Today we look at one branch of heavy metal — Thrash Metal.
Thrash Metal is a subgenre of heavy metal. Extremely fast repeated riffs, the raw chord tone of the electric guitar, driving double-kick drumming and harsh screamed vocals combine into a hard, powerful thrash metal sound that still draws audiences worldwide and is held dear by many heavy metal fans.
The earliest thrash metal can be traced to the late 1970s and early 1980s. Thrash metal can be seen as a product of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. At the time, heavy metal bands took influence from hardcore and punk and fused elements of both into their writing: the driving rhythms of hardcore and the simple, fast chord structures of punk were among the elements that shaped thrash metal.
Some say Queen's 1974 single “Stone Cold Crazy” was ahead of its time and inspired much later thrash writing, while Black Sabbath's “Symptom of the Universe”, released in 1975, is regarded as the first thrash composition to draw attention. After that, 1980s America produced the “Thrash Metal Big Four” — Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax. Beyond the Big Four, other notable thrash bands appeared regionally: Testament from the Bay Area scene, Kreator, Destruction and Sodom from the German Teutonic thrash scene, and Sepultura, Dorsal Atlântica and Executer from Brazil. Alongside that prolific period, thrash also directly shaped underground metal — death metal, black metal and groove metal among them. Take your time exploring.
Here are a few classic thrash metal tracks:
Metallica － Master Of Puppets
Megadeth － Symphony of Destruction
Slayer － Angel Of Death
TESTAMENT – More Than Meets The Eye
Kreator － Pleasure to Kill
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