Thrash metal is the first genre I really got into, as I have made fairly clear on this blog. I got into it through Metallica and other members of the US Big 4. For a long time, I never really thought much about other bands playing the same style. In the last few years though, my knowledge and enjoyment of metal has grown exponentially. I realized that metal in general, and thrash in particular, is a global phenomenon. As such, I decided recently to look at thrash metal bands from various countries. These are some of my favorites from each county, and for countries like the U.S. and Germany where there is an upper tier of bands most people are aware of, I decided to look at some lesser known groups.
AUSTRALIA:
Destroyer 666:
I've discussed this band at length before and will not say much about them again here. D666, though it must be emphasized, created one of the greatest thrash metal albums of all time in Cold Steel...For an Iron Age. That is all.
Slaughter Lord:
I have also briefly discussed this band in my post on Australian War Metal. Slaughter Lord never recorded a full length album, their legacy is remembered in a couple of demos and a compilation of said demos. That being said, they were very important to the large Australian scene.
Trench Hell:
Trench Hell was also discussed in the War Metal post. Essentially, this band sounds a lot like Hellhammer/early Celtic Frost, but thrashier. Even the grunting vocalizations are there. This band is very new and does not even have a full length album out yet. I am definitely interested in following them to see what they do.
AUSTRIA:
Wolfpack Unleashed:
Wolfpack Unleashed is a very new band who has only released a couple of albums since 2006. Their sound is kind of a cross between Megadeth and Dark Tranquillity, mixing thrash with melodic death metal. It's a decent mix when done right and Wolfpack Unleashed does succeed here. The songs aren't anything special, but will get the blood pumping under the right conditions.
BRAZIL:
Sarcofago:
Sarcofago is a band featuring the original lead vocalist for Sepultura, Wagner Antichrist. The band mostly sounds like the earliest full length Sepultura albums, that is raw and fast. Their music incorporates early black and death metal styles as well making their sound ferocious and intense. This is likely what Sepultura would have sounded like had they continued in the style of Morbid Visions.
Sepultura:
Sepultura has also been discussed at length here and will not be subject to another retelling. Suffice it to say that Sepultura is one of my all time favorite bands, at least prior to Max leaving the band.
CANADA:
Sacrifice:
Sacrifice is probably the best pure thrash metal band to come from Canada. Canada has a surprisingly rich metal history, but most of its success stories come in the genres of death metal (Cryptopsy, Quo Vadis, Gorguts) and progressive metal (Strapping Young Lad, Voivod). Sacrifice arose in the mid 1980's mostly influenced by the Bay Area scene. That influence can be clearly heard in the band's sound. Unfortunately, this was a very short-lived band.
Slaughter:
As mentioned above, Sacrifice is the best pure thrash metal band from Canada, however I believe Slaughter to be the best overall band from Canada, they are certainly my favorite. Slaughter was extremely influential on the early death metal scene in the U.S. They were far more of a death/thrash outfit than fitting into just one genre. Chuck Schuldiner of Death almost joined the band before his band took off. Another band that was unfortunately very short-lived. They also have the misfortune of sharing their name with a bad hiar band from the same time period which probably stunted their album sales and convinced them to change their name to Strappado. I will possibly have a rather lengthy post about this band later on.
COLOMBIA:
Witchtrap:
Witchtrap is a throwback band. Sounding like early Slayer and other early thrash metal bands combined with NWOBHM influences, the band sounds like it should have come out in the early 1980's. However, the vocal style is more similar to early extreme thrash metal bands like Sodom, Kreator, or Sepultura. It's a good thing that there are bands like this trying to recapture the sound of the genre's early wave and doing a good job of it.
DENMARK:
Victimizer:
Victimizer is another band that plays a throwback style of metal. The band combines influences from black metal and NWOBHM into their retro-thrash attack to concoct a mixture that is refreshing and intensely ferocious. The band is not real well-known at this time, but they have the musical ability and songwriting skill to potentially make a big impact on the metal scene.
FINNLAND:
Pyrotoxic:
Pyrotoxic was discussed briefly in the post on split albums, they will not be discussed at length here. Pyrotoxic is a thrash metal band with a female lead singer, who, like the below-mentioned Holy Moses, really pulls off the thrash metal vocals well. The band is young and has not recorded much, but they may just have a bright future.
GERMANY:
I have written at length about the German Big 3. To put it quite simply, this scene is just as important as the American scene. I will not go into detail about Kreator, Sodom, and Destruction here, however I do want to discuss the often-overlooked Holy Moses.
Holy Moses:
Holy Moses is one of my favorite female-fronted bands. The band takes all of the elements that made the German thrash metal scene so great and added an incredible vocalist. Sabina Classen does not sound like a woman when she is unleashing her unholy banshee shrieking. As compared to the other bands in the German scene, I would rank Holy Moses #3 behind Sodom and Kreator, and ahead of Destruction, just personal preference.
ITALY:
Hyades:
Hyades is a relatively newer band that has been strongly influenced by the Bay Area thrash scene in the U.S. during the mid 1980's, more in the vein of groups like Exodus and Testament. The music is typically fast-paced with a beefy guitar tone, and rough, but not extreme vocals and the occasional use of gang vocals.
Necrodeath:
There was a little bit of a thrash metal scene in Italy during the 1980's that was greatly overlooked. Necrodeath was one of the better bands from the scene and released a couple of albums that would have been classics had they had a little more fanfare. Nevertheless, Necrodeath is getting a little more notoriety now as the internet has made it easier to hear bands that may have been missed the first time. Necrodeath definitely has a sinister, evil sound to their own brand of thrash metal.
JAPAN:
King's-Evil:
King's-Evil is a band with only one full length album and a demo out there. The band draws its sound mostly from Kreator influences. The riffing is fast, the vocals are delivered in a harsh scream, and the songs are short and angry. A great unknown album.
Sabbat:
Sabbat is kind of a weird band. Their particular brand of thrash metal is very fast and does sound like a unique mix of U.S. styles with some black metal influences thrown in for good measure. The band is incredibly prolific, at least when it comes to recording splits and live albums (three alone this year), but hasn't released a full length album in something like six years. The lyrics are often silly and/or not proper English ("The Answer is Hell", "I'm Your Satan"), which gives them a humorous factor. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not.
MEXICO:
Blood Exile:
Blood Exile was discussed briefly in the post on split albums, they will not be discussed at length here. Blood Exile is a thrash metal band clearly influenced by the Bay Area and with some occasional acoustic guitar melodies in the midst of the songs themselves. Thus far, their only recorded output is a split and some demos.
NETHERLANDS:
Thanatos:
I reviewed a 7 inch single I have of Thanatos earlier in a review post so I will not discuss them at length here. Thanatos was the first great Dutch extreme metal band and combines elements of death and thrash metal. I am still trying to find one of their full-length releases.
NORWAY:
Nocturnal Breed:
Norway is well known for its black metal, but several bands from the country encompass different genre styles. Nocturnal Breed is one of the better thrash metal bands from the country, playing fast, riff-based thrash metal with an emphasis on speed and power. The band also possesses a strong Motorhead influence, particularly in the vocal style, giving the music a grungy, dirty feel.
POLAND:
Vader:
Vader is probably the longest-running band from Poland. Not that that's terribly impressive, but even so. Vader started out as a thrash metal band but then began incorporating death metal influences. At this point in time, the band is probably a bit closer to death metal than thrash. Even so, Vader's ferocity and aggressiveness is difficult to top, even by some of the more extreme thrash metal bands listed in this post. For such a historically inept country, Poland sure has one hell of a metal scene. Vader happens to be their best thrash metal band but other groups that call Poland home include the mighty Behemoth.
PUERTO RICO:
Sacrilegio:
Sacrilegio was discussed briefly in the post on split albums, they will not be discussed at length here. The band is more of a speed/thrash metal band, sounding like it could have come out in the mid 1980's. The lyrics are done mostly in Spanish and delivered in a powerful tenor voice reminiscent of Liege Lord and other early U.S. power metal bands. Sacrilegio, like Blood Exile and Pyrotoxic has not released much recorded output.
SWEDEN:
Swedish thrash is a fairly well-known scene, but not nearly as much as its counterparts in the U.S. and Germany. Swedish thrash doesn't have as much of the aggression of the other two aforementioned scenes. It came around much later and tries to blend the two sounds together. The sound is closely tied to the melodic death metal scene, which causes it to lose some of its ferocity.
Guillotine:
Guillotine formed as a side project of members of Nocturnal Rites to play a more extreme style of metal. The band plays mostly Teutonic style thrash metal in the vein of Destruction. The vocals are a little grating at times, but for the most part, the music is intense and aggressive. As the band is a side project, they have only had two full length albums in the 15 years since starting.
The Crown:
The Crown, formerly known as Crown of Thorns, is kind of a mixed bag. Featuring influences from both thrash and melodic death metal, the band's sound is not easy to pin down. On their earlier material, they were significantly more thrash-oriented. The band has always had one factor that has defined their sound, sheer speed. The Crown features some of the fastest riffing I have yet heard from a metal band.
SWITZERLAND:
Coroner:
Coroner was one of the earliest technical thrash metal bands. Combining styles that would later be defined as technical thrash and neoclassical shred, Coroner was very unique for their time. It's kind of a well-known triat for bands from Switzerland to be unique and groundbreaking as the almighty Celtic Frost is also from the country.
UNITED KINGDOM:
Evile:
Evile is one of the newer wave of thrash metal bands making waves, along with Municipal Waste, Toxic Holocaust, Merciless Death, Warbringer, etc. but is one of the few from outside the U.S. Evile is one of the better such bands. The band's music is mostly influenced by mid-era Slayer and groups like Exodus, mostly Bay Area bands.
Sabbat:
Yes there are two thrash metal bands called Sabbat. This is the band from England and they are one of my favorite under-the-radar thrash metal bands. Sabbat's songs are catchy, their lyrics typically dealing with fantasy themes, and their vocals delivered in a rhythmic staccato style that is incredibly infectious. It's just too bad they didn't last very long. Their singer later formed the early folk metal band Skyclad and brought his distinctive vocal style to that band as well.
UNITED STATES:
I'm not here to discuss the Big 4: Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, and Slayer. I'm not even here to discuss the next tier down: Overkill, Exodus, Testament, and Flotsam and Jetsam. Instead, I want to touch on some lesser known bands, well at least to those not overly familiar with the genre.
Dark Angel:
Dark Angel is very well-known in metal circles but often overlooked elsewhere. They recorded one of the finest thrash metal albums of all time in Darkness Descends. The band truly excelled at writing catchy riffs. Some of the newer thrash metal acts such as Merciless Death are clearly influenced by Dark Angel, even so far as taking their name from one of their songs. It's unfortunate that this band came a little late to make it into the same category of the first two tiers of U.S. thrash.
Demolition Hammer:
I reviewed this band's compilation album earlier in this blog so I won't go into much detail here. Demolition Hammer was similar to the below Morbid Saint in that they played a more extreme version of thrash bordering on death metal. They also had a very short career, spannign three albums, the first two of which are excellent slabs of thrash metal.
Morbid Saint:
Morbid Saint is a more extreme U.S. thrash metal band. Their music is fast and intensely aggressive. The vocals are more of a sinister snearing screech and the riffs attack the listener at blazing speed. An incredible band that just did not last nearly long enough. They only officially released one album then faded back into obscurity.
Sadus:
Sadus was a band that existed as kind of a bridge over the gap between thrash metal and death metal. The band was rather famous for their speed, technicality, and intensity and the harsher vocal style. The other element the band was particularly well-known for was the audibleness of Steve DiGiorgio's bass. The instrument really drove the music. Sadus was a little bit more on the thrash side of things and backed off of their death metal style as their career wore on.
This is a band that I have really only heard one album from, but that album is so impressive as to catapult the band into this list. There are not a lot of groups like that. Thrash metal is my favorite metal genre, and brutal thrash is a particular favorite style of mine. Well, there are very few thrash metal bands more brutal than Nocturnal Breed. Add to that the fact that this is a band from Norway, a country with a strong metal scene, but not well-known for thrash, and the fact that Nocturnal Breed formed in 1994, years after thrash metal was supposed to have died, and you get an extremely unlikely modern thrash metal masterpiece. And that is exactly what this one album is. I have not checked out their earlier work, but this album is so impressive, that even if it were a Nickelback clone, Nocturnal Breed would still be here.
