03 May 2010

Top 100 Thrash Albums (first fifteen commented)




1) Testament - Legacy
"The perfect thrash metal album i think. it contains high-pitched vocalsas well as chuck billy's signature voice, but when he was young and thrashing young! this album made him my favorite thrash metal vocalist. it contains memorable solos and magical riffs that no band has topped, creative-wise, alex skolnik really marked his territory with this one. this is the ultimate "introduction to thrash" album, i think."
2) Watchtower - Energetic Disassembly
"The first bandto introduce jazz and progressive into metal. period. if you like technical bands, they are the fathers. if you like jazz, progressive and metal but don;t know a band that combines them the best, Watchtower is your choice. the drums and bass on this one are still ahead of their time."
3) Dark Angel - Darkness Descends / Time Does Not Heal
"DD was supposed to come out at the same time, if not even before slayer's "reign in blood", but slayer beat them to the album pressing by some months i think. this album was supposed to be what "reign in blood" became since it came out. With Gene Hoglan on drums, one of the best drummers in metal and Don Dotty providing mean thrash vocals from hell,this album destroyed everything in its way at the time, and i think it still does with its hatred and intensity. As for TDNH, their last effort...what a great (and sad) way to end the career of a band: to make the greatest most well-though out record of their career, and of technical thrash in general! "
4) Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales / To Mega Therion
"The band that started it all, in my opinion. Metallica were big fans of Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, as well as Venom, Mercyful Fate and The Misfits and the NWOBHM bands. But Venom was just the thrashiest out of the NWOBHM and Misfits were among the thrashiest of the hardcore/punk bands, but Celtic Frost managed to capture exactly what thrash means. Because of these two albums, bands like Obituary, Coroner, 1349, Tiamat and many others have existed along the way. They're still the most evil thrash metal albums of all time, i think, and they gave birth to black metal, death metal, thrash metal and revolutionized doom and gothic metal. Both are mandatory!!!"
5) Annihilator - Never, Neverland
"Wow, what an album! Canadian Jeff Waters (guitars) & co. revolutionize melodic thrahs through this album. Just like on Testament's "The Legacy", all the riffs on this album will stick in your head for your whole life, these are the riffs of a genious. The drums, the bass, the guitars, the TECHNIQUE and SONG-STRUCTURES, the vocals...everyhting on this album is just perfect and a pleasure to listen to, but it can also cause metal thrashing madness. So keep your adrenaline under control, if you can! But also, it was one of the albums i seriously learned guitar from."
6) Anthrax - Among The Living
"I can never listen to this album without losing my shit!!! or at least doing the Scott Ian stomp. this is the most violent thrash album for me, because every second of it hits you like a copper bat across the nose cavity. THIS is how thrash drums should sound...and who would be better at handling these perfect and mean sounding drums than one of the best thrash drummers, Charlie Benante. Joey Belladona is renowned as one of the best thrash metal vocalist especially for his work on this album. The string section is pissed as a club-bouncer that got punched by some punker. The whole ensemble sounds like a rock that hits you when you push "play". This is the ultimate album for a moshpit (i think it even coined the term with the song "Caught In A Mosh"). After the first minute and a half of the album (the beginning of the title track) i'm always sweating and already exhausted. Warning: do not listen to it when you have valuable objects or people around, they shall be crushed!!!"
7) Metal Church - Metal Church
"This album was love at first...ummm well "sight" doesn't go well with the context but-uhhh...audition! Very Evil Sounding, song-structures are amazing, vocalist David Wayne is, on the same spot with testament's Chuck Billy, my favorite thrash/speed metal vocalist (RIP) thanks to THIS treasure of an album. and especially the atmosphere it creates...very creepy, yet still pissed and bad-ass and when David Wayne starts emiting sounds...forget about it. Also one of the first thrash albums to have and instrumental song. You may think the name is corny, but the music will prove you wrong, as it did to me too."
8) Metallica - Kill 'Em All / Ride The Lightning
"Is there really much to say about these two? In case someone reading this DOESN'T know about them, they are considered to be (especially the first one...of course) the first thrash metal albums, making Metallica the first thrahs metal band in history. The first one is very angry and fast, spawning the genre "speed metal" while the second one shows a drastic maturization. This is classic thrash metal."
9) Coroner - No More Color/ Mental Vortex
"Another album-duo...NMC is Coroner's best effort to show their technical abilities when it comes to shredding (on guitars as well as on bass), the riffs are so mean yet so catchy and melodic. And then BOOM, out of nowhere, comes the Masterpiece MV, Coroner's climax...not at all a continuation of NMC as one would expect. Just simply perfection. Each song on this record: a pearl. Coroner? The pearl-containing oyster."
10) Forbidden - Forbidden Evil
"This album caught my attention when someone i used to know in 8th grade (an ex-80's thrasher/now lawyer from AZ named Michael) told me that the vocalist Russ Anderson has an almost 3-octave-wide vocal-range. I knew i had to hear this and there it was, right in the first song "Chalice Of Blood" and especially towards the end of the title track, Russ instantly became one of my favorite thrahs metal vocalists. On this album, drummer Paul Bostaph (later of Slayer fame) made his debut, and i think he did a good job in 'yer, but i think Forbidden suited him perfectly! The first half of the album is godly, the second is...ok, but if you're looking for a classic thrash album that influenced many to come and not really everyone heard of, get it. do it!!"
11) Megadeth - Rust In Peace
"Melody, two amazing guitarists, an amazing bassist, great drums, complex song-structures, political lyrics, the unique vocals of Dave Mustaine, legendary solos...oh i know what all that means! It's Megadeth's "Rust In Peace". For me (and for many others i think), this album was Megadeth's peak. It was the most mature before they went slightly grungier and more mainstream with Youthanasia. The best of their golden period i'd say. Every song on it is a classic, from the first riff, through the chorus and solo, to the very last strum. This truly got their spot up there with the "thrash big four".
12) Helstar - Nosferatu
"Oh my...This is a flawless album. If you want good drums, Frank shows some amazing (even original) fills and breaks, as well as keeping up with the rapid and complex tempos. If you want good bass, there's even some bass solos in the songs, to prove that Jerry ain't kidding around. If you want good vocals...James Rivera is James Rivera. But if you want good guitars...this is a guitarist's worst decision, in that Larry and Andre are so good, that they'd make anyone who considers themselves a virtuoso quit guitar. Let's put it this way: they make Yngwie look like Kurt Cobain...on saxophone! This album will blow you away, plus it's a conceptual album so that's always a white ball on my behalf!"
13) OverKill - Horrorscope
"Are you kidding?? The sound of all instruments (especially that sharp bass and guitar crunch) on this album probably gave birth to a new style of thrash playing/writing. It crushes the ears, it's really intense, but then when you add Bobby Blitz's vocals on it...forget about it, just his voice alone is like a great thrash record, but these songs, these musicians...this album as a whole is more intense than a war!"
14)Voivod - Dimension Hatross/Nothingface/Angel Rat
"Three albums on the same rank! Whaaaa?? well...because each of them shows a different period in Voivod's lifespan. Of course, Voivod is so unique because they change their sound form album to album, but these albums are my favorite creativity display of Voivod. Melody, weirdness, talent, originality...these albums will have anyone see thrash metal differently and realize that Voivod is really hard to be categorized."
15) Anacrusis - Manic Impressions
"Too underrated! These guys had so much originality it's ridiculous. They were supposed to be as well-known as Coroner, Watchtower, Toxik, etc...right up there with the classic prog-thrashers. I mean, that's what they are but i don;t feel everyone feels this way, they don;t get the credit they deserve. This album, from its cover to its weird robotic cold and echo-y sound, is a milestone in Thrash and i'm hoping one day people will start seeing them as influential as the other classics."
16)Prong - beg to differ
17)Believer - Sanity Obscure
18)Whiplash - Insult To Injury
19) Invocator - weave the apocalypse
20) Cacophony - speed metal symphony
21)Heathen - Victims Of Deception
22) Holy Terror - Mind Wars
23) Nuclear Assault - survive
24) Morgana lefay - sanctified
25) Evildead - Annihilation of civilization
26) Sadus - illusions/swallowed in black
27) Sanctuary - refuge denied
28) Sacred Reich - the american way
29)Morbid saint - spectrum of death
30)Exhorder - The Law/Slaughter in the Vatican
31)Death Angel - Act III
32) Powermad - absolute power
33)Paradox - Heresy
34) Vendetta - go and live...stay and die
35) Pantera - cowboys from hell
36) M.O.D. - U.S.A. for M.O.D
37)Iron angel - hellish crossfire
38) Blind illusion - the sane asylum
39) Kreator - pleasure to kill / violent revolution
40) Testament - The New Order
41)Armored Saint - Symbol Of Salvation
42) Tankard - the morning after
43) The Mist - The Hangman tree
44) Artillery - By inheritance
45) Hexenhaus - the edge of eternity/ awakening
46) Testament - souls of black
47) Deathrow - deception ignored
48) Sodom - tapping the vein
49) Savage Grace - master of disguise / after the fall from grace
50) Slayer - reign in blood / south of heaven
51) Anthrax - spreading the disease
52) Dark angel - we have arrived
53) Sepultura - arise
54) Metallica - master of puppets
55) Celtic frost - into the pandemonium
56) Holy moses - finished with the dogs
57) Sacrosanct - truth is what is
58) Assorted heap - mind reflections
59) Hirax - Raging violence
60) Sepultura - Beneath The Remains
61) Flotsam and jetsam - no place for disgrace
62) Prong - cleansing
63) Attacker - the second coming/battle at helms deep
64) Onslaught - the force
65) Exumer - Possessed By Fire
66) D.B.C. - dead brain cells/universe
67) Devastation - signs of life
68) CyborG - The Last Thing You'll See
69) Destruction - cracked brain
70) Slayer - hell awaits
71) Seputlura - Schizophrenia
72) Sadus - elements of anger
73) Hobbs angel of death - hobbs angel of death
74) Holy terror - terror and submission
75) Sabbat - history of a time to come
76) Sepultura - Chaos A.D.
77) Vio-lence - eternal nightmare/ opressing the masses
78) Sacred Reich - Ignorance
79) Invocator - excursion demise
80) Artillery - fear of tomorrow
81) Avenger of blood - complete annihilation
82) Deathrow - life beyond
83) Tankard - zombie attack
84) Overkill - taking over
85) Mortal Sin - Face Of Despair
86) Wehrmacht - biermacht
87) Ludichrist - immaculate deception
88) Destruction - infernal overkill
89) Believer - extraction form mortality
90) Sodom - agent orange
91) Kreator - coma of souls
92) Destruction - release from agony
93) Tankard - chemical invasion
94) Viking - do or die
95) Bitch - be my slave
96) Ripping Corpse - dreaming with the dead
97) Agent steel - unstoppable force
98) Airdash - thank god its Monday
99) Hallows Eve - tales of terror
100) Cryptic slaughter - money talks/convicted