard for the survival of the band has now jumped ship (probably as a consequence of his commitments to his day job in Testament). Hobby projects don´t have to be sloppy projects though, and although Sadus haven´t exactly toured the world lately or made much of a fuzz about themselves, they still have a legacy and a fanbase who are excited that a new album has arrived.
Stylistically this is the core aggressive thrash metal sound of Sadus, but there are a few changes which need to be mentioned. First of all it´s of course noticeable that DiGiorgio isn´t performing on "The Shadow Inside". His unique and dominant bass playing has always been a key element of Sadus sound, and it´s a bit odd to hear a Sadus album without it. Travis has opted for a more normal way of playing bass and while there´s nothing wrong with the bass parts, they aren´t as unique as before or add anything special to the soundscape. Another feature which is different from earlier releases is the drum tone. Allen always had a natural organic tone but on "The Shadow Inside" the drum tone is more cold and sterile sounding.
When you adjust to those changes the material on "The Shadow Inside" is still unmistakably the sound of Sadus, with sharp, aggressive, heavy thrash metal riffs and rhythms, occasionally faster-paced parts, and Travis sandpaper raw snarling vocals in front. The frenetic high-speed playing of the first couple of releases were already lessened on the mid-90s albums, so it´s not surprising that the pace on "The Shadow Inside" is predominantly mid-tempo and heavy, but Sadus still pack a punch and deliver some crushingly heavy tunes.
There´s no revolution of sound or style on "The Shadow Inside", and of course most listeners will miss DiGiorgio´s busy fretless bass playing, but when all is said and done this is still a good quality release and it´s great to know that Sadus still exist. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
Demo · 1989 ·
Thrash Metal
UMUR
"Sickness Revealed" is the second demo release by Finnish thrash metal act Lycantrophy. The demo was independently released in 1989. It´s the follow-up release to the 1988 "No Sorrow, No Pain" demo. The material from the "Sickness Revealed" along with two tracks from the 1990 "Sleepwalker" demo would be reissued on the various artists compilation album "Thrashing Relics Vol. 1" (April 2006, Bestial Burst).
Stylistically Lycantrophy belong to the Teutonic influenced school of late 80s Finnish thrash metal along with artists like Phlegethon and A.R.G. So this is brutal, aggressive, and raw sounding thrash metal with a gnarly and snarling vocalist in front. Fans of Kreator, Sodom, and a host of South American thrash metal acts from the 80s should find a lot to appreciate here.
"Sickness Revealed" is a both well performed (Lycantrophy are a very well playing unit), well produced, and well composed release, and although they don´t really produce anything you haven´t heard before, there is still an edge to this and some skill found here, which you don´t find on all releases in this genre, which make "Sickness Revealed" a good quality demo worth investigating. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.
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.