Thrash metal

Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music, one of the extreme metal subgenres that is characterised by its signature high speed and aggression.

Thrash metal
Stylistic origins	NWOBHM Speed metal Hardcore punk
Cultural origins	Late 1970s, Early-Mid 1980s England, United States, Germany and Brazil
Typical instruments	Vocals – Electric guitar – Bass guitar – Drums
Derivative forms	Groove metal, Death metal, Black metal
Fusion genres
Crossover thrash
Regional scenes
Germany – Poland – United States: Bay Area – New York – Spain – Brazil – UK
Other topics
Extreme metal – List of thrash metal bands

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 (NWOBHM), creating a new genre and developing into a separate movement from punk rock. This genre is much more aggressive compared to its relative, speed metal. There is often significant crossover from one metal category to another, and the influence of non-metal genres, including classical music and jazz, is not uncommon.

Musical traits

The genre features a number of fast and rapid tempos, low-register, quick, complex guitar riffs, and high-register guitar solos. Palm muting and staccato are used in these tightly controlled riffs to create a "chugging" sound. Thrash guitar solos are almost exclusively played at high speed, as they are usually characterised by shredding, and use techniques such as sweep picking, legato phrasing, alternate picking, string skipping, and two-hand tapping. Thrash lead guitarists are rooted in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. As with many other metal subgenres, thrash lead guitarists are often influenced by outside musical genres too, such as jazz fusion (Ex-Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland and Alex Skolnick of Testament) and classical music, such as Marty Friedman, has a lead style that could be grouped in the neoclassical shred genre.

The speed and pacing of the songs is what defines thrash metal. The music tends to have a visceral, propellant feel to it due to the often intense drumming, most commonly utilizing the snare drum on the 1/2 beat, or the 2nd and 4th beats of the measure. Frantic bass drum use is also common. Thrash drummers often use two bass drums. Many thrash drummers, such as Dave Lombardo, Jürgen Reil, Gene Hoglan, Igor Cavalera, and Charlie Benante are revered as some of the "best drummers in rock music" due to their ability with the double-bass as well as adequately keeping time. Due to the genre's high speed, many thrash bassists use a pick to keep up with the other instruments. However, a few prominent bassists in the subgenre including Carl Peterson, Frank Bello, Greg Christian, Robert Trujillo, and the late Cliff Burton have shunned the use of the pick. Distorted bass (popularized by Burton and Lemmy) is not uncommon.

Themes worked in the genre include gore (not in the manner of most brutal death metal groups) and Satanism (depicted by eight bands, like Slayer). But perhaps what thrash metal lyrics most often include is a nihilistic view of the society and the human being in general, for it working with warfare, brutal feelings supposedly hidden into human unconsciousness and visions of a possible future collapse of civilization (which partially overlaps with punk ideas, as this movement began a decade before). In contrast to many extreme metal genres to follow, thrash metal often focused on positive social issues, for instance environmentalism as was in the case of the band Nuclear Assault.

History

Beginnings

1981 is seen as a critical year for the development of thrash metal, but work prior to 1981 helped shape the genre. Earlier influences on the genre include the 1975 Black Sabbath song "Symptom of the Universe", the first riff of the song is one of the earliest thrash riffs. The 1971 Black Sabbath songs Into the Void and Children of the Grave were also influential.

Queen's 1974 song "Stone Cold Crazy" is cited as an early precursor of the thrash metal sound; Metallica won a Grammy Award in 1991 for their recording of the tune. Similar to this song was "Ogre Battle" from Queen's 1974 album Queen II."Am I Evil" from Diamond Head's 1979 album Lightning to the Nations had a style similar to Stone Cold Crazy. German prog-metal band Night Sun had perhaps the fastest examples of early thrash metal appeared on the band's 1972 album Mournin' that featured the songs "Plastic Shotgun" and "Nightmare".

The Stooges early work had a profound influence on Motörhead. The songs "I Got a Right" and "Gimme Some Skin", released in 1973, utilized a simple and fast paced beat that metal and punk thrash music would later come to resemble.

Judas Priest's 1978 song "Exciter", from the Stained Class album provided direct influence upon the development of the genre. The fast kick-drum intro and fast guitar solos of the track were notorious for artists of the era. Judas Priest was not a thrash band themselves, but thrash bands like Slayer, Venom, Testament, Metallica, and Megadeth cite them as a major influence.

Motörhead's fast and aggressive music was a major influence on the genre. Motörhead's 1979 Overkill LP may have been the inspiration for the name of the New York based band In 1981 Overkill would write what is often considered the first thrash metal song: "The Beast Within". Soon after "The Beast Within" was released, a Southern California band named Leather Charm would write the song "Hit the Lights". Leather Charm was a short-lived band that would soon break up. The primary songwriter for Leather Charm, James Hetfield, formed Metallica which would go on to feature this song.

The European thrash scene that began in early 82 was almost exclusively influenced by the most aggressive music both Germany and England were producing at the time. Bands such as Motorhead, Tank and Venom from England, along with German metallers Accept were the artists of the time that were fueling the rising teutonic thrash scene that produced Sodom, Kreator and Destruction.

The band Metal Church recorded a few rehearsals in 1980-81 that were similar to the early efforts of Metallica and Overkill, though not quite as thrashy. The band Venom is also considered a pioneer of the genre because of their work on the 1981 album Welcome To Hell and the 1982 album Black Metal. Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Testament and Exodus cite Venom as a major influence.

The first thrash metal demo may be Metal Church's Red Skies from late 1981. Red Skies was an instrumental demo that combined elements of thrash, speed, and power metal. The single did not receive much circulation and was overshadowed by their October, 1982 demo Four Hymns.

Metallica was the second act on the scene. Metallica released the No Life 'til Leather demo in July 1982, and was the second band to release a studio LP,after Venom released two (one in 81, One in 82), titled Kill 'Em All in July 1983. Shortly following the release of Kill 'Em All, fellow thrash band Slayer released their debut full length album entitled Show No Mercy in December 1983. The European band Artillery recorded the demo We Are the Dead in November, 1983. This demo took a more Black Sabbath oriented direction and resulted in a thrash metal form that was not as fast as the style of Metallica, but had a similar riff style.

Take off

The popularity of Thrash metal greatly increased in 1984 with the release of Metallica's Ride the Lightning, Anthrax's Fistful of Metal, Overkill's first EP (Overkill), and Slayer's Haunting the Chapel EP. This led to a darker and heavier sounding form of thrash, which was reflected in Exodus's Bonded by Blood and Slayer's Hell Awaits in 1985.

In 1985, the German band Kreator released their debut album Endless Pain and the Brazilian band Sepultura released their EP Bestial Devastation. Megadeth, which was formed by former Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine, released their debut album Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! in 1985. Megadeth combined the riffs of thrash metal and the intricate solo styles of speed metal.

Some of the most influential thrash albums were released in 1986. Dark Angel put out Darkness Descends, which is considered by some to be remarkably faster than most of the thrash metal that preceded it. Slayer's Reign in Blood, also released in 1986, is widely considered to be one of the greatest thrash metal albums of all time. The German band Kreator released Pleasure to Kill, which set new standards for brutality and would be a heavy influence on the death metal genre. These three albums are often referred to as the "Unholy Trinity" of 1986.

Other releases in 1986 included Megadeth's Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? and Metallica's Master of Puppets, one of the first thrash metal albums to receive critical acclaim and commercial success, and referred to by some critics as the best heavy metal album ever recorded. Nuclear Assault debuted with the punk-inspired Game Over — an album stripped to its bare riff essentials, while Flotsam and Jetsam's debut, Doomsday for the Deceiver, has since been considered a classic of the genre. Hobbs' Angel of Death emerged from Australia, playing a brand of thrash metal that drew heavily from the earlier works of Slayer, yet geared towards the European market. Another Australian thrash band, Mortal Sin, were also on the rise, and would release their successful Mayhemic Destruction album the following year.

In 1987, Anthrax released the renowned Among the Living album. This release saw the band once again in thrash metal territory and bore similarities to their two previous releases: Fistful of Metal and Spreading the Disease, with fast and heavy guitars and pounding drums. Anthrax's songs can be considered slightly more "melodic" when compared to other thrash metal bands of the era, due to their upbeat and catchy riffs.

Testament would release their debut album, The Legacy, that same year. The musical tone of Testament generally emphasized the more progressive elements of thrash metal. The lyrics on this album especially were about the occult and Satanic topics that would influence the lyrics of death metal. Death Angel took a similar pro-thrash approach with their 1987 debut, The Ultra-Violence, which featured more operatic lyrics influenced by classic rock acts like Queen and NWOBHM bands such as Iron Maiden.

Thrash metal developed into many sub-genres in the mid 1980s. The genre influenced many bands like Death and Possessed (who are best known for guitarist Larry LaLonde, who later joined popular alternative rock group Primus). Some bands combined speed and thrash metal. Megadeth, Helstar, Testament, and Heathen were known for flashy lead guitar work. Watchtower's 1985 release, Energetic Disassembly set new standards in technical, jazzy songwriting, which would later be further developed by the thrash metal bands like Switzerland's Coroner, New York's Toxik and the technical death metal bands Atheist, Believer and Cynic, as well as later efforts by Death.

In 1988, Suicidal Tendencies, who had previously been a straightforward punk band, released their major label debut How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today. This album had very thrashy guitar riffs and an overall very metal oriented sound, with much more complicated song structures than on their previous albums, but the band still stayed true to their roots as a band in that the songs were very melodic and had catchy choruses.

By 1988 or so, the genre was quite saturated with new bands, but classic albums would still be recorded and released. Sepultura's third album, Beneath the Remains (1989) earned them some mainstream appeal as it appeared on Roadrunner records. Testament continued through the late 1980s with The New Order (1988) and Practice What You Preach (1989), both albums showing the band was continuing to grow musically and almost gaining Testament the same level of popularity as the "Big Four" of thrash: Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. Vio-lence, a relative latecomer to the Bay Area thrash metal scene put out an acclaimed debut in Eternal Nightmare (1988), combining relentless riffage with a punk vocal delivery, resulting in one of the fastest, heaviest thrash albums of all time. Other band that influited in the Thrash Metal are Sadus, the band created by Steve DiGiorgio with a sound very stronge, caused by the fretless bass of Steve DiGiorgio.

Older bands continued to record classic albums though. ...And Justice for All (1988) by Metallica, spawned the band's first video, the World War I themed song, "One", and with its extremely complex song structures, is considered to have pioneered progressive metal (many bands in this genre, including Dream Theater, cite Metallica as a major influence).

Slayer released the slower, more melodic South of Heaven the same year, as did Anthrax with State of Euphoria, Megadeth with So Far, So Good...So What!, Overkill with Under the Influence and The Years of Decay (1989), Annihilator with Alice in Hell (1989), Forbidden with Forbidden Evil, Nuclear Assault with Survive and Handle With Care (1989), DRI with 4 of a Kind and Thrash Zone (1989), Exodus with Pleasures of the Flesh (1987) and Fabulous Disaster (1989), Coroner with Punishment for Decadence and No More Color (1989), Sodom with Persecution Mania (1987) and Agent Orange (1989), Destruction with Release from Agony, and Kreator with Terrible Certainty (1987) and Extreme Aggression (1989), all pushing the aforementioned bands to new commercial heights .

Another landmark year for thrash was the year 1990, at the dawn of a new decade. Among the thrash albums released this year included Megadeth's highly progressive and technical Rust in Peace, Anthrax's dark, socially themed Persistence of Time, Slayer's "defining" record Seasons in the Abyss , Suicidal Tendencies' funky Lights...Camera...Revolution!, Testament's Souls of Black, and Kreator's Coma of Souls (the final "true" thrash record the band would release for a period of time). Not only are these albums considered classics today, they were also commercial high points for all of the aforementioned artists. All of the aforementioned bands (besides Kreator) embarked on the Clash of the Titans tour that year.

While progressive structures and technicality had been part of thrash prior to this, the year 1990 in particular began to show the genre going in a decidedly more technical direction, with less emphasis on the genre's original punk influence and more emphasis on musicianship and a progressive structure. Other pivotal albums in this year include Death Angel's Act III, Artillery's By Inheritance, Forbidden's Twisted into Form and Annihilator's Never, Neverland among others. This trend would continue into the 90's with albums like Dark Angel's Time Does Not Heal, Overkill's Horrorscope, Coroner's Mental Vortex, and Heathen's Victims of Deception becoming thrash classics.

Evolution in the 1990s

Soon, post-thrash metal bands with a newer sound would continue the more innovative direction, while those that played classic thrash metal were seen as throw-backs, though the 1990s had some excellent thrash metal, for example Iced Earth's Night of the Stormrider (1992), which combined power-metal and thrash metal. Also important was Dark Angel's swansong album Time Does Not Heal, which is one of the most technically challenging, progressive thrash albums ever recorded and infamously contained 246 riffs. Many bands, however, opted for a slower, more groove-oriented sound, including Machine Head (formed out of the ashes of Vio-Lence) and Pantera.

While alternative rock was the predominant genre of the '90s, thrash managed to gain influence. Popular '90s Alt rock group Primus (who featured ex-Possessed guitarist Larry LaLonde), particularly in their earlier years, blended Les Claypool's funky bass lines with considerably thrash influenced guitar riffs and songs played at an overall high speed.

The 1990s saw many veteran thrash metal bands changing to more accessible styles. In 1991 Metallica released a radio-friendly metal album Metallica, which saw record album sales for the band. The band then released two albums, Load (1996), and ReLoad (1997), which had an alternative-rock feel with bluesy and Southern rock influenced songs.

Megadeth and Anthrax also changed their sound during the '90s for varying reasons. Megadeth took a more accessible route with their 1992 album Countdown To Extinction which enjoyed success critically and commercially with a string of hit singles and videos. Anthrax, after departing with singer Joey Belladonna, recruited Armored Saint singer John Bush, whose vocals were more gritty and current than previous Anthrax singers who represented a more classic metal song more akin to Judas Priest or Iron Maiden. With this new more mature voice came a new sound that also was acclaimed. The 1993 album Sound of White Noise represented a new page in Anthrax's career with a sound somewhere between Pantera and Alice in Chains.

Other thrash metal bands began following a similar stylistic change. Testament released the mainstream and melodic The Ritual in 1992 before switching to a more death metal oriented sound that would follow throughout the 90's. Kreator began experimenting with industrial metal and goth starting with Renewal and would continue to do so for the rest of the decade. Likewise, however, certain bands stayed brutally true to their original formulas, most notably Slayer, who, despite a 4 year gap since their last album, delivered Divine Intervention sounding very much like they did when they left off.

Thrash metal has seen something of a comeback in the late 1990s with European bands like Hypnosia (sounding much like Pleasure to Kill) or Carnal Forge, a fast death-thrash hybrid. Some bands also combine Swedish death metal riffs and punk influence, but these stray too far from the original ideals to be really called thrash metal bands. Meanwhile, other bands soldier on — including Overkill, who have recently put out a fourteenth studio album, Relixiv (2005), and Destruction, whose The Antichrist (2001) is a staple of modern thrash metal — updated production values, and a classic riff sound. The recently released Exodus album, entitled Tempo Of The Damned, is another recent highlight of the genre, as is Megadeth's 'comeback' album, The System Has Failed. The latter, while not 'true' thrash, is a complex hybrid of thrash and power metal, reminiscent of Rust In Peace. Indeed, the opening track, "Blackmail the Universe", shares much in common with Rust In Peace's opening track, the seminal "Holy Wars". The album's cover art also seems like a cross between 1986's Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? and Rust In Peace. The album met with commercial success, reaching #17 in the United States. Exodus opened for Megadeth on their 2004 Blackmail The Universe tour.

Members of Sepultura, Annihilator, and many others have recently performed on RoadRunner's United album in 2005-06. The first release of its kind combined vintage thrash talents with newer metal musicians who incorporate thrash textures into their music. There has recently been older thrash metal bands that have reunited and put out new albums including Nuclear Assault who has just recently released their new album Third World Genocide. Los Angeles speed metallers Dark Angel have been attempting to reunite the band and put out a new album written before their previous break-up in 1992 called The Atrocity Exhibition, but production on that album was indefinitely halted when vocalist Ron Rhinehart suffered a severe neck injury that may very well end his vocal career. Recently the original line-up of the band Testament reunited and toured, there was also a live album and video released with the classic line-up playing called Live In London. They are currently writing material for a new album due out sometime in 2007.

Recently thrash (along with many genres of extreme metal previously considered dead by the mainstream media, but well alive to the underground metal scene) has seen a certain degree of resurgence of popularity, including (but not limited to) the younger audience of Generation Y. This is perhaps due in part to an increase in exposure to many forms of metal and classic rock, thanks to the publicity spotlighted on it by such mediums as internet radio, satellite radio, cable networks like VH1, MTV, and cover songs by newer bands of older metal classics.

Regional scenes

Like many musical genres, thrash had its own regionally-based scenes, each of had a slightly different sound. The three most well known of these scenes are:

Bay Area thrash metal scene

Main article: Bay Area thrash metal

The Bay Area Thrash Scene scene was considered the most important of the three major thrash scenes, as it is essentially where thrash started. Bay Area thrash tends to be the most progressive and technical of the three major thrash scenes with flashy lead guitar work and progressive influenced song structures. Bay Area thrash bands also tended to have singers with high pitched, more epic vocal styles as opposed to European thrash bands such as Kreator who had generally more death metal style vocals or East Coast bands like S.O.D. who had more punk-influenced vocals. Some of the most popular bands on the Bay Area scene were Exodus, Vio-lence, Heathen, Testament, Blind Illusion, Forbidden, Sadus, Possessed, and Metallica. Also, while actually based in Los Angeles, Megadeth, Dark Angel, Agent Steel, Abattoir, and Slayer are sometimes grouped with Bay Area thrash due to being geographically close and musically similar.

East Coast (New York/New Jersey) thrash scene

The East Coast thrash scene was also important to thrash. The East Coast bands tended to be more punk and hardcore influenced than West Coast bands, with more emphasis on aggression and speed than technicality (although this is not to say that East Coast bands were technically limited, however). They also tended to be more melodic as a result of this. Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, Overkill and Whiplash were a few of the most successful bands to come from the East Coast thrash scene.

German thrash

The last major thrash scene was the German thrash metal scene. This scene was by far the most brutal and heaviest of the three major thrash scenes, with many bands being a heavy influence on extreme metal and some even bordering on death metal (and in the case of Sodom black metal) itself. The most successful bands from this scene were Kreator, Destruction, and Sodom, who all hail from Germany. Other notable German acts include Holy Moses, Tankard, Living Death, Assassin, Iron Angel, Exumer, Paradox, Necronomicon, Deathrow, and Violent Force to name a few. Although arising in Germany, the Teutonic sound quickly spread and influenced bands from neighboring nations such as Coroner from Switzerland.

Further reading

• Dome, Malcolm. Thrash Metal. Omnibus Press, 1990. ISBN 0-7119-1790-6.

See also

• List of heavy metal genres
• List of thrash metal bands