The first proper album from this ferocious four-some, providing the perfect bridge between typical heavy metal and more ferocious speed metal. The guitars (especially the rhythm and bass) are also louder in the mix than normal. The crunch on this album provided the prototype for a million thrash albums from the early eighties, bringing rhythm guitars in to the spotlight as a crucial element of a thrash outfit. Features metal anthem after metal anthem, everything on this is perfect. A bonafide classic in every way.
The second release sees this metal beast striding forward by leaps, as Metallica make the first epic thrash album ever, with stellar musicianship and amazing production. The rhythm guitar sound by this time is a juggernaut of mid-scooped crunch. The songs are more complex and the riffs are way more brutal. The bassist still leaves traditional metal bassists gasping. Another classic.
This is the creative peak of this band. With a billion live shows and tours under their belt and the locked in tightness of a lethal unit, Metallica never sounded heavier or more brutal than this epic monster of a metal record. It is a sound to a metal revolution, when metal guitars changed from being flashy adornments and accompaniments to being the main feature of the thrash sound. The mid-scooped chug / crunch raised and amplified to mammoth levels driving each song forward supported by the tightest thrash rhythm section of the era made for some great classic metal. With a lead guitar that oozed emotion and complex yet intuitive song structures, this was metal taken to symphonic levels. Contender for the top metal album of all time.
This was the sound of ghost of the bassist extraordinaire being exorcised following Cliff’s tragic death. A monumental album, epic and cold, it heralded the end of an era for Metallica. The songs are darker and bleaker than before and the riffs have a rhythmic industrial feel to them. In fact, it is fitting epitaph to the greatest of thrash bands.
Frankly, after this
Metallica went to the dogs. It was one atrocious release after another. I think
it goes to show how big an influence Cliff was on all of them, as well as what a
bunch of cunts and faggots the rest of the band actually were.
A raging, raving metal album full of speed and fuzz, this is essentially Kill’Em All’s evil cousin. It is like Motorhead. Venom and Judas Priest rolled into one roller coaster ride. This is a big influence on thrash and hardcore while image-wise/lyrically influencing a lot of satan-worshippers to come, and providing some hilarious metal couplets in the bargain. Raw and aggressive, this the soundtrack to a thousand beer-chuggings and speed lines.
At the time this came out, it was a case of “the heavy just got heavier”. The satanic war machine upped the ante on this one. This is faster, brutal , better played and if anything lyrically darker and more “evil” than the first one. It is one of the foundations on which a monster genre called Death Metal came to stand. This forsook the traditional speed metal sound for the hyper-speed drone that spawned the entire extreme metal scene.
Guess what ? They raised the bar again. This is their heaviest moment. A short sharp knife rapidly slashing metal jugulars worldwide. This had speed, evil imagery, crazy playing and metal song-writing. A landmark record and contender for that top album spot.
After RIB’s fire and brimstone, came the haunting sound of this strange record. In this scribe’s humble opinion, this was Slayer’s creative peak. This combined the brutality and darkness of the earlier albums with the haunting chord structures, riff and lead motifs and arpeggios of the later albums. The previous albums were brutal thrash speed records trying to sound evil. This album is evil. The scariest sounding thrash album ever.
Another classic from the Slayer cannon. A perfect mix of brutality and catchy , slightly melodic metal. This has the epic sounding title track, the hair-raising “ballad” Dead Skin Mask and a whole lot of head banging goodies (anthem War Ensemble ). Also, sadly their last thoroughly original and vital studio album. The live double album that came after this, Decade of Aggression marks the end of this classic period. After that its all just a bunch of old farts trying to stay relevant.
This fiery debut came a little after Kill’em All but is just as seminal. It even had the Four horseman renamed as Mechanix. A crusty sound, Dave’s punky whine and an underlying rock n roll sensibility made this album swagger the way a lot of thrash album’s don’t with riffs galore. This is a fun, timeless classic metal record.
The grooves got heavier, the songwriting darker and better musicians came in. This is a through and through thrash record, but somehow still has the swing in places. The tile track became an 80’s anti-war slogan. Also, since most songs were written in Mustaine’s distinct style, the compositional structures are very original and usually non-conventional, not following the formula.
This is even darker than Peace Sells…The record has a murky sound and the same eccentric songwriting, giving it a strange disturbing unwholesome aura (a narcotic quality if you will) for a thrash record. But as usual, in places it rocks out the way thrash records usually don’t. Its interesting to see the polarity of the band’s identity veering between traditional rock values and something cold and strange (almost industrial / black in nature)
Megadeth’s masterwork. A riveting grinding album with jaw-dropping arrangements and playing, this is a band at the top of its game. The entire album has a general war-related vibe to it (no surprise given the time) and politically charged lyrics. But it’s the music that talks here, setting a standard that a lot of extreme metal bands have tried to follow (complex non-formulaic yet catchy songwriting and bombastic neo-progressive playing). Best of all it sounds natural and unforced. They were never this good again (though they did come close).
A thoroughly entertaining thrash record that doesn’t take itself too seriously, this nevertheless had its share of thought provoking lyrics and insane hardcore influenced breakdowns. A fun moshing ride all the way.
The thrash got heavier and lyrics lost some of the joviality, making this a slightly more typical thrash record. But man, those riffs and breakdowns. The thrash bits are really really thrashy and that is usually a good thing.
Their career climax, this is an amazingly consistent album weighing in at 10,000 tons with grinding riffs and epic songs. The album has a slightly drony depressing quality that adds to its charm along with the highly charged intelligent lyrics. A classic in every way.
The new vocalist gives a band a much needed kick in the ass. The album is a rollercoaster of powerful songs with rocking grooves and immense vocals from John Bush. It is their most underrated album having a surprisingly large number of memorable heavy songs. Sadly this is their last album bearing any resemblance to thrash, them having opted for a more rock oriented approach since then.
A slab of pure thrashing rage out of Germany, this was the template later updated by a million 90’s extreme metal bands. By this record Kreator had honed their sound to lethal potency: Fast staccato riffing, alternately blistering / soaring solos with screaming hoarse vocals (a fore-runner to the 90’s black metal style of vocals) and a tighter-than-a-rat’s-ass rhythm section.
The sound was taken to perfection here. This is one of those classic thrash albums that succeeds on all levels. Imagery / lyrics / Packaging 100 %. Musician ship – Stellar. Song-writing – catchy and jaw-droppingly tight. All this while remaining rabid enough to almost cross over into death metal. Like their American brethren, this was the career highlight that the rest of their output could never top.
Cowboys from Hell
A rallying sound for the “new” metal sound of the nineties, this is a blistering album, with a lot of winners and very little filler. It is the album where Pantera crossed over from power metal / traditional heavy metal to thrash. The production helps bring the band’s potent sound to the front. Grooving yet heavy as fuck, with intense personal/political lyrics and kick-ass vocal performance form Phil (later to become the mascot of nineties metal frontmen-the’angry white man’ syndrome).
Their defining work, this shed some of the excess conventional metal baggage to leave behind a lean and mean killing machine. The riffs sound huge, taking the Metallica crunch to the next level, while stripping the song structures down to get the groove right. And what a groove it was ! A million kids moshed to Walk and screamed along with Fucking Hostile. Since all of them bought the album too, this was a commercial as well as critical success.
Just when you thought the Texans had found a comfortable niche, they upped the ante. If anything, this is heavier and groovier than the last album. The lyrics are more pissed off and hit right home, while the riffs are monsters of discordance and funk, pounding listeners in to submission, rolling on a foundation of pure groove courtesy of the killer rhythm section. Phil’s screams started morphing into growls on this one. The ugliest heaviest album ever to reach number 1 on the billboard top 100. Some achievement, that.
Refusing to compromise or cop-out, this continues the Pantera tradition of thrashing grooving angry metal. It is fine album, divided between the skull-crushing metal songs and the more emotional songs (which are still dark and heavy as fuck). Dimebag was a modern metal axe-king.
Pantera’s swan-song, had them kicking ass all over on their way out. This has all the classic elements. For some reason the Pantera power-groove sound just doesn’t get old or sound hackneyed at all even after so many albums. A rocking moshing monster of a record from beginning to end.