What Are You Listening To?

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Venus Star - Lucifer-Venus, Finland

 

Orthodox Impaler - Pilgrimage of Hate and Mutilation

 

Vampyric Corridors - Dawn of the Vampyric Aryan Order, 2020

 

[Thatguy]

KRUELTY - Untopia. Thatguy approved Japanese DM

UNDERDARK - Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-entry. A lot better than the wanky album title would suggest

NP - COAST - Coast. It's jazz with electric guitars so watch out

[JamesT]

For the second time in the last 3 Fridays, it's a fantastic release day!  The new album from Virginia thrashers Enforced, "War Remains", came out today, and it's a bruiser!  It's the follow up to their 2021 release, "Kill Grid", which rightfully gained a fair amount of high praise.  I'll need a few more listens before a proper evaluation, but it's been a pleasure to hear thus far. 

[MarkhantonioYeatts]

KING TUBBY AND YABBY YOU - Time To Remember (Vol. 1)

 

[AlSymerz]

18 minutes ago, JamesT said:

For the second time in the last 3 Fridays, it's a fantastic release day!  The new album from Virginia thrashers Enforced, "War Remains", came out today, and it's a bruiser!  It's the follow up to their 2021 release, "Kill Grid", which rightfully gained a fair amount of high praise.  I'll need a few more listens before a proper evaluation, but it's been a pleasure to hear thus far. 

Well probably buy Enforced next week, haven't had a chance to listen to it yet though.

Will also check out Elvenking and apparently Wytch Hazel dropped an EP.

NP: Chris Poland - Return to Metalopolis 30th Anniversary

[JamesT]

8 minutes ago, AlSymerz said:

Well probably buy Enforced next week, haven't had a chance to listen to it yet though.

Will also check out Elvenking and apparently Wytch Hazel dropped an EP.

NP: Chris Poland - Return to Metalopolis 30th Anniversary

I expect that you'll thoroughly enjoy the new Enforced album!  It's just full-speed ahead most of the way through, only switching to a groove-oriented pace occasionally.  The vocals and production are fantastic!

I'm a huge Elvenking fan.  "Wyrd", "The Winter Wake", and "The Scythe" were pretty much the soundtrack to my high school years.  Looking forward to hearing "Reader of the Runes - Rapture" this weekend!

[Parker]

Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse

Philip Glass - Symphony 2

Amebix - Arise!

Shostakovich - Symphony 7

The Misfits - Static Age

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Lucifuge - Monoliths of Wrath, black/speed/thrash Germany

 

Enforced - War Remains, thrashy crossover Richmond VA

 

2 hours ago, JamesT said:

I expect that you'll thoroughly enjoy the new Enforced album!  It's just full-speed ahead most of the way through, only switching to a groove-oriented pace occasionally.  The vocals and production are fantastic!

Production is not ideal, too compressed (Century Media) it's just a bit too clean for me, needs more grit. But at least they've nailed the instrument sounds so it'll do. Enjoying it a bit more on my 2nd spin than I was earier this afternoon. The vocalist is definitely giving it his all. I like these sort of semi-hardcore inspired vox much better than your typical thrash vocals. But it still drags in spots, the album mostly alternates between midpaced and slow, I think they're overdoing it a bit on the chugging, they're just not really kicking it into high gear very much on this one. There are a couple of bursts but they're too few and far between. I like it, because midpaced works for me, and it's nice and short at just under 34 minutes. But my first day impression is I don't think it's nearly as good as Kill Grid. But I predict it will be well received by most of their fans who probably won't be applying my specific goat standards to it.

[RelentlessOblivion]

Demolition Hammer - Epidemic of Violence

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Suicidal Angels - Bloodbath, Greek retro thrash 2012, a little chuggy at times but overall reasonably enjoyable. Sounds like a more controlled digital mainstream mashup of Slayer, Exodus and Kreator.

 

Exumer - Hostile Defiance, Germany 2019, this one sounds like an Exodus and Sodom collaboration. I have absolutely no idea why I'm listening to these random modern retro thrash albums at 1am when I could be listening to black metal.

 

[RelentlessOblivion]

I was about to say who are you and what have you done with the real GG?

 

Taake - Nattestid ser Porten vid

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Frozen Shadows - Dans les Bras des Immortels, Quebecois Noir 1999, fuck yeah this is more ike it. 

 

Tattva - Nirjara, bm France 2021, so much killer back metal from France it feels like I've barey scratched the surface.

 

Espiritismo - Regresiones Dentro de Otros Planos, Argentina 2021

 

[MacabreEternal]

Katatonia - Sky Void of Stars (2023)

Enforced - War Remains (2023)

 

[JamesT]

7 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Lucifuge - Monoliths of Wrath, black/speed/thrash Germany

 

Enforced - War Remains, thrashy crossover Richmond VA

 

Production is not ideal, too compressed (Century Media) it's just a bit too clean for me, needs more grit. But at least they've nailed the instrument sounds so it'll do. Enjoying it a bit more on my 2nd spin than I was earier this afternoon. The vocalist is definitely giving it his all. I like these sort of semi-hardcore inspired vox much better than your typical thrash vocals. But it still drags in spots, the album mostly alternates between midpaced and slow, I think they're overdoing it a bit on the chugging, they're just not really kicking it into high gear very much on this one. There are a couple of bursts but they're too few and far between. I like it, because midpaced works for me, and it's nice and short at just under 34 minutes. But my first day impression is I don't think it's nearly as good as Kill Grid. But I predict it will be well received by most of their fans who probably won't be applying my specific goat standards to it.

I can definitely understand what you're saying!  I, too, wasn't as impressed upon first listen as I was with "Kill Grid", but it has grown on me with more listens.  The vocals remind me of Power Trip quite a bit, which is an excellent thing.  In terms of modern thrash, I return to these guys frequently.  Glad to hear you're enjoying it a bit more!

[JamesT]

Exodus - "Tempo of the Damned"

100 Watt Vipers - "Cold Sunday Blues"

Airbourne - "Runnin' Wild"

Worm Shepherd - "Ritual Hymns"

[GoatmasterGeneral]

4 hours ago, JamesT said:

I can definitely understand what you're saying!  I, too, wasn't as impressed upon first listen as I was with "Kill Grid", but it has grown on me with more listens.  The vocals remind me of Power Trip quite a bit, which is an excellent thing.  In terms of modern thrash, I return to these guys frequently.  Glad to hear you're enjoying it a bit more!

I bet you'd be shocked to learn I was the guy who didn't like Power Trip.  That comparison did come to mind though while I was listening to the new Enforced, so I was thinking it might be time to revisit the mighty Power Trip and refresh my memory. But didn't I read that one of the guys had died? Are they even still together?

The new Enforced's not bad, I still might even buy it. I just think it could have been so much better if they had interspersed a few more faster sections in along with all the midpaced chugging and slower parts. I generally like and defend midpaced, but you can't just stick to midpaced for the whole 34 minutes, it needs to be offset with some speed to break up the monotony. The thing about thrash and hardcore is that they're both relatively fast tempoed forms of music. So when a band combines the two you'd logically expect the product to have some speed to it. I'm not saying I think every thrash or crossover record has to be blindingly fast like Reign in Blood, but War Remains is like a truck stuck in the middle lane chugging along obliviously going 55 while everyone else is blowing by him on both sides at 75 or 80 giving him the finger while yelling out the window for him to get his stupid slow piece of crap truck the fuck off the highway. (in NY that's what we'd be doing anyway) He'll likely still get where he's going, eventually, but the journey won't be nearly as much fun.

 

NP: Impaler of Pest - Warlords of Death, Colombia 2021

 

[JamesT]

22 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

I bet you'd be shocked to learn I was the guy who didn't like Power Trip.  That comparison did come to mind though while I was listening to the new Enforced, so I was thinking it might be time to revisit the mighty Power Trip and refresh my memory. But didn't I read that one of the guys had died? Are they even still together?

The new Enforced's not bad, I still might even buy it. I just think it could have been so much better if they had interspersed a few more faster sections in along with all the midpaced chugging and slower parts. I generally like and defend midpaced, but you can't just stick to midpaced for the whole 34 minutes, it needs to be offset with some speed to break up the monotony. The thing about thrash and hardcore is that they're both relatively fast tempoed forms of music. So when a band combines the two you'd logically expect the product to have some speed to it. I'm not saying I think every thrash or crossover record has to be blindingly fast like Reign in Blood, but War Remains is like a truck stuck in the middle lane chugging along obliviously going 55 while everyone else is blowing by him on both sides at 75 or 80 giving him the finger while yelling out the window for him to get his stupid slow piece of crap truck the fuck off the highway. (in NY that's what we'd be doing anyway) He'll likely still get where he's going, eventually, but the journey won't be nearly as much fun.

 

NP: Impaler of Pest - Warlords of Death, Colombia 2021

 

You're correct - I wouldn't have expected that!  Power Trip is definitely a favorite of mine.  Their 2017 album "Nightmare Logic" has received almost universal acclaim ever since it came out.  And yes, you're correct.  Their front man Riley Gale passed away a few years back at the age of 33.  I'm not certain what the cause of death was, but I was shocked and saddened to hear the news.  And that's a good question regarding their current whereabouts.  I haven't heard that they've officially broken up, but I also haven't seen any announcements that they're planning to carry on with a different vocalist either.  Really not sure where they stand.  They don't have an extensive catalog, but I enjoy the whole thing.  It'll be interesting to see what happens with them, if anything.

The new Enforced album is getting better with each listen for me!  It's always interesting to hear other people's perspectives on the music.  "War Remains" sounds pretty speedy and high-octane to me, but I know that's a subjective view.  I noticed the reverb on the vocals (a huge Power Trip trait) seems to add to the ferocity, at least in my opinion.  

I'd be really interested to hear your recommendations on bands that you would consider to play with great speed.  I think you've mentioned before that you're not as into thrash these days, but if you have a moment, I'll take any suggestions of bands that play incredibly fast!  I'll look forward to hearing your reply!

[GoatmasterGeneral]

2 hours ago, JamesT said:

I'd be really interested to hear your recommendations on bands that you would consider to play with great speed.  I think you've mentioned before that you're not as into thrash these days, but if you have a moment, I'll take any suggestions of bands that play incredibly fast!  I'll look forward to hearing your reply!

As it happens James, I worked up my top 20 thrash albums list just last year when some of my friends and I had been talking off the board about making and sharing lists of our favorite 2000's thrash albums. No one else made a list I guess because I never heard anymore about it after that. But I made mine and I will be glad to share it with you now. 

You should be advised that I prefer my thrash metal with harsh vocals hands down over the traditional 80's thrash styled vocals so you won't find any 80's stuff like Metallica or Exodus or Slayer on my list even though I do think Ride the Lightning and Reign in Blood and Darkness Descends are some of the best metal albums of all time. I would have to make a completely separate list for those types of 80's thrash albums as I think of them as a different and separate thing. This list is just for thrash albums released since the year 2000. These entries are not in any particular order after #1 which is my clear #1.

 

2000's Thrash - Black/thrash
 
Hellish Crossfire - Slavery of the Burning Pentagram Germany 2006 don't even need to think about it, this is still by far my favorite thrash record of the last 20 years. Yet to be dethroned.

Baphomet's Blood - In Satan We Trust 2016 yeah this one's much more blackened speed metal than it is thrash but it's just so fucking good I couldn't leave it off. These guys are the Italian Motörhead basically.

Overkill - Killbox 13  2003 The only traditional styled thrash album on my list because I've loved Overkill for 40 years since their early club days, they've since become part of my DNA. Some say Overkill went 'groove thrash' starting with '93's I Hear Black but I don't know, I like most of their 90's stuff, don't care that they mixed up the tempos and had some slower tracks mixed in. They've always kept the tempos varied even back in the 80's with some midpaced and slower songs featured on the albums so I don't really understand what everyone's problem with I Hear Black was. That's a great album to me with all great songs. I think they did return closer to a more traditional thrash style in the early 2000's after some of their 90's weirdness that was found on albums like From the Underground '97 and Necroshine in '99. (I do really like Necroshine a lot though) Killbox is hands down their best post 2000 album with Bloodletting right behind it no matter what any of these young kids might want to say about the mediocre Ironbound.

Deströyer 666 - Defiance 2009 This album gets mixed reviews even from D666 fans, but I fucking love D666 and for my money this is their best abum by a wide margin. A non-stop 41 minute black/death/thrash assault front to back there is not a bad track to be found on this one.

Hades Archer - For the Diabolical Ages 2011 this was one of my first real "goat metal" albums when my tastes really broke apart from the mainstream and I disappeared down the filthy evil rabbit hole that I have yet to emerge from. A classic of the goat metal sub-genre, you mainstreamers won't appreciate this one.

Alastor - Crushing Christendom 2000 Portugal, these guys are pretty far to the extreme crusty evil lo-fi end of the black/thrash spectrum so it's right up my alley. They have put out a lot of great records but I think this is probably their best and most extreme.

Nocturnal Witch - Summoning Hell 2014 Germans really love their black/thrash. Don't know why some people are so dead set on hanging onto some of these floundering dinosaur bands like Kreator and Destruction, they have heaps more black/thrash bands like this from Germany that are so much better.

Sathanas - Crowned Infernal 2007 A criminally overlooked American black/thrash band from the outskirts near Pittsburgh PA that have been around for 35 years. M-A currently has them listed as blackened death but they don't know shit. This is a great record of really well done and quite catchy black/thrash and they have several more just like it. 

Ruins - Satanic Bitchpenetration 2008 Another German one-man evil lo-fi blackened affair that no one else will give a fuck about but that's my bread and butter.

Flame - Into the Age of Fire 2005 this was another one of my earliest forays into evil lo-fi goat metal territory that has been a favorite of mine for a long time. Finland really is the most metal country.

Urn - Soul Destroyers 2008 Finland, One of the catchier records on my list, I played this one a ton for a year or two after I got it. Should probably go back to it more often.

Front - Antichrist Militia 2020 killer band from Finland. This album has a 63% on M-A, one reviewer calling it "pizza thrash" another complaining about the glut of bands that take equal parts of Venom and Motorhead and throw some Blasphemy into the mix as if that could be a bad thing. This is more in line with Blasphemy than Slayer, but still most people call this some kind of blackened death/thrash hybrid so on the list it goes.

Praise the Flame - Manifest Rebellion  2015 Chilean Death/Thrash, unknown but fucking excellent. South of the border is one of the best places to look for killer primitive black/thrash and death/thrash.

Desaster - Arts of Destruction 2012 Germany. Desaster was one of my first black/thrash discoveries back in the 00's. They have a solid catalog of albums stretching back into the late 90's. Hellfire Dominion is easily my favorite, but that was 1998 so I had to pick my favorite from their post 2000 stuff which wasn't easy as they're all good. 

Hellripper - Coagulating Darkness 2017 Just a millennial kid up in Scotland who loved metal and wanted to make some of his own. So he did and it's awesome. If I were to make this list over again today I would use the newest Hellripper album, Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags because I think it's by far his best one yet.

 Dead to this World - First Strike for Spiritual Renewance, Norway 2007 Don't listen to this black thrash monster often enough. Their only full length, they haven't released anything since 2011. M-A still lists them as active so I'd say they're due.

Sacrilegia - The Triclavian Advent 2019 speedy vicious Irish black/thrash

Ragehammer - The Hammer Doctrine 2016 These Poles stretch the boundaries of black/thrash in their own vicious brutal way. Essential.

Bömber - Black Ultra Anarchy 2021 Chilean black/thrash or maybe it's death/thrash but whatever it is, it's fucking killer, it checks all my goat boxes. 

Craven Idol - Forked Tongues 2021 A lot of people I know don't seem to like this UK band very much for some reason, but I think they're fantastic. This was one of the best albums of 2021 for me.

Black Jackyl - Forever War 2021, some modern black/thrash from San Antonio TX

Antichrist - Sinful Birth 2017 just picked this one up last year. I had grabbed these Canadians' first album some years back and it was just ok. But this 2nd one is way better, essential I'd say for all thrash fans. So I'm really glad I looked into their second album and didn't just dismiss them after the mediocre first one.

Evil Angel - Unholy Fight For Metal 2007 Finland. One of my earliest black/thrash pickups from '07 that has nostalgic value from when I was just beginning to discover the magic of Finnish underground metal.

 

These are some more killer albums that missed making my list mostly because they're more speed metally to me and I was trying to focus my list more on thrash.

Cemetery Lust - Screams of the Violated 2012
Ketzer - Satan's Boundaries Unchained 2009
Wraith - Undo the Chains 2021
Intöxicated - Röck 'n Roll Hellpatröl 2013
Speedwolf - Ride With Death 2011
Chapel - Satan's Rock 'N' Roll 2012
Midnight - Satanic Royalty 2011
Bonehunter - Evil Triumphs Again 2015
Nocturnal Graves - Titan 2018
Nekromantheon - The Visions of Trismegistos 2021
Evil Angel - Unholy Fight For Metal 2007
Exodus - Tempo of the Damned 2004
Victim - Endless Source of Hate  2018
Omega - The Hell Patrol 2013

[JamesT]

50 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

As it happens James, I worked up my top 20 thrash albums list just last year when some of my friends and I had been talking off the board about making and sharing lists of our favorite 2000's thrash albums. No one else made a list I guess because I never heard anymore about it after that. But I made mine and I will be glad to share it with you now. 

You should be advised that I prefer my thrash metal with harsh vocals hands down over the traditional 80's thrash styled vocals so you won't find any 80's stuff like Metallica or Exodus or Slayer on my list even though I do think Ride the Lightning and Reign in Blood and Darkness Descends are some of the best metal albums of all time. I would have to make a completely separate list for those types of 80's thrash albums as I think of them as a different and separate thing. This list is just for thrash albums released since the year 2000. These entries are not in any particular order after #1 which is my clear #1.

 

2000's Thrash - Black/thrash
 
Hellish Crossfire - Slavery of the Burning Pentagram Germany 2006 don't even need to think about it, this is still by far my favorite thrash record of the last 20 years. Yet to be dethroned.

Baphomet's Blood - In Satan We Trust 2016 yeah this one's much more blackened speed metal than it is thrash but it's just so fucking good I couldn't leave it off.

Overkill - Killbox 13  2003 The only traditional styled thrash album on my list because I've loved Overkill for 40 years since their early club days, they've since become part of my DNA. Some say Overkill went 'groove thrash' starting with '93's I Hear Black but I don't know, I like most of their 90's stuff, don't care that they mixed up the tempos and had some slower tracks mixed in. They've always kept the tempos varied even back in the 80's with some midpaced and slower songs featured on the albums so I don't really understand what everyone's problem with I Hear Black was. That's a great album to me with all great songs. I think they did return closer to a more traditional thrash style in the early 2000's after some of their 90's weirdness that was found on albums like From the Underground '97 and Necroshine in '99. (I do really like Necroshine a lot though) Killbox is hands down their best post 2000 album with Bloodletting right behind it no matter what any of these young kids might want to say about the mediocre Ironbound.

Deströyer 666 - Defiance 2009 This album gets mixed reviews even from D666 fans, but I fucking love D666 and for my money this is their best abum by a wide margin. A 41 minute black/death/thrash assault front to back there is not a bad track on this one.

Hades Archer - For the Diabolical Ages 2011 this was one of my first real "goat metal" albums when my tastes really broke apart from the mainstream and I disappeared down the filthy evil rabbit hole that I have yet to emerge from. A classic of the goat metal sub-genre, you mainstreamers won't appreciate this one.

Alastor - Crushing Christendom 2000 Portugal, these guys are pretty far to the extreme crusty evil lo-fi end of the black/thrash spectrum so it's right up my alley. They have put out a lot of great records but I think this is probably their best and most extreme.

Nocturnal Witch - Summoning Hell 2014 Germans really love their black/thrash. Don't know why people are set on hanging onto some of these floundering dinosaur bands like Kreator and Destruction, they have a ton more black/thrash bands like this in Germany that are so much better.

Sathanas - Crowned Infernal 2007 A criminally overlooked American black/thrash band from the outskirts near Pittsburgh PA that have been around for 35 years. M-A currently has them listed as blackened death but they don't know shit. This is a great record of really well done and quite catchy black/thrash. 

Ruins - Satanic Bitchpenetration 2008 Another German one-man evil lo-fi blackened affair but that's my bread and butter.

Flame - Into the Age of Fire 2005 this was another one of my earliest forays into evil lo-fi goat metal territory that has been a favorite of mine for a long time. Finland really is the most metal country.

Urn - Soul Destroyers 2008 One of the catchier records on my list, I played this one a ton for a year or two after I got it.

Front - Antichrist Militia 2020 killer band from Finland. This album has a 63% on M-A, one reviewer calling it "pizza thrash" another complaining about the glut of bands that take equal parts of Venom and Motorhead and throw some Blasphemy into the mix as if that was a bad thing. This is more in line with Blasphemy than Slayer, but still most people call this some kind of blackened death/thrash hybrid so on the list it goes.

Praise the Flame - Manifest Rebellion  2015 Chilean Death/Thrash, unknown but fucking excellent. South of the border is one of the best places to look for killer primitive black/thrash and death/thrash.

Desaster - Arts of Destruction 2012 Desaster was one of my first black/thrash discoveries back in the 00's. They have a solid catalog of albums stretching back into the late 90's. Hellfire Dominion is easily my favorite, but that was 1998 so I had to pick my favorite from their post 2000 stuff which wasn't easy as they're all good. 

Hellripper - Coagulating Darkness 2017 Just a millennial kid up in Scotland who loved metal and wanted to make some of his own. So he did and it's awesome. If I were to make this list over again today I would use the newest Hellripper album, Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags because I think it's by far his best one yet.

 Dead to this World - First Strike for Spiritual Renewance, Norway 2007 Don't listen to this black thrash monster often enough. Their only full length, they haven't released anything since 2011. M-A lists them as active so I'd say they're due.

Sacrilegia - The Triclavian Advent 2019 speedy vicious Irish black/thrash

Ragehammer - The Hammer Doctrine 2016 These Poles stretch the boundaries of black/thrash in their own vicious brutal way. 

Bömber - Black Ultra Anarchy 2021 Chilean black/thrash or maybe it's death/thrash but whatever it is it's killer, it checks all my goat boxes. 

Craven Idol - Forked Tongues 2021 A lot of people I know don't seem to like this UK band very much it seems for some reason but I think they're fantastic. This was one of the best albums of 2021 for me.

Black Jackyl - Forever War 2021, some modern black/thrash from San Antonio TX

Antichrist - Sinful Birth 2017 just picked this up recently in 2022. I had grabbed their first album and it was just ok but this one is way better, essential I'd say for thrash fans so I'm really glad I looked into their second album.

Evil Angel - Unholy Fight For Metal 2007 Finland. One of my earliest black/thrash pickups from '07 that has nostalgic value from when I was just beginning to dicover the magic of Finnish metal.

 

These are some more killer albums that missed making my list mostly because they're more speed metal to me and I was trying to focus my list more on thrash.

Cemetery Lust - Screams of the Violated 2012
Ketzer - Satan's Boundaries Unchained 2009
Wraith - Undo the Chains 2021
Intöxicated - Röck 'n Roll Hellpatröl 2013
Speedwolf - Ride With Death 2011
Chapel - Satan's Rock 'N' Roll 2012
Midnight - Satanic Royalty 2011
Bonehunter - Evil Triumphs Again 2015
Nocturnal Graves - Titan 2018
Nekromantheon - The Visions of Trismegistos 2021
Evil Angel - Unholy Fight For Metal 2007
Exodus - Tempo of the Damned 2004
Victim - Endless Source of Hate  2018
Omega - The Hell Patrol 2013

I am humbled to have received such a lengthy, well thought-out list!  I appreciate you taking the time to share it!  I hadn't heard of the vast majority of the material on your list, which is great!  I now have plenty of material to go through and check out.  In fact, I think I'll head down the rabbit hole right now!  Many thanks, Mr. GG!

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Omega - The Hell Patrol, blackened speed metal Greece 2013

 

Goatkraft - Sulphurous Northern Bestiality, Norway 2019. Thrashy black metal that I thought was just a bit too black to make my thrash list.

 

16 minutes ago, JamesT said:

I am humbled to have received such a lengthy, well thought-out list!  I appreciate you taking the time to share it!  I hadn't heard of the vast majority of the material on your list, which is great!  I now have plenty of material to go through and check out.  In fact, I think I'll head down the rabbit hole right now!  Many thanks, Mr. GG!

My pleasure James Thomas. I'm honored that some young dude my daughter's age thinks enough of what I have to say that he's willing to seek out and follow up on recos from some old man who's probably older than his father. Not sure how many of those will be quite your speed, but I do hope you find at least a couple of new bands that you like.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

Hellish Crossfire – Slaves of the Burning Pentagram, Germany 2006, think classic Sodom meets Possessed 7 Churches but way faster than either. One of my top 25 metal albums of all time.

 

Deströyer 666 - Defiance, 2009, the band Aussies love to hate! Saw them live in a little club in Greenpoint Brooklyn back in 2010 when this was their latest album with Shrapnel on lead guitar and they burnt that fucking place to the ground. Happened to be their last night of that tour and it was a sick high-energy total mayhem show. Right from the opening notes of Weapons of Conquest this album flat out destroys. My favorite track here is #3 the mid-paced Blood for Blood, just wish the intro wasn't so damn long.

 

[Hungarino]

2 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Hellish Crossfire – Slaves of the Burning Pentagram

Yup. You turned me on this one. Superlative and essential goat metal.

[AlSymerz]

Suicidal Tendencies - Join The Army

[RelentlessOblivion]

4 hours ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

As it happens James, I worked up my top 20 thrash albums list just last year when some of my friends and I had been talking off the board about making and sharing lists of our favorite 2000's thrash albums. No one else made a list I guess because I never heard anymore about it after that. But I made mine and I will be glad to share it with you now. 

You should be advised that I prefer my thrash metal with harsh vocals hands down over the traditional 80's thrash styled vocals so you won't find any 80's stuff like Metallica or Exodus or Slayer on my list even though I do think Ride the Lightning and Reign in Blood and Darkness Descends are some of the best metal albums of all time. I would have to make a completely separate list for those types of 80's thrash albums as I think of them as a different and separate thing. This list is just for thrash albums released since the year 2000. These entries are not in any particular order after #1 which is my clear #1.

 

2000's Thrash - Black/thrash
 
Hellish Crossfire - Slavery of the Burning Pentagram Germany 2006 don't even need to think about it, this is still by far my favorite thrash record of the last 20 years. Yet to be dethroned.

Baphomet's Blood - In Satan We Trust 2016 yeah this one's much more blackened speed metal than it is thrash but it's just so fucking good I couldn't leave it off. These guys are the Italian Motörhead basically.

Overkill - Killbox 13  2003 The only traditional styled thrash album on my list because I've loved Overkill for 40 years since their early club days, they've since become part of my DNA. Some say Overkill went 'groove thrash' starting with '93's I Hear Black but I don't know, I like most of their 90's stuff, don't care that they mixed up the tempos and had some slower tracks mixed in. They've always kept the tempos varied even back in the 80's with some midpaced and slower songs featured on the albums so I don't really understand what everyone's problem with I Hear Black was. That's a great album to me with all great songs. I think they did return closer to a more traditional thrash style in the early 2000's after some of their 90's weirdness that was found on albums like From the Underground '97 and Necroshine in '99. (I do really like Necroshine a lot though) Killbox is hands down their best post 2000 album with Bloodletting right behind it no matter what any of these young kids might want to say about the mediocre Ironbound.

Deströyer 666 - Defiance 2009 This album gets mixed reviews even from D666 fans, but I fucking love D666 and for my money this is their best abum by a wide margin. A non-stop 41 minute black/death/thrash assault front to back there is not a bad track to be found on this one.

Hades Archer - For the Diabolical Ages 2011 this was one of my first real "goat metal" albums when my tastes really broke apart from the mainstream and I disappeared down the filthy evil rabbit hole that I have yet to emerge from. A classic of the goat metal sub-genre, you mainstreamers won't appreciate this one.

Alastor - Crushing Christendom 2000 Portugal, these guys are pretty far to the extreme crusty evil lo-fi end of the black/thrash spectrum so it's right up my alley. They have put out a lot of great records but I think this is probably their best and most extreme.

Nocturnal Witch - Summoning Hell 2014 Germans really love their black/thrash. Don't know why some people are so dead set on hanging onto some of these floundering dinosaur bands like Kreator and Destruction, they have heaps more black/thrash bands like this from Germany that are so much better.

Sathanas - Crowned Infernal 2007 A criminally overlooked American black/thrash band from the outskirts near Pittsburgh PA that have been around for 35 years. M-A currently has them listed as blackened death but they don't know shit. This is a great record of really well done and quite catchy black/thrash and they have several more just like it. 

Ruins - Satanic Bitchpenetration 2008 Another German one-man evil lo-fi blackened affair that no one else will give a fuck about but that's my bread and butter.

Flame - Into the Age of Fire 2005 this was another one of my earliest forays into evil lo-fi goat metal territory that has been a favorite of mine for a long time. Finland really is the most metal country.

Urn - Soul Destroyers 2008 Finland, One of the catchier records on my list, I played this one a ton for a year or two after I got it. Should probably go back to it more often.

Front - Antichrist Militia 2020 killer band from Finland. This album has a 63% on M-A, one reviewer calling it "pizza thrash" another complaining about the glut of bands that take equal parts of Venom and Motorhead and throw some Blasphemy into the mix as if that could be a bad thing. This is more in line with Blasphemy than Slayer, but still most people call this some kind of blackened death/thrash hybrid so on the list it goes.

Praise the Flame - Manifest Rebellion  2015 Chilean Death/Thrash, unknown but fucking excellent. South of the border is one of the best places to look for killer primitive black/thrash and death/thrash.

Desaster - Arts of Destruction 2012 Germany. Desaster was one of my first black/thrash discoveries back in the 00's. They have a solid catalog of albums stretching back into the late 90's. Hellfire Dominion is easily my favorite, but that was 1998 so I had to pick my favorite from their post 2000 stuff which wasn't easy as they're all good. 

Hellripper - Coagulating Darkness 2017 Just a millennial kid up in Scotland who loved metal and wanted to make some of his own. So he did and it's awesome. If I were to make this list over again today I would use the newest Hellripper album, Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags because I think it's by far his best one yet.

 Dead to this World - First Strike for Spiritual Renewance, Norway 2007 Don't listen to this black thrash monster often enough. Their only full length, they haven't released anything since 2011. M-A still lists them as active so I'd say they're due.

Sacrilegia - The Triclavian Advent 2019 speedy vicious Irish black/thrash

Ragehammer - The Hammer Doctrine 2016 These Poles stretch the boundaries of black/thrash in their own vicious brutal way. Essential.

Bömber - Black Ultra Anarchy 2021 Chilean black/thrash or maybe it's death/thrash but whatever it is, it's fucking killer, it checks all my goat boxes. 

Craven Idol - Forked Tongues 2021 A lot of people I know don't seem to like this UK band very much for some reason, but I think they're fantastic. This was one of the best albums of 2021 for me.

Black Jackyl - Forever War 2021, some modern black/thrash from San Antonio TX

Antichrist - Sinful Birth 2017 just picked this one up last year. I had grabbed these Canadians' first album some years back and it was just ok. But this 2nd one is way better, essential I'd say for all thrash fans. So I'm really glad I looked into their second album and didn't just dismiss them after the mediocre first one.

Evil Angel - Unholy Fight For Metal 2007 Finland. One of my earliest black/thrash pickups from '07 that has nostalgic value from when I was just beginning to discover the magic of Finnish underground metal.

 

These are some more killer albums that missed making my list mostly because they're more speed metally to me and I was trying to focus my list more on thrash.

Cemetery Lust - Screams of the Violated 2012
Ketzer - Satan's Boundaries Unchained 2009
Wraith - Undo the Chains 2021
Intöxicated - Röck 'n Roll Hellpatröl 2013
Speedwolf - Ride With Death 2011
Chapel - Satan's Rock 'N' Roll 2012
Midnight - Satanic Royalty 2011
Bonehunter - Evil Triumphs Again 2015
Nocturnal Graves - Titan 2018
Nekromantheon - The Visions of Trismegistos 2021
Evil Angel - Unholy Fight For Metal 2007
Exodus - Tempo of the Damned 2004
Victim - Endless Source of Hate  2018
Omega - The Hell Patrol 2013

Most of those I’ve not heard, but Antichrist, Desaster, and Hellripper all get my tick of approval. I’d also throw in Ritual Carnage - Every Nerve Alive

1999: Japan, Death/Thrash ok so not quite 2000’s but I already typed the title so… ripping album with just enough groove to give relief from the pummeling

 

Vektor - Black Future

2009, US Progressive/Thrash

These guys are the Vegemite of thrash as in you either love or hate them. Admittedly the shrieked vocals take some getting used to.

 

Black Fast - Starving Out the Light

2013: US, Progressive/Thrash

Ever wondered what Voivod would sound like with a tinge more aggression? Wonder no more, unfortunately their more recent releases aren’t as interesting.

 

Mastery - Lethal Legacy EP

2005: Canada, Thrash

A purely instrumental release full of ripping riffs? Yes please! Once again though it’s all downhill from here.

[GoatmasterGeneral]

1 hour ago, RelentlessOblivion said:

Most of those I’ve not heard, but Antichrist, Desaster, and Hellripper all get my tick of approval. I’d also throw in Ritual Carnage - Every Nerve Alive

1999: Japan, Death/Thrash ok so not quite 2000’s but I already typed the title so… ripping album with just enough groove to give relief from the pummeling

 

Vektor - Black Future

2009, US Progressive/Thrash

These guys are the Vegemite of thrash as in you either love or hate them. Admittedly the shrieked vocals take some getting used to.

 

Black Fast - Starving Out the Light

2013: US, Progressive/Thrash

Ever wondered what Voivod would sound like with a tinge more aggression? Wonder no more, unfortunately their more recent releases aren’t as interesting.

 

Mastery - Lethal Legacy EP

2005: Canada, Thrash

A purely instrumental release full of ripping riffs? Yes please! Once again though it’s all downhill from here.

I like Ritual Carnage but I only have/know their killer Highest Law album from 1998. M-A has Every Nerve Alive listed as 2000, but it didn't make my list as I don't think I've ever heard that one.

Guess I probably don't need to explain that I hate Vektor and Voivod because I just don't do progressive anything. You'll never see a progresssive album on one of my lists. Vektor in particular can eat a bag of dicks and hopefully choke on them. But as ever, to each his own.

Just revisited that Powertrip - Nightmare Logic album Jimmy T mentioned earlier, and it was even worse than I'd remembered. Thank fuck it's a short 33 minute album. Talk about pizza thrash, it's LCD mid-paced chuggy and boring half-thrash where every lazy boring chuggy riff sounds exactly like the lazy boring chuggy riffs from all the songs before it. Someone should have told those guys they were supposed to have written different and unique riffs for each track. Dozens upon dozens of mainstream idiots in the Youtube comments section including some Boomers my age saying how awesome they think the record is, a fucking masterpiece, and how it's the greatest thrash album of the century, and how it sounds like it could have been recorded in 1986. Just...NO. It wasn't even the greatest thrash album of the week it was released, and I say that having no idea what else came out that week. Sounds like they're copying the Iron Reagan style of crossover thrash but without the humor and not executing it nearly as well. The overly compressed production is absolutely dreadful, it sounds nothing at all like anything that was happening in 1986. Talk about your mainstream bullshit, no idea how an album this generic and boring could possibly have blown up the way it did. Anyone who thinks this is a great thrash album has obviously missed hearing several hundred other thrash albums. It's like the people who think Gatecreeper is the best death metal album of the century. Clearly they don't listen to much death metal beyond the highest profile mainstream garbage. This Power Trip album sucks so bad it makes modern Metallica and Megadick albums sound interesting, well written and dynamic by comparison. And that's saying something. 

 

Ritual Carnage - The Highest Law, Japan 1998, now this is high quality thrash, or death/thrash as it's often called. If only someone could have played this for the Power Trip dudes to show them what good thrash was supposed to sound like.