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Thrash metal
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Thrash metal (sometimes referred to simply as thrash), is an extreme 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 visceral and blunt language, an approach which partially overlaps with the hardcore genre. The "Big Four" 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.
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Encyclopedia
Thrash metal (sometimes referred to simply as thrash), is an extreme 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 visceral and blunt language, an approach which partially overlaps with the hardcore genre. The "Big Four" 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.
Musical traits
Thrash metal generally features fast tempos, low-registers, complex guitar riffs, high-register guitar solos, 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 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.
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.
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, Tom Araya, Greg Christian, 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.
History
Origins
1981 is seen as a critical year for the development of thrash metal, but work prior to 1981 helped shape the genre. For example, Queen's Stone Cold Crazy (1974) is technically credited as being the first "Thrash Metal" song. Later traditional metal and NWOBHM bands directly influenced the development of early thrash. The early work of artists such as Diamond Head, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Venom, Motörhead, Sweet Savage, Tygers of Pan Tang, Raven, and Angel Witch, among others, introduced the fast-paced instrumentation that became essential aspects of thrash.
In 1981, a Southern California band by the name of Leather Charm wrote a song entitled "Hit the Lights,". Leather Charm soon disbanded and the band's primary songwriter, vocalist/rhythm guitarist James Hetfield met drummer Lars Ulrich through a classified ad. Together, James and Lars formed Metallica, the first of the "Big Four" thrash bands, with lead guitarist Dave Mustaine, who would later form Megadeth, another of the "Big Four" originators of thrash, and bassist Ron McGovney. Metallica later relocated to San Francisco. McGovney was replaced with Cliff Burton, and Mustaine was later replaced with Kirk Hammet. The band released "Hit the Lights" on their first studio album, Kill 'Em All, in July 25, 1983.
Another "Big Four" thrash band formed in Southern California in 1981, when guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King met while auditioning for the same band and subsequently decided to form a band of their own. Hanneman and King recruited vocalist/bassist Tom Araya, a former respiratory therapist, and drummer Dave Lombardo, a pizza delivery driver, and Slayer was formed. Slayer was discovered by Metal Blade Records executive Brian Slagel while performing Iron Maiden's "Phantom of the Opera" at a show, and were promptly signed to the label. In December 1983, less than six months after the release of Kill 'Em All, Slayer put out their debut album, Show No Mercy.
The European thrash scene that began in early 1982 was almost exclusively influenced by the most aggressive music both Germany and England were producing at that time. British bands such as Tank, Raven and Venom, along with homegrown metal exports Accept, motivated musicians from eastern Europe to start bands of their own, eventually producing German thrash exports such as Sodom, Kreator and Destruction.
Mid-1980s
The popularity of thrash metal increased in 1984 with the release of Metallica's Ride the Lightning, Anthrax's Fistful of Metal, Overkill's self-titled EP and Slayer's Haunting the Chapel. This led to a heavier sounding form of thrash, which was reflected in Exodus's Bonded by Blood and Slayer's Hell Awaits. 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.
Some of the most influential thrash albums were released in 1986. Dark Angel released its second album Darkness Descends in 1986, featuring an extremely 'over the top' style, with lengthy, extremely fast (some over 300 bpm), violent and gory songs. Kreator released Pleasure to Kill, which would later be an influence on the death metal genre.
Metallica's 1986 album Master of Puppets, was one of the first thrash metal albums to receive critical acclaim and commercial success. Within seven months, Slayer, regarded as one of the most sinister thrash metal bands from the early 1980s released Reign in Blood, an album considered by some to have almost single-handedly inspired the entire death metal genre. In November of the same year, Megadeth released Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?, which proved to be the band's commercial and critical breakthrough. Considered to be a landmark thrash metal album, Allmusic cited Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? as "One of the most influential metal albums of its decade, and certainly one of the few truly definitive thrash albums"..
Thrash metal developed into many sub-genres in the mid 1980s. 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. Additionally, the genre influenced many new bands such as Death and Possessed (guitarist Larry LaLonde, who later joined popular alternative rock group Primus).
In the early 80s Canada produced influential speed metal bands like Toronto's Anvil and Ottawa's Exciter whose insistence upon fast playing and aggressiveness is considered a main influence to proper thrash metal. With the emergence of true thrash the influence 'came back home' prompting a new wave of Canadian metal to emerge. Bands such as Montreal's Voivod were one of the first bands to combine progressive rock influences with speed metal. Other Canadian thrash metal bands such as Annihilator, Razor, Sacrifice and Sword enjoyed a small but dedicated following in the mid-to-late 80's.
Late-1980s
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. Canadian thrashers 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 a later thrash band, featuring a very strong sound which was primarily caused by the fretless bass of Steve DiGiorgio. Meanwhile in Germany, Sodom released Agent Orange and Kreator would release Extreme Aggression. Both albums hit the scene in 1989 and are highly regarded as thrash metal classics by fans all around the world.
Older bands continued to record classic albums though. Slayer released South of Heaven in 1988, Megadeth released So Far, So Good... So What! while Metallica's album ...And Justice for All of the same year spawned the band's first video, the World War I-themed song "One".
1990s and beyond
In the 1990s, many veteran thrash metal bands began changing to more accessible, radio-friendly styles. Metallica were a notable example of this shift, particularly with their mid to late 90's albums Load (1996), and ReLoad (1997), which both displayed minor blues and southern rock influences, and were seen as a major departure from the band's earlier sound. Megadeth took a more accessible route with their 1992 album Countdown to Extinction, and Testament released the mainstream and melodic The Ritual in 1992.
A number of more typical thrash albums were released in the 1990s, including 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, and Kreator's Coma of Souls. All of those albums were commercial high points for the aforementioned artists. Many of these bands embarked on a group tour called the "Clash of the Titans" the same year.
As further extreme metal genres came to prominence in the 1990s (industrial metal, death metal, and black metal each finding their own fanbase), the heavy metal "family tree" soon found itself blending aesthetics and styles. For example, bands with all the musical traits of thrash metal began using "death growls", a vocal style borrowed from death metal, while black metal bands often utilized the airy feel of synthesizers, popularized in industrial metal. Testament's The Gathering is one album that came out in the late 90s that combined elements of death metal with thrash metal. Today the placing of bands within distinct subgenres remains a source of contention for heavy metal fans, however, little debate resides over the fact that thrash metal is the sole proprietor of its respective spinoffs (see below).
Recent popularity
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, cover songs by newer bands of older metal classics, and rhythm music video games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero that feature many bands of this genre in their main setlists and through downloadable content. Some bands tagged as New Wave Of Thrash Metal bands include Municipal Waste (band), Bonded by Blood, Gama Bomb, Warbringer, and the United Kingdom's Evile.
Older thrash bands have continued to put out material, such as Destruction's D.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N. (2008), Sodom's self-titled album (2006), Metallica's Death Magnetic (2008), Megadeth's United Abominations (2007), Slayer's Christ Illusion (2006), Death Angel's Killing Season (2008), Kreator's Hordes of Chaos (2009), Exodus' The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A (2007), Overkill's Immortalis (2007), Onslaught's Killing Peace (2007) and Testament's The Formation of Damnation (2008).
Regional scenes
Like many musical genres, thrash had its own regionally-based scenes, each of which had a slightly different sound. The four most well known of these scenes were:
- East Coast (New York/New Jersey): 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 (though not in the case of bands like Toxik). Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, Overkill, Whiplash, Fantom Warior, as well as crossover acts S.O.D., and Methods of Destruction M.O.D., were a few of the most prominent bands to come from the East Coast thrash scene.
- Italy: Italy produced only a handful of thrash metal acts but their paucity in number was compensated by their international fame, especially among fellow musicians. Milan produced Bulldozer a power trio heavily influenced by thrash inspirators Motörhead and Venom. From Rapallo, Liguria came Necrodeath, whose early works are cited as major influences by metal idols such as Abbath from Immortal as well as members of Cannibal Corpse and Brutal Truth. Last but not least Sicily's Schizo have been highly regarded and praised by vocalist Dani Filth. Mondo Cane, started as a one-off collaboration between members of Necrodeath and Schizo was later revived and evolved in a self-standing band. Sardinia produced Terra di Nessuno (band).
- Teutonic thrash metal: The last major thrash scene, and by far the most important one in Europe, was the German thrash metal scene. Since the mid-eighties it spawned dozens upon dozens of bands, managing to develop its own original style. The most successful bands from this scene were Kreator, Destruction, and Sodom.
- Australian thrash metal: While distantly cut off from the main thrash scenes, Australia also has a fairly unique thrash metal scene. In the year of 1988, Australia made its first stakes in the genre when Sydney band Mortal Sin and Melbourne band Hobbs' Angel of Death released their respective debut albums to a worldwide audience. These two bands would probably be the best known Australian thrash metal bands, alongside the more cult Slaughter Lord, and Armoured Angel. Today, most Australian thrash metal bands incorporate elements of black metal and death metal, some including Christian subjects - such as Mortification , Deströyer 666, Gospel of the Horns and Atomizer.
- Poland: The Polish thrash metal scene was created by bands like Kat, Turbo, Wolf Spider, Dragon and Acid Drinkers. Originally, thrash metal in Poland was strongly influenced by New Wave of British Heavy Metal, which is especially clear on the album 666 by Kat, or Kawaleria Szatana (Satan's Cavalry) by Turbo. Most of the old school Polish thrash metal groups have disbanded.
- Other Scenes: With the resurgence of thrash metal as a popular movement in extreme music, several new scenes have up. The British scene for example now consists of bands influenced mainly by traditional crossover and speed metal, and it's significance has grown with bands such as Evile, Gama Bomb, Mutant and SSS. Scandinavia has also become a breeding ground for thrashers very similar to the British scene with F.K.Ü. and Blood Tsunami. Thrash is also emerging in popularity in the New England area, thanks to Municipal Waste and Toxic Holocaust who appeal to the area's predominant punk rock and hardcore culture. This has influenced bands like Ramming Speed and Revocation, and a somewhat popular New Hampshire movement which began with C.S.D.O and Screaming Feret Wreckords.
Genre spinoffs
Thrash metal is directly responsible for the offshoot popular underground metal genres, such as death metal and black metal. The blending of punk ethos and metal's brutal nature led to even more extreme, underground styles after thrash metal began gaining mild commercial success in the late 1980s. With gorier subject matter, heavier downtuning of guitars, the more persistent use of the blastbeat, and darker, atonal death growls, death metal was established in the mid-1980s. Black metal, also considered the offspring of thrash, may have risen even sooner, with many Black Metal bands taking influence from Thrash Metal bands such as Venom. Black metal continued with such deviations from thrash, often providing more orchestral soundtracks and Pagan or Occult-based aesthetics to distinguish itself from thrash.
Thrash metal with even more punk elements than standard thrash is called crossover thrash or crossover for short. According to Encyclopaedia Metallum, the term was coined by the band D.R.I. with their album Crossover, released on 1987. Its overall sound is more punk-influenced than traditional thrash metal, while more metal sounding than traditional hardcore punk and thrashcore.
See also
Further reading
- Ekeroth, Daniel (2008). Swedish Death Metal. Bazillion Points Books. ISBN 978-0-9796163-1-0
- Dome, Malcolm. Thrash Metal. Omnibus Press, 1990. ISBN 0-7119-1790-6.*
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