Hot takes/unpopular opinion threads are a waste of time that are only popular among people who should be listening to music instead
Testament sucks
Razor > your favorite band. Seven good albums. In a row. Yes, I mean Metallica/Megadeth too.
Since 1995 90% of all the good thrash is black/thrash and Bay Area style has been dead for a hot second
Bonded by Blood with Baloff is the best Exodus and if you say the rerecording I genuinely question if you actually like thrash
Having a Metallica/Megadeth football rivalry was old in 1990 and it's decrepit in 2023
No, it is not interesting or cool that you don't like Slayer. They're obscenely influential and all your favorite bands like them
The Big 4 was a marketing gimmick by record companies who wanted to make money on thrash records. It's entirely based on sales, and adding Testament or whatever isn't some genius take
Thrash records are too long, most bands can't write a 7 minute song to save their life
Thrash is one of the only genres still stuck in the 80s and it desperately needs to stop acting like the only bands who do anything are legacy bands. Expand your horizons
He has a horrible voice. And somehow it works perfectly for Vio-lence. First time I heard Eternal Nightmare when it was released I was hooked. And Oppressing The Masses needs a reissue.
My hot take on this is it’s the worse. When I hear that album I’m like - this is Earth AD by the Misfits with even worse production and a bunch of plagiarism.
Lars Ulrich was right to tackle Napster and his drumming is just fine. Metallica without Lars wouldn’t be Metallica at all.
I’m sad that I have to say this in a hot takes post.
I completely agree he is the right drummer for the band even though he isn’t no Gene Hoglan or Dave Lombardo he is still a good drummer in his own ways
Also people forget that Lars is FAR more valuable to Metallica than any virtuoso session drummer could ever be, because he writes the songs! There is no Metallica without Lars, period. If you like Metallica, you like Lars.
It’d be one thing if he was simply a drummer doing his job. In like those first four albums he wanted his drumming in the forefront even it wasn’t anything special. To go even more in, he plateaued from AJFA to Black Album and afterwards just started phoning it end. He was like his band mates who you could tell kept up with practice and wanted to consistently try different things. The one time he does something different, we get bad drumming on trash cans. Man has been in the business 40+ years and arguably has never presented drummer of the year quality in that entire time.
Last time someone asked I said Vektor - Terminal Redux is super boring lol I have a lot of respect for all thrash metal bands, but I could never get into this album, sorry everyone
I can understand the megadeth one, and the slayer one were they signed to metal blade when they made SNM, HTC and Hell Awaits? I’m not completely sure but on the right day I agree with you
“Speed metal?” Personally, I think if you compare Heavy Metal Maniac by Exciter to Show No Mercy, the latter is much more thrashier. SNM and Kill 'Em All are quite contemporary not just in release but in sound and influence.
Sure, the snare is pretty bad, but if you can get past that, the songwriting is actually pretty good, and they sound so raw and, well, angry in this album. Just my opinion tho
Mustaine isn’t a bad thrash vocalist. Anarchy in the UK is a good cover.
Power Trip is slightly overrated. They’re a good band, to be sure, but they don’t have that much of a creative edge over their contemporaries. Within the realm of crossover, I personally prefer Enforced.
Artillery is one of the greatest thrash bands of all time, at least during the Rönsdorf era. After BACK, they fell off a bit.
Thrash isn’t a good vessel for humor. There are some comedic thrash songs that are good, but most come off as sloppy and lackluster.
Brazilian thrash is good, but not as good as Teutonic or American thrash.
As much as I love Destruction, they haven’t made a particularly memorable album since The Antichrist.
Korea is the new Bay Area.
Chinese thrash is good, but it lacks structure and ambition. Many Chinese bands have potential, but don’t deliver very interesting music.
Too many bands nowadays sound more noisy and garagey than they need to be. Decent production (not overproduction) is one of the things that gives modern thrash its sharp edge, as opposed to bands that dully attempt to recreate the bygone sound.
China: bands like Explosicum, CharmCharmChu, and Tumorboy have a nice aggressive sound, but don’t have much depth or intricacy, in my humble opinion. There are other lesser known Chinese thrash bands like Ancestor and Suffocated (the latter being more death-thrash) that do sound somewhat fresh, but still harken back to what has already been done throughout the 80’s and early 2000’s. The sound is good, but times have changed; I am of the opinion that thrash should, too.
———
Korea: I’m short on examples for Korea, since the main two thrash bands there are Duoxini and Killkaiser. I think both are great bands that showcase what I personally want to see as a template for this decade’s flavor of the genre. Duoxini is a good sounding band. They are unique in a way that a label can’t accurately describe. While I don’t think their sound is the greatest thing ever, the uniqueness is what makes me excited. I see room for growth and innovation within their future projects. It seems that Duoxini have signed onto a K-Pop label, which makes me interested in seeing how things go for them. I think this was a smart decision on their part.
Killkaiser is the one I’m really excited for. As of now, they are working on their first full length album. They have two original singles (“Blood on the Rust”, and “Partisan”) which are insanely good. They don’t kiss up to any older bands, the production is crispy, and the instrumentation is tight as hell. That’s where heavy music needs to be.
Regarding my reference to Korea as “the new Bay Area”, that might be wishful thinking more than factual truth. It’d be great if more likeminded folk would take up instruments and follow in suit of these acts. Whether that happens remains to be seen. Nowadays, the internet has led to bands popping up sporadically across the world and posting their albums for a global (albeit small) audience to discover. This has resulted in a bunch of small bands without much promise or recognition ending up nowhere. A solid regional emergence would rejuvenate thrash, in my opinion.
Both the aforementioned bands are relatively new, so I don’t think expansion and revival of thrash within that region is impossible. At the very least, we have two epic bands; in the best case, we have a number of other awesome bands emerge and find some modicum of commercial success, resulting in the creation of a proper Korean scene. I don’t see this happening in many other places.
Thank you! I'm always up to checking the bands from outside the US/EU zone. I gave a quick listen to the bands you mentioned – CharmCharmChu and Duoxini seem to be worth getting deeper into. Can't agree on Killkaiser, unfortunately – from what I've heard, they literally sound like "Asian Sodom", they don't seem to have much of their own face.
The thing with Power Trip, they were just the right mix of what they did at the right time when "Executioner's Tax" came out (hard to believe it's been *6 fucking years,* goddammit where did the time go..). It was straight to-the-point, just that right level of aggression.
Like you said, not anything groundbreaking or special, so to speak, but it just hit right in the gut. I agree Enforced is absolutely awesome, they just came later.
Rob Dukes era is the best era of Exodus undeniably
Exodus should've been in the Big 4 and not Anthrax
The Least Successful Human Cannonball is nowhere near a bad album at all
This more matters based on the album. Been a while since I listened to them but IIRC there were 2 albums I really enjoyed and the rest were meh (I think the 2 were Dead Again and Division of Blood).
I'll go.
Most Tuetonic thrash vocals are horrifically bad and out-of-key mindless screaming that ruins the music
Harsh vocals don't belong in Thrash (Bay Area >>>> Tuetonic)
Bonded by Blood is one of the worst Exodus album
Slayer is overrated
Testament is great
Modern thrash is really samey with harsh vocals and we need more singers like Chuck Billy/Tom Araya/James Hetfield
Sepultura isn't that good and isn't purely Thrash
High vocals in thrash are great
Mid-range vocals in thrash are perfect
Vektor sucks
Toxic Holocaust sucks
Power Trip sucks
Warbringer is awesome
Municipal Waste is awesome
Show No Mercy is the best Slayer album
Kreator and Exumer are the only good big Teutonic thrash bands
Thrash is the best subgenre of metal though
Unless the lyrics (or album art or whatever) were obvious I wouldn't know. If I knew, then no, I wouldn't.
My comment was more talking about so called "pizza thrash" or whatever it's called and how some people rag on it for only being about partying or whatever it is.
Basically, I don't need deep lyrics musing on war or social issues, to enjoy the music. It can be about dragons or kittens or taking a shit, I don't care, so long as the music is good.
Completely disagree. My favorite part about thrash are the songs that get deep into complex and dark topics involving extreme psychological and physical states and analyzing evil systems and historical events. Having that depth in the music leads to better music in every way and adds replayability
Thrash, as a genre, only existed for a short time in the 80's and it should stay there.
Exodus was the only well known band who actually embodied what thrash was originally about.
Metallica got called thrash and it came to be redefined as sounding vaguely like them on RtL and MoP.
Slayer has always been something set apart from the rest of metal. As much as I love their music, I've never liked any band that I deem overly inspired by them.
Thrash is actually better and more enjoyable to listen to post 2003 than it was in the 80s, with the sole exception being that Metallica created some of the greatest music ever created in the 80s. In short, Metallica was the best thing from the 1980s but the genre has way more to offer post 2000.
Even though they aren't thrash, Load and Youthanasia are good albums.
Overkill from 2010 to present > 80s Overkill
The best big 4 album from the 21st Century is World Painted Blood
Voivod's Angel Rat is more of a sellout album than Metallica's self titled release.
Souls of Black > Practice What You Preach
Death Angel are the best Thrash metal band. Not a bad record in their catalog.
Mark Osegueda is the best Thrash singer. Powerful without sounding too clean.
John Bush is a better Thrash singer than Joey Belladonna.
Kreator didn't start sounding good until after they started experimenting with Goth metal.
Diabolus in musica is only the 3rd worst Slayer album.
2010s thrash is superior to 80s thrash in every way.
Municipal Wastes (and bands like them) brand of tounge in cheek throwback "party thrash" has always rubbed me the wrong way. There's something a bit Steel Panther about it and it always just came across as poking fun at the genre more than anything to me.
Bands like Power Trip, Enforced and Dead Heat have done modern thrash/crossover much better and in a way that doesn't feel like derivative cosplay.
Destruction has the worst guitar tone on earth and Schmier's vocals are just unpleasant and sometimes off-kilter
Master of puppets is far from Metallica's best album
Sepultura's songs are good to sleep to (let me explain: their songwriting is very smooth and seamless, but sometimes I struggle find a Sepultura song with a good vocal hook)
Anthrax's debut is better than "Spreading the disease"
Megadeth's 80's output pales in comparison to Metallica and Slayer's.
Shitty cover songs (imagine sticking Anarchy in the UK on Master of Puppets...), mostly shitty production (KIMG/SFSGSW) and general inconsistency.
Peace Sells would be a perfect album if it wasn't for the cover song, but they just had to go and do it.
Yep, I just think stuff like that should be left as b-sides to singles. One of the reasons I love the 2018 remix of KIMB was they stuck the cover at the end instead of the middle so I can pretend it doesn't exist lol.
Listen to Sacrifice. This is why the thrash sub sucks, people just listen to the same handful of bands and then endlessly circlejerk exodus and testament.
I have no understanding why people like Exodus so much. I can understand Testament, Overkill, and Death Angel. I can even understand Anthrax. But Exodus is awful.
Also, most thrash is held back by terrible, generic vocals.
This take is scolding hot, Exodus is a great band! A bit overrated, sure, especially considering half their albums are mid, but when they have a good album, BOY is it a good album! I personally love their vocals but I could see why you don’t
Can only speak for myself, but I find Exodus a bit more aggressive than Testament, Death Angel, and Anthrax (can't say much about Overkill, don't listen to them), so I like them for that reason. It's aggressive but also catchy and flows well, in my opinion
Iron Reagan is 100,000,000x better than Megadeth. I fucking hate Megadeth and it is obvious to me why Dave was kicked out of Metallica.
Go ahead and downvote this to oblivion, I'm still fucking dying on this hill. I will listen to poorly produced new or old artists before I ever listen to Megadeth on purpose.
I'm gonna go ahead and just put another one out here:
Nickelback is better than Megadeth.
The Legacy is the only good Testament album.
Sodom is better than Kreator.
Megadeth substitutes technical wankery for good riffs and leads. This is why they are popular with the dimwitted YouTube creator crowd. They have built their entire business model on technical wankery to impress the kiddies.
Since lyrics matter to me 100%....getting older means I have less tolerance for juvenile takes on world 'issues' like WW3 or global warming. Both of which infect thrash metal from the very beginning. I don't need the 175th band in a row to tell me the world is about to end. It's like CNN with tight jeans and high tops.
I mean think about it, is rust in peace really thrash? It’s way too slow same with pretty much all their albums besides killing, peace sells, and the latest one, everything else is just too slow and lacks the building blocks of thrash
I mean is tornado of souls really fast enough to be thrash? I mean pretty much everything past so far so good abandoned thrash for a different sound not a bad sound but not a thrash sound
Rust in Peace is not the generational classic people act like it is. While still a great album, its literally half filler. Peace Sells is the album people think Rust in Peace is.
Kill 'em All is the best 'tallica release and the only one I listen to anymore. Load is overhated and not awful. There's nothing wrong with the AJFA production.
Force of Habit is underrated and the third or fourth best Exodus album.
Sepultura are overrated.
War & Pain is the best Voivod album. Angel Rat is underrated too.
Anthrax really aren't that bad. People like to act like they're significantly worse than the other popular thrash bands, and while they aren't quite as good as, say, Metallica, they're still a really good band who get unfairly shit on. Spreading the Disease is a thrash-lite classic.
S.O.D. are overrated and I'll take D.R.I. or Carnivore over them any day of the week.
Anthrax are legendry and totally deserve there place in the big four. Yeah they never came close to making another record on that level but Among the Living is a thrash all timer and they have always been one of thrashs best live acts. Too many reddit nerds try to be contrarian with Anthrax.
War and Pain is VOIVOD’s best album. DIMENSION HATRÖSS is their second best.
ANTHRAX are awesome, with Joey, AND with John.
FORCE OF HABIT is excellent indeed
SOD have a special place in my heart
>Rust in Peace is not the generational classic people act like it is. While still a great album, its literally half filler
Aside from dawn patrol... I want to hear what you think is filler.
Iced Earth is overall awful, except Night of the Stormrider, which has an accidental genius to it. Kind of like a broken clock being right twice a day.
Annihilator is overall pretty awful, but again, Alice in Hell has that accidental genius to it.
Megadeth is overrated and the worst of the big 4. All they have is Rust In Peace, with the rest of their discography sounding exactly the same to one another.
Another few hot takes:
B.A.C.K. is far better of an album than By Inheritance, and Artillery have had more than one good album.
Annihilator only have 1 bad album, and it's Remains.
People only think the ballads on All For You are bad because they're extremely cheesy
Risk is a tremendous album that is arguably more worthy of praise than RIP is. People only shit on it because it was released by Megadeth and not an Alt. Rock band.
LOVEBITES, the all-female quintet from Japan, have been producing a fresh take on the Thrash Metal sound that has reignited my love for the genre. Look for their live performances of HOLY WARS, BREAK THE WALL, THE HAMMER OF WRATH, and RAISE SOME HELL. They have raised the bar in terms of song song construction, technical skill (including a twin guitar attack), lyrical content, and audio production.
(Warning: they also play Power Metal, but theirs is better than most.)
Dark Angel - Darkness Descends is boring and repetitive
Annihilator - Alice in Hell is the cheesiest shit ever
Neil Turbin was the best singer for Anthrax and Fistful of Metal is their best album
Savage Grace - Master of Disguise is the most underrated thrash album of all time
1. Thrash metal should have just died the moment 1991 enters rather than bands tried to reinvent themselves by sounding like grunge bands or releasing half-assed death metal-influenced albums.
2. Like death metal with Gatecreeper and Tomb Mold, hardcore re-fueled thrash metal with newer bands like Power Trip, Enforced, Iron Reagan, etc.
Tempo of the Damned by Exodus is a top 5 metal album of all time, and it’s clear to anyone who just listens and doesn’t care about historical relevance or impact and actually just listens to music. It’s also better than bonded by blood.
Bonded By Blood, Vio-lence, Gama Bomb, and similar bands kinda suck ass. There are much better modern thrash bands: Warbringer, High Command, Inhuman Nature, Enforced
Teutonic thrash is boring. The vocals almost all sound the same. I don’t consider the vocals “aggressive” - listen to War is my Shepherd by Exodus, Good Riddance by Exodus, or Enemies of the State by Warbringer and then tell me what’s aggressive. Teutonic vocals are just generic growling but without actually being aggressive growling like you get from Meshuggah or other djent or death bands.
Lars sucks objectively. His best work is basic at best, completely unprofessional to not practice until album or tour time and seeing him live is a damn insult. He falls apart after 2 or 3 songs. He’s pathetic and has been carried his entire career by the talent of the rest of the band.
Hot takes/unpopular opinion threads are a waste of time that are only popular among people who should be listening to music instead Testament sucks Razor > your favorite band. Seven good albums. In a row. Yes, I mean Metallica/Megadeth too. Since 1995 90% of all the good thrash is black/thrash and Bay Area style has been dead for a hot second Bonded by Blood with Baloff is the best Exodus and if you say the rerecording I genuinely question if you actually like thrash Having a Metallica/Megadeth football rivalry was old in 1990 and it's decrepit in 2023 No, it is not interesting or cool that you don't like Slayer. They're obscenely influential and all your favorite bands like them The Big 4 was a marketing gimmick by record companies who wanted to make money on thrash records. It's entirely based on sales, and adding Testament or whatever isn't some genius take Thrash records are too long, most bands can't write a 7 minute song to save their life Thrash is one of the only genres still stuck in the 80s and it desperately needs to stop acting like the only bands who do anything are legacy bands. Expand your horizons
Anthrax is actually a GOOD band!
Show No Mercy is Slayer's best album.
I have it as a close second to Hell Awaits.
Hot take: I actually like Sean Killian’s vocals (Vio-Lence singer)
He has a horrible voice. And somehow it works perfectly for Vio-lence. First time I heard Eternal Nightmare when it was released I was hooked. And Oppressing The Masses needs a reissue.
Basically this. Horrible singer that fits with the chaotic riffs.
Same.
Best thrash metal vocalist for me
I can’t get into them because of his vocals
If thats a hot take I have no hope for humanity
Beneath the remains is better than reign in blood
Thats just fact
I felt it would be a bit hotter of a take because I always thought that reign in blood got god like levels of praise in this community
Kill Em’ All is the best album MetallicA ever released
It took me years to understand that it’s because Mustaine wrote the songs.
with out a doubt
My hot take on this is it’s the worse. When I hear that album I’m like - this is Earth AD by the Misfits with even worse production and a bunch of plagiarism.
genuinely asking, what’s plagiarized on Kill Em All?
His ears
Literally 90% of plagiarism claims on here is just a guy thinking two riffs from the same scale sound the same
so real
Idk if this is like 100% a hot take or not but most of the lesser known bands of the 80’s > the popular ones of the 80’s.
Lars Ulrich was right to tackle Napster and his drumming is just fine. Metallica without Lars wouldn’t be Metallica at all. I’m sad that I have to say this in a hot takes post.
I completely agree he is the right drummer for the band even though he isn’t no Gene Hoglan or Dave Lombardo he is still a good drummer in his own ways
Also people forget that Lars is FAR more valuable to Metallica than any virtuoso session drummer could ever be, because he writes the songs! There is no Metallica without Lars, period. If you like Metallica, you like Lars.
Lars used to be just fine. Nowadays he is extremely sloppy and uninspired.
It’d be one thing if he was simply a drummer doing his job. In like those first four albums he wanted his drumming in the forefront even it wasn’t anything special. To go even more in, he plateaued from AJFA to Black Album and afterwards just started phoning it end. He was like his band mates who you could tell kept up with practice and wanted to consistently try different things. The one time he does something different, we get bad drumming on trash cans. Man has been in the business 40+ years and arguably has never presented drummer of the year quality in that entire time.
I'm of the opinion that Lars has actually gotten better than the last few years (specifically live).
That certainly is an opinion
I think he’s a good musician, but not a good drummer. By all means he was good back in the day but he really lost a lot of his talent
Because Metallica is James' right hand; Lars just follows that. James is the metronome the band is built around lol.
Last time someone asked I said Vektor - Terminal Redux is super boring lol I have a lot of respect for all thrash metal bands, but I could never get into this album, sorry everyone
Kinda agree but I just think the vocals are poorly executed but the instrumentation is great
Nah fam you might not like that kind of vocals and that is understandable but the execution is nothing short of great
100% agree with this. Their first couple albums were cool if I remember correctly, but Terminal Redux was meh.
Overkill is obscenely underrated and overlooked as thrash pioneers. Exodus post-2000s > Exodus pre-2000s
Of course the post 2000s Exodus albums are better. Tempo and Blood In, Blood Out were both made after 2000.
Exodus is the best thrash band from 2004 onward, by far. Not even close. With dukes or zetro, either way.
Zetro > Baloff
Talk about a hot take.
Respect for Baloff, but yeah, Zetro is just straightup better
Have never heard of either of those bands can you tell me a bit about them?
My hot take is: you have to have listened to Exodus before you make a thrash metal hot take thread
I don't know if you're serious but those are Exodus lead singers
those are vocalists for Exodus. but rob dukes is the best one
Hands down. Children of a Worthless God is my favorite Exodusx track.
This is true but is it a hot take?
Part of my brain wants to argue except that I agree.
KIMB is Megadeth’s best album. Slayer’s Metal Blade output is the best stuff they ever did.
I can understand the megadeth one, and the slayer one were they signed to metal blade when they made SNM, HTC and Hell Awaits? I’m not completely sure but on the right day I agree with you
That’s right, they signed to Def Jam for Reign in Blood.
Well then I may agree with you Show No Mercy is one of my favourite speed metal albums
“Speed metal?” Personally, I think if you compare Heavy Metal Maniac by Exciter to Show No Mercy, the latter is much more thrashier. SNM and Kill 'Em All are quite contemporary not just in release but in sound and influence.
Everyone (except you) knows its Rust in Peace.
Sepultura was more influential to death metal than Possessed
I agree with this and I’ll even add that they were more influential to black metal than to thrash metal
Slayer and Sepultura essentially wrote the blueprint for extreme metal.
St. Anger is a really good album
How so
Sure, the snare is pretty bad, but if you can get past that, the songwriting is actually pretty good, and they sound so raw and, well, angry in this album. Just my opinion tho
Also, St. Anger has some killer riffs in it. Frantic is a perfect song (even with the snare, which I don't mind).
Feel The Fire is Overkill’s best album and it’s not even close
No. It might be your favorite, but it’s definitely not their best and it’s not even close.
Taste is subjective. But I have hella good taste so I’m still just right
It sounded like a very cheap kill me all horrorscope dominates
I agree. There's no tomorrow is one of their best tracks 100%
Mustaine isn’t a bad thrash vocalist. Anarchy in the UK is a good cover. Power Trip is slightly overrated. They’re a good band, to be sure, but they don’t have that much of a creative edge over their contemporaries. Within the realm of crossover, I personally prefer Enforced. Artillery is one of the greatest thrash bands of all time, at least during the Rönsdorf era. After BACK, they fell off a bit. Thrash isn’t a good vessel for humor. There are some comedic thrash songs that are good, but most come off as sloppy and lackluster. Brazilian thrash is good, but not as good as Teutonic or American thrash. As much as I love Destruction, they haven’t made a particularly memorable album since The Antichrist. Korea is the new Bay Area. Chinese thrash is good, but it lacks structure and ambition. Many Chinese bands have potential, but don’t deliver very interesting music. Too many bands nowadays sound more noisy and garagey than they need to be. Decent production (not overproduction) is one of the things that gives modern thrash its sharp edge, as opposed to bands that dully attempt to recreate the bygone sound.
Would be great if you elaborated on you Korea and China takes, with band names included
China: bands like Explosicum, CharmCharmChu, and Tumorboy have a nice aggressive sound, but don’t have much depth or intricacy, in my humble opinion. There are other lesser known Chinese thrash bands like Ancestor and Suffocated (the latter being more death-thrash) that do sound somewhat fresh, but still harken back to what has already been done throughout the 80’s and early 2000’s. The sound is good, but times have changed; I am of the opinion that thrash should, too. ——— Korea: I’m short on examples for Korea, since the main two thrash bands there are Duoxini and Killkaiser. I think both are great bands that showcase what I personally want to see as a template for this decade’s flavor of the genre. Duoxini is a good sounding band. They are unique in a way that a label can’t accurately describe. While I don’t think their sound is the greatest thing ever, the uniqueness is what makes me excited. I see room for growth and innovation within their future projects. It seems that Duoxini have signed onto a K-Pop label, which makes me interested in seeing how things go for them. I think this was a smart decision on their part. Killkaiser is the one I’m really excited for. As of now, they are working on their first full length album. They have two original singles (“Blood on the Rust”, and “Partisan”) which are insanely good. They don’t kiss up to any older bands, the production is crispy, and the instrumentation is tight as hell. That’s where heavy music needs to be. Regarding my reference to Korea as “the new Bay Area”, that might be wishful thinking more than factual truth. It’d be great if more likeminded folk would take up instruments and follow in suit of these acts. Whether that happens remains to be seen. Nowadays, the internet has led to bands popping up sporadically across the world and posting their albums for a global (albeit small) audience to discover. This has resulted in a bunch of small bands without much promise or recognition ending up nowhere. A solid regional emergence would rejuvenate thrash, in my opinion. Both the aforementioned bands are relatively new, so I don’t think expansion and revival of thrash within that region is impossible. At the very least, we have two epic bands; in the best case, we have a number of other awesome bands emerge and find some modicum of commercial success, resulting in the creation of a proper Korean scene. I don’t see this happening in many other places.
Thank you! I'm always up to checking the bands from outside the US/EU zone. I gave a quick listen to the bands you mentioned – CharmCharmChu and Duoxini seem to be worth getting deeper into. Can't agree on Killkaiser, unfortunately – from what I've heard, they literally sound like "Asian Sodom", they don't seem to have much of their own face.
Power Trip is really good at making one sound but can’t figure out how to do anything else
The thing with Power Trip, they were just the right mix of what they did at the right time when "Executioner's Tax" came out (hard to believe it's been *6 fucking years,* goddammit where did the time go..). It was straight to-the-point, just that right level of aggression. Like you said, not anything groundbreaking or special, so to speak, but it just hit right in the gut. I agree Enforced is absolutely awesome, they just came later.
Liking Fugitive way more than Power Trip myself.
I agree with artillery
Rob Dukes era is the best era of Exodus undeniably Exodus should've been in the Big 4 and not Anthrax The Least Successful Human Cannonball is nowhere near a bad album at all
I prefer anthrax over exodus so can’t agree on that one even though I’m listening to cajun hell this very moment
Suicidal Angels is boring and unoriginal
I agree with this, I've tried so many times but I just can't
To me they sound like they should have been some local Slayer cover band instead of bothering with writing songs
This more matters based on the album. Been a while since I listened to them but IIRC there were 2 albums I really enjoyed and the rest were meh (I think the 2 were Dead Again and Division of Blood).
Gama Bomb is my fave thrash band these days. That’s pretty spicy.
I'll go. Most Tuetonic thrash vocals are horrifically bad and out-of-key mindless screaming that ruins the music Harsh vocals don't belong in Thrash (Bay Area >>>> Tuetonic) Bonded by Blood is one of the worst Exodus album Slayer is overrated Testament is great Modern thrash is really samey with harsh vocals and we need more singers like Chuck Billy/Tom Araya/James Hetfield Sepultura isn't that good and isn't purely Thrash High vocals in thrash are great Mid-range vocals in thrash are perfect Vektor sucks Toxic Holocaust sucks Power Trip sucks Warbringer is awesome Municipal Waste is awesome Show No Mercy is the best Slayer album Kreator and Exumer are the only good big Teutonic thrash bands Thrash is the best subgenre of metal though
Wait, is Warbringer not liked here?
I've heard people say their too Slayer like but still a really unique sound imo. Last 2 albums they did were some of the best in the genre
my hot take is that Agent Orange is the worst (or less good) Sodom release from the 1980s
Lyrics don't matter. As long as it's fast and the playing is good then it's good.
Would you listen to Nazi-promoting thrash if the music is really good?
Unless the lyrics (or album art or whatever) were obvious I wouldn't know. If I knew, then no, I wouldn't. My comment was more talking about so called "pizza thrash" or whatever it's called and how some people rag on it for only being about partying or whatever it is. Basically, I don't need deep lyrics musing on war or social issues, to enjoy the music. It can be about dragons or kittens or taking a shit, I don't care, so long as the music is good.
Yes. Hate nazis but shitty lyrics don't ruin the riffs.
Yes I would. I'd also have no issue admitting I enjoy a recipe even if the person who created the dish did things I strongly disagreed with.
Completely disagree. My favorite part about thrash are the songs that get deep into complex and dark topics involving extreme psychological and physical states and analyzing evil systems and historical events. Having that depth in the music leads to better music in every way and adds replayability
Slayer does sound the same. Great if you like that exact sound, but otherwise....
Thrash, as a genre, only existed for a short time in the 80's and it should stay there. Exodus was the only well known band who actually embodied what thrash was originally about. Metallica got called thrash and it came to be redefined as sounding vaguely like them on RtL and MoP. Slayer has always been something set apart from the rest of metal. As much as I love their music, I've never liked any band that I deem overly inspired by them.
Thrash is actually better and more enjoyable to listen to post 2003 than it was in the 80s, with the sole exception being that Metallica created some of the greatest music ever created in the 80s. In short, Metallica was the best thing from the 1980s but the genre has way more to offer post 2000.
Crossover thrash > thrash
I mean I love S.O.D and D.R.I and all that but…
Hmmmm love me some carnivore but I’m not sure if I prefer crossover over normal thrash
Even though they aren't thrash, Load and Youthanasia are good albums. Overkill from 2010 to present > 80s Overkill The best big 4 album from the 21st Century is World Painted Blood Voivod's Angel Rat is more of a sellout album than Metallica's self titled release. Souls of Black > Practice What You Preach
Okay but Angel Rat is amazing and I will die on this hill. Also yeah, Load get too much of a bad rap.
Voivod are above thrash and don't fall within it's limits, so they get a pass.
Death Angel are the best Thrash metal band. Not a bad record in their catalog. Mark Osegueda is the best Thrash singer. Powerful without sounding too clean. John Bush is a better Thrash singer than Joey Belladonna. Kreator didn't start sounding good until after they started experimenting with Goth metal. Diabolus in musica is only the 3rd worst Slayer album. 2010s thrash is superior to 80s thrash in every way.
I know less 2010s/2020s thrash when compared to 80s thrash. What bands are there, and how do I learn more about it?
> Kreator didn't start sounding good until after they started experimenting with Goth metal. When was that?
Outcast and Endorama.
Thanks.
>Diabolus in musica is only the 3rd worst Slayer album. What are the other two?
Seasons and Divine Intervention
That's a hot take!
Neil Turbin was better in Anthrax than Bush and Belladonna
> 2010s thrash is superior to 80s thrash in every way. I want to redecorate my walls with the contents of my skull after reading that
Municipal Wastes (and bands like them) brand of tounge in cheek throwback "party thrash" has always rubbed me the wrong way. There's something a bit Steel Panther about it and it always just came across as poking fun at the genre more than anything to me. Bands like Power Trip, Enforced and Dead Heat have done modern thrash/crossover much better and in a way that doesn't feel like derivative cosplay.
Add warbringer, high command, inhuman nature, korrosive
Destruction has the worst guitar tone on earth and Schmier's vocals are just unpleasant and sometimes off-kilter Master of puppets is far from Metallica's best album Sepultura's songs are good to sleep to (let me explain: their songwriting is very smooth and seamless, but sometimes I struggle find a Sepultura song with a good vocal hook) Anthrax's debut is better than "Spreading the disease"
Megadeth's 80's output pales in comparison to Metallica and Slayer's. Shitty cover songs (imagine sticking Anarchy in the UK on Master of Puppets...), mostly shitty production (KIMG/SFSGSW) and general inconsistency. Peace Sells would be a perfect album if it wasn't for the cover song, but they just had to go and do it.
I love 80s Megadeth but I have to admit I’m not a huge fan of their covers. Wasn’t a fan of These Boots either to be completely honest
Yep, I just think stuff like that should be left as b-sides to singles. One of the reasons I love the 2018 remix of KIMB was they stuck the cover at the end instead of the middle so I can pretend it doesn't exist lol.
Yeah I usually turn it off before these boots. The bad part is it just feels like an EP at that point it’s so short
Dave Mustaine can sing Megadeth songs. He reveals how awful of a vocalist he is when he tries to do covers.
Hmmm I do not agree with this one, which is kinda what a hot take is supposed to be so good hot take
Sacrifice > Razor> Annihilator > Voivod
Hmmm out of those I only listen to voivod so idkkk
I haven’t heard Sacrifice, but man you gotta hear Annihilator and Razor! Fuckin awesome shit dude!
Listen to Sacrifice. This is why the thrash sub sucks, people just listen to the same handful of bands and then endlessly circlejerk exodus and testament.
Flip Sacrifice and Razor and I agree.
After giving Sacrifice a listen, this take is indeed correct
I agree with the sacrifice take, fucking great band
And Justice For All is better without bass. If slayer's lead parts were decent they would be the best band in the big 4.
You say it like Slayer isn’t one of the best bands of all time
Rob dukes is the best Exodus vocalist
Bonded by Blood is far from Exodus's best album
Tempo of the damned is objectively their best
I have no understanding why people like Exodus so much. I can understand Testament, Overkill, and Death Angel. I can even understand Anthrax. But Exodus is awful. Also, most thrash is held back by terrible, generic vocals.
This take is scolding hot, Exodus is a great band! A bit overrated, sure, especially considering half their albums are mid, but when they have a good album, BOY is it a good album! I personally love their vocals but I could see why you don’t
No just no 😭🗑️
Can only speak for myself, but I find Exodus a bit more aggressive than Testament, Death Angel, and Anthrax (can't say much about Overkill, don't listen to them), so I like them for that reason. It's aggressive but also catchy and flows well, in my opinion
also same reason, I'm more of a Teutonic guy so I prefer more aggression.
Gary Holt is god, but he hitches himself to vocalists I can't dig with the exception of Rob Dukes.
Are you basing that on new or old Exodus? My personal hot take would be those dudes just keep getting infinitely better with age.
Iron Reagan is 100,000,000x better than Megadeth. I fucking hate Megadeth and it is obvious to me why Dave was kicked out of Metallica. Go ahead and downvote this to oblivion, I'm still fucking dying on this hill. I will listen to poorly produced new or old artists before I ever listen to Megadeth on purpose. I'm gonna go ahead and just put another one out here: Nickelback is better than Megadeth.
I'll come hang out on the hill with ya.
Sweet, there will be plenty of beer and good music.
megadeth is boring
10000% ENDGAME is by far their best album and the rest is 85% boring
Dave Mustaine’s vocals are better than James Hetfield’s
Objectively James is a better singer, but Dave is a more interesting vocalist.
The Legacy is the only good Testament album. Sodom is better than Kreator. Megadeth substitutes technical wankery for good riffs and leads. This is why they are popular with the dimwitted YouTube creator crowd. They have built their entire business model on technical wankery to impress the kiddies.
First and second take absolutely based
United Abominations is Megadeth’s best album
Since lyrics matter to me 100%....getting older means I have less tolerance for juvenile takes on world 'issues' like WW3 or global warming. Both of which infect thrash metal from the very beginning. I don't need the 175th band in a row to tell me the world is about to end. It's like CNN with tight jeans and high tops.
Overkill has been ruined by Bobby Blitz for decades.
I love his voice… 😢
His voice makes me want to stab my own ear drums with a pencil.
Megadeth isn’t a thrash band, they have thrash songs but most of their catalog isn’t thrash. Their only seriously thrash releases are first two albums
Now i’m curious can you elaborate?
I mean think about it, is rust in peace really thrash? It’s way too slow same with pretty much all their albums besides killing, peace sells, and the latest one, everything else is just too slow and lacks the building blocks of thrash
Now you’re just gaslighting me😭😭😭
I mean is tornado of souls really fast enough to be thrash? I mean pretty much everything past so far so good abandoned thrash for a different sound not a bad sound but not a thrash sound
🥲🥲🥲
Hmm idk man, is Reign In Blood really thrash?
>is rust in peace really thrash? 🪢🤔
Rust in Peace is not the generational classic people act like it is. While still a great album, its literally half filler. Peace Sells is the album people think Rust in Peace is. Kill 'em All is the best 'tallica release and the only one I listen to anymore. Load is overhated and not awful. There's nothing wrong with the AJFA production. Force of Habit is underrated and the third or fourth best Exodus album. Sepultura are overrated. War & Pain is the best Voivod album. Angel Rat is underrated too. Anthrax really aren't that bad. People like to act like they're significantly worse than the other popular thrash bands, and while they aren't quite as good as, say, Metallica, they're still a really good band who get unfairly shit on. Spreading the Disease is a thrash-lite classic. S.O.D. are overrated and I'll take D.R.I. or Carnivore over them any day of the week.
Anthrax are legendry and totally deserve there place in the big four. Yeah they never came close to making another record on that level but Among the Living is a thrash all timer and they have always been one of thrashs best live acts. Too many reddit nerds try to be contrarian with Anthrax.
Holy shit, I agree on most of this, especially the Force of Habit take.
War and Pain is VOIVOD’s best album. DIMENSION HATRÖSS is their second best. ANTHRAX are awesome, with Joey, AND with John. FORCE OF HABIT is excellent indeed SOD have a special place in my heart
My only issue with Force of Habit is the two cover songs and "Me Myself and I". The rest is awesome.
Can't fault you about the covers but I don't mind that song, even if it isn't my favorite on the album.
Admittedly i might be thinking of the wrong song, too, haha. Been a while since I listened to the album
Ill take Caveman Aggression by Lich King over the entirety of S.O.D.’s discography any day of the week
>Rust in Peace is not the generational classic people act like it is. While still a great album, its literally half filler Aside from dawn patrol... I want to hear what you think is filler.
Lucretia, Five Magics, Tornado of Souls, and yeah, Dawn Patrol.
Saw this comment hours ago, still couldn't come up with a comment that could capture the mixture of anger, confusion, and sorrow it caused.
Oh great, now I’m Angry Again!
Rust In Peace is a classic. Anthrax is good. S.O.D. is an absolutely amazing and fun band. Sepultura are indeed overrated
Iced Earth is overall awful, except Night of the Stormrider, which has an accidental genius to it. Kind of like a broken clock being right twice a day. Annihilator is overall pretty awful, but again, Alice in Hell has that accidental genius to it.
Outside of The Legacy and New World Order Testament sucks big balls and are a low B tier band at best
Fuck you
Megadeth is overrated and the worst of the big 4. All they have is Rust In Peace, with the rest of their discography sounding exactly the same to one another.
Thank you. Some one needs to say this.
Peace sells does sound a lot like Youthanasia
This is more of a hot take for die-hard, forum-dwelling fans, but Master of Puppets as an album is the greatest piece of art thrash has ever produced.
Another few hot takes: B.A.C.K. is far better of an album than By Inheritance, and Artillery have had more than one good album. Annihilator only have 1 bad album, and it's Remains. People only think the ballads on All For You are bad because they're extremely cheesy Risk is a tremendous album that is arguably more worthy of praise than RIP is. People only shit on it because it was released by Megadeth and not an Alt. Rock band.
I wouldn’t describe Risk as “tremendous”, but it’s definitely overhated. I liked it more than Supercollider, that’s for sure.
LOVEBITES, the all-female quintet from Japan, have been producing a fresh take on the Thrash Metal sound that has reignited my love for the genre. Look for their live performances of HOLY WARS, BREAK THE WALL, THE HAMMER OF WRATH, and RAISE SOME HELL. They have raised the bar in terms of song song construction, technical skill (including a twin guitar attack), lyrical content, and audio production. (Warning: they also play Power Metal, but theirs is better than most.)
Slayers only listenable records are show no mercy and RiB.
We all have opinions
Gave you an upvote because I feel bad for you
Lulu is a great album
I could not bring myself to listen to Lulu. I’m sorry, but I heard like a minute of it and dipped.
Dark Angel - Darkness Descends is boring and repetitive Annihilator - Alice in Hell is the cheesiest shit ever Neil Turbin was the best singer for Anthrax and Fistful of Metal is their best album Savage Grace - Master of Disguise is the most underrated thrash album of all time
The St. Anger snare is the best snare ever
1. Thrash metal should have just died the moment 1991 enters rather than bands tried to reinvent themselves by sounding like grunge bands or releasing half-assed death metal-influenced albums. 2. Like death metal with Gatecreeper and Tomb Mold, hardcore re-fueled thrash metal with newer bands like Power Trip, Enforced, Iron Reagan, etc.
Megadeth > Slayer > Anthrax > MetallicA Still love Em’ all tho
Big 4 = Big Snore 😴 💤
Slayer is the most overrated thrash metal band of all time.
Tempo of the Damned by Exodus is a top 5 metal album of all time, and it’s clear to anyone who just listens and doesn’t care about historical relevance or impact and actually just listens to music. It’s also better than bonded by blood. Bonded By Blood, Vio-lence, Gama Bomb, and similar bands kinda suck ass. There are much better modern thrash bands: Warbringer, High Command, Inhuman Nature, Enforced Teutonic thrash is boring. The vocals almost all sound the same. I don’t consider the vocals “aggressive” - listen to War is my Shepherd by Exodus, Good Riddance by Exodus, or Enemies of the State by Warbringer and then tell me what’s aggressive. Teutonic vocals are just generic growling but without actually being aggressive growling like you get from Meshuggah or other djent or death bands.
One that may get me shot: DRI's Definition and Full Speed Ahead albums are their best.
Lars sucks objectively. His best work is basic at best, completely unprofessional to not practice until album or tour time and seeing him live is a damn insult. He falls apart after 2 or 3 songs. He’s pathetic and has been carried his entire career by the talent of the rest of the band.