Post by dieslowdammit on Feb 8, 2008 10:25:51 GMT -5
***Note, I did do a large portion of this from my own knowledge, but eventually CBF to keep on, so I copied and pasted select bits from Wikipedia. You can probably tell when this begins to happen, as albums will no longer be italicized, etc.***
What happens when Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin pop out a kid, and that kid met and had mad wild bumsecks and a vag pound fest with the kid of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden? You get a third, very odd kid. Now, that kid goes to school, and gets picked on, and fucked with over and over until he fuckin' snaps and goes Virginia Tech on the school and just blows it apart.
That very elaborate and offensive diatribe is the only way I can describe the birth of thrash metal.
In 1981, a severely made fun of, yet obscenely detrimental band named Venom put out an album called "Welcome to Hell", in 1982, they released "Black Metal". Now, this band was criticized for being overly satanic in their imagery. Their lyrics were very meh, they could only barely play their instruments. They were among the first to do the spiked gauntlets and boots that went to the knees. However, they were very important.
There were many thrash bands, but there were also the "Big Four" that stood out above the others. Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Now, three of them, Slayer, Metallica and Megadeth, city the "shitty" band as a direct influence. Other than the three of the big four, other known thrash bands citing them included two other legends, Exodus and Testament.
In 1982 shortly after the release of "Black Metal" *which went on to name and "start" the genre that IS black metal*, Metallica released their No Life 'til Leather Demo, and only a year later, released their first LP Kill 'em All, which, in my mind, was the only completely fkn awesome album metallica ever had, but this isn't supposed to be a fkn opinionated discussion.
Almost immediately after, an enormously awesome band, one of the big four, Slayer emerged, with it's debut full length entitled Show No Mercy. (Which, in the long run, would mark a period of time when the two most popular and best of the thrash genre would begin to reign, despite the fact that Metallica sells out in the 90's)
In 1984, the popularity of the genre began to rise, Metallica released Ride the Lightning, Anthrax released A Fistful of Metal, and leading to a heavier more horror driven era of metal, Slayer released Haunting the Chapel. Now, I won't go into any details, but this is around the time the bands started separating their sounds. Metallica was going towards more political themes with ride the lightning, as well as covering things like depression (Trapped Under Ice, Fade to Black). Slayer decided to say fuck the world, started being as satanic as they could with their music, and Anthrax showed that they were the most versatile of bands, wearing many influences that most bands of the genre refused to admit, such as Anthrax's interest in experimenting with punk sounds.
Overseas, such legends as Kreator and Max Cavalera (of Soulfly)'s Sepultura were establishing themselves, spinning their own different styles of thrash(most notably, Sepulturas Brazilian tribal themes). In 1985, the recently discharged Metallica member (and imo the brains behind the whole operation) Dave Mustaine released his new project's (Megadeth you fags) first full-length entitled Killing is my Business... and Business is Good!. This album was a landmark, in that it was the first to combine the speed, anger and intensity of Thrash with the intricacies and finesse of speed metal, and thus, established MegaDeth as not only one of the big Four, but also Dave Mustaine as an accomplished and amazing guitarist.
In 1986, many albums began to define and redefine the genre, but there were three in particular that had severe impact. First, was Dark Angel's Darkness Decends album, which had faster tempos than most of the thrash metal that preceded it. The second was Slayer's Reign in Blood, which is arguably the most influential album in not only Slayer's discography, but the genre as a whole. The third was Germanic powerhouse Kreator releasing A Pleasure to Kill, which is also sited as a major influence on the death metal genre. These three are sometimes referred to as the Unholy Trinity.
Thrash metal developed into many sub-genres in the mid 1980s. The genre influenced many bands like Death and Possessed (guitarist Larry LaLonde 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 showcased much more progressive work, using very odd time signatures and jazz influenced song structures. Watchtower, along with Megadeth, is said to have started the second wave of thrash metal.
The late 1980s showed thrash metal experiencing a radical change. Little by little, thrash metal became more musical as opposed to lyrically oriented. Though the genre was already known for being technical, it would be pushed to a whole new extreme that would result in many more bands forming.
In 1987, Anthrax released their album Among the Living, which 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.
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. Annihilator would release their highly technical debut album Alice In Hell (1989) which received much praise due to its fast riffs and virtuostic guitar solos. Sadus was another band influenced by the Thrash Metal genre, featuring a very strong sound which was primarily caused by the fretless bass of Steve DiGiorgio.
Older bands continued to record classic albums, though. Metallica's 1988 album ...And Justice for All spawned the band's first video, the World War I-themed song "One". The extremely complex song structure of "One" has made it a pioneering song among progressive metal bands, including Dream Theater, which has cited Metallica as a major influence.
Among the thrash albums released in 1990 included Megadeth's Rust in Peace, Anthrax's Persistence of Time, Slayer's Seasons in the Abyss, Suicidal Tendencies' Lights...Camera...Revolution!, Testament's Souls of Black, Annihilator's Never, Neverland and Kreator's Coma of Souls. All of those albums were commercial high points for the aforementioned artists. Most of these bands embarked on the Clash of the Titans tour that year.
In the 1990s, as some bands explored more innovative directions, bands that played classic thrash metal were seen as throw-backs. The 1992 album by Iced Earth, Night of the Stormrider combined power-metal and thrash metal. Dark Angel's swansong album Time Does Not Heal was a technically challenging, progressive thrash with a number of complex riffs. Many bands, however, opted for a slower, more groove-oriented sound, including Machine Head (formed from Vio-Lence) and The Legendary Pantera.
Many veteran thrash metal bands began changing to more accessible, radio-friendly styles. In 1991, Metallica released the album Metallica, which saw record album sales for the band. Later in the decade, the band released Load (1996), and ReLoad (1997), which both displayed minor blues and southern rock influences.
Megadeth and Anthrax also changed their sound during the 1990s for varying reasons. Megadeth took a more accessible route with their 1992 album Countdown To Extinction which was successful both critically and commercially with a string of hit singles and videos. Anthrax split with frontman Joey Belladonna and recruited Armored Saint singer John Bush whose vocals style was different from that of their previous vocalist. The first release from the new line-up was the 1993 album Sound of White Noise.
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 1990s. Annihilator switched to a more commercial style on Set the World on Fire and King of the Kill before returning to a more thrash-oriented style. Kreator began experimenting with industrial metal and goth starting with Renewal. Some bands, such as Slayer, did not adopt a more mainstream approach. Slayer's album Divine Intervention has a classic thrash sound.
Members of Sepultura, Annihilator, and many others 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 styles. 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. 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 their new album called "The Formation of Damnation" which is said to be released on April 29th, 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.
Older thrash bands have continued to put out material, such as Sodom's self-titled album (2006), Megadeth's United Abominations (2007), Slayer's Christ Illusion (2006), Kreator's Enemy of God (2005), Exodus' The Atrocity Exhibition...Exhibit A (2007), Overkill's Immortalis (2007), Onslaught's Killing Peace (2007), Testament's The Formation of Damnation (2008), Death Angel's Killing Season (2008) and Metallica's Ninth Studio Album {rumored for February 2008}.
Many note that thrash metal is making a comeback due to the popularity of metalcore bands, many of which claim to be thrash metal bands but have many elements that thrash metal bands do not typically (if ever) include in their songs. This is very similar to the 1980s, when the genre was created to combat the rising movement of glam metal bands, many of which were thrown of major labels to be replaced by thrash metal bands, then their popularity faded and were ignored by labels all together. The same cycle (as some claim) is starting to repeat itself, with newer bands like Evile and Warbringer getting signed to larger labels such as Century Media records and Earache records. Detractors of the genre show that this is a sign of how unstable it is and that it is merely a trend as opposed to a true movement, but supporters often argue that thrash metal doesn't need other bands to mock and prove itself against to flourish.
REGIONAL SCENES
Songs Defining Thrash Today (ie fucking check them out)
Happy Thrashing. When your neck tightens up, take a hot shower and hang your head down so that the hot water hits it, this will also help you with whiplash.
