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The Official Thrash Metal Recommendations Thread


RelentlessOblivion

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So I was sat here last night looking at my music library (across all formats) and realised my Thrash collection was at best mediocre.  I have made use of my streaming service and added 30 or so albums to work through over the coming weeks.  Highlights include me realising I had no real experience of Voivod, seeing some obvious yet glaring holes in the Overkill department and not really ever having fully explored Flotsam & Jetsam, Razor, Exumer or Testament.

Pleased to have got Sacrifice "Forward to Termination" in rotation again and also some Coroner too.  I will even be giving Vektor a second chance.

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Well I might as well throw a few recommendations in here right?

 

Evildead - Annihilation of Civilization

Evildead are one of the seemingly endless thrash bands from the late eighties who seem to miss out on the attention they deserve. These guys played a nasty and technical kind of thrash more in line with bands like Artillery then the savage acts popping up everywhere at this time.

 

Hobbs' Angel of Death - Hobbs' Angel of Death

The Australian thrash scene is, in my opinion, criminally overlooked. Whilst not producing bands in the same quantity as the Bay Area or German scens just about everything I've heard from the Aussie scene is at least on par with those bands. HAoD is just one example, their debut is a savage riff fest that will have you headbanging until the very last note.

 

Mortal Sin - Mayhemic Destruction

Yet another band from the Australian scene Mortal Sin favour a sound more in line with the Bay Area but with a heavier edge. This album in particular is just a fun listen.

 

Nasty Savage - Penetration Point

Ok I'll be honest lyrically this band kind of sucks. Musically on they other hand they play a riff-heavy brand of thrash that you can really bang your head to. At times the choice of riff gets a bit weird but all in all this is a solid album if you give it a chance.

 

Razor - Evil Invaders

Yes I know Razor were already mentioned in this thread but god damn does their speedy brand of thrash kick ass. Furious tempos, killer riffs, and nasty vocals - if you listened to the other song you know what to expect but that doesn't mean it isn't awesome.

 

Vektor - Outer Isolation

These guys are the clear standout in the modern thrash scene. Their spacey brand of progressive thrash really must be heard. Yes they too have been mentioned before but who cares this stuff is phenomenal.

 

Wehrmahct - Shark Attack

Lastly we have another band who seem not to be on most thrash fans radars. This album is an interesting one, kind of all over the place. There are great riffs, at times leaning on the punkier side, at others on the more NWOBHM influenced side of the genre. Just listen to it and you're sure to have a great time.

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Man it's sad how little respect is being given to the gold standard of thrash metal:  Overkill!  They have 19 albums in their catalog, and none of them are bad albums.  I could recommend about 10 albums from them for you to start off with:

"Feel the Fire" - 1985

"Taking Over" - 1987

"Under the Influence" - 1988

"The Years of Decay" - 1989

"Horrorscope" - 1991

"Ironbound" - 2010

"The Electric Age" - 2012 (their absolute best, in my opinion)

"White Devil Armory" - 2014

"The Grinding Wheel" - 2017

"The Wings of War" - 2019

Their 20th studio album is rumored to be set for release in February 2022.  Rock on!!

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I love Overkill, they are consistent, they are reliable and they just keep going. But unfortunately that can also be their downfall. I listen to the three most recent albums quite often, but while I still think everything before Horrorscope was great I don't listen to them as much now probably because I over listened to them when they were released. Horrorscope is the only album before WDA that stays in my car all the time. I do like an Overkill live show though.

Going to be interesting to see the reaction to DD's new album too.

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On 8/14/2018 at 2:42 PM, MacabreEternal said:

So I was sat here last night looking at my music library (across all formats) and realised my Thrash collection was at best mediocre.  I have made use of my streaming service and added 30 or so albums to work through over the coming weeks.  Highlights include me realising I had no real experience of Voivod, seeing some obvious yet glaring holes in the Overkill department and not really ever having fully explored Flotsam & Jetsam, Razor, Exumer or Testament.

Pleased to have got Sacrifice "Forward to Termination" in rotation again and also some Coroner too.  I will even be giving Vektor a second chance.

There's a ton of great thrash coming out from newer bands these days!  My top few "new wave" thrash bands would have to be Havok, Evile, Warbringer, and Angelus Apatrida.  A few of the more obscure thrash bands that I enjoy quite a bit, too, are freaKings, Terrifier, Traitor, Alkoholizer, Total Annihilation, Battalion, Warfect, In Malice's Wake, Chemicide, Objector, and Reactory.  I've got plenty more, too, if you're interested!  Stay heavy! 

On 7/24/2021 at 6:31 PM, KillaKukumba said:

I love Overkill, they are consistent, they are reliable and they just keep going. But unfortunately that can also be their downfall. I listen to the three most recent albums quite often, but while I still think everything before Horrorscope was great I don't listen to them as much now probably because I over listened to them when they were released. Horrorscope is the only album before WDA that stays in my car all the time. I do like an Overkill live show though.

Going to be interesting to see the reaction to DD's new album too.

Yeah man, they're very consistent and reliable.  Glad to hear you really dig these most recent 3 albums!  If you haven't spun "Ironbound" or "The Electric Age" in awhile, I'd highly recommend going back to them if you have time.  I find a couple of the 90's albums enjoyable as well, although they're more groove-oriented, like "W.F.O.", "From the Underground and Below" and "Necroshine".  Stay heavy!  

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I'm not much on Havok for some reason, not sure why but none of their albums have really hit the mark totally for me. Warbringer and Angelus Apatrida I can definitely get along with.

In Malice's Wake's most recent album is pretty good but when it comes to new(ish) Aussie thrash I'm more headed towards the bands they often share the stage with Harlott, Desecrator, and Hidden Intent.

 

I listen to the Overkill discography (including DD's Bronx's Casket Co) from start to finish at least once a year. I don't dislike any of their albums but I do play the earlier stuff and the later stuff more often. It's like Flotsam and Jetsam, I go through their catalogue once a year, (including AK Corral) but frequently play stuff from the start and end.

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4 hours ago, JamesT said:

There's a ton of great thrash coming out from newer bands these days!  My top few "new wave" thrash bands would have to be Havok, Evile, Warbringer, and Angelus Apatrida.  A few of the more obscure thrash bands that I enjoy quite a bit, too, are freaKings, Terrifier, Traitor, Alkoholizer, Total Annihilation, Battalion, Warfect, In Malice's Wake, Chemicide, Objector, and Reactory.  I've got plenty more, too, if you're interested!  Stay heavy! 

 

Yeah, thanks but the quote of mine was from 3 years ago and I kinda have caught up since then 😂 

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19 hours ago, MacabreEternal said:

Yeah, thanks but the quote of mine was from 3 years ago and I kinda have caught up since then 😂 

Haha yeah man, I figured that might be the case.  I just joined the forum a few days ago, so I'm sure I'll continue to respond to posts that are older and are perhaps obsolete.  

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On 7/26/2021 at 9:26 PM, KillaKukumba said:

I'm not much on Havok for some reason, not sure why but none of their albums have really hit the mark totally for me. Warbringer and Angelus Apatrida I can definitely get along with.

In Malice's Wake's most recent album is pretty good but when it comes to new(ish) Aussie thrash I'm more headed towards the bands they often share the stage with Harlott, Desecrator, and Hidden Intent.

 

I listen to the Overkill discography (including DD's Bronx's Casket Co) from start to finish at least once a year. I don't dislike any of their albums but I do play the earlier stuff and the later stuff more often. It's like Flotsam and Jetsam, I go through their catalogue once a year, (including AK Corral) but frequently play stuff from the start and end.

I gotcha.  I think Havok's album "Time is Up" as well as their newest one "V" are both absolute crushers.  Glad you enjoy Warbringer and Angelus Apatrida!  I think AA's best album is "The Call", although their newest release is really good, too.  I like Harlott quite a bit.  There's so much newer thrash that's really good.  It's my second favorite style of metal, so I'm happy to see a healthy new wave gaining more momentum.  

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On 7/25/2021 at 8:31 AM, KillaKukumba said:

I love Overkill, they are consistent, they are reliable and they just keep going. But unfortunately that can also be their downfall. I listen to the three most recent albums quite often

I just can't.  Ironbound was great but everything else is just a vapid faceless clone of it.

 

As for Havok, Conformicide is an awesome album.   Nick Schendzielos's bass work is phenomenal and reminds me of Steve DiGiorgio, Tony Choy and Roger Patterson (RIP).  His performance was sorely missed on V.

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30 minutes ago, Dead1 said:

Metaldom in Australia literally collapsed overnight.  When I started high school in 1993 there were lots of metalheads, by the time I finished in 1996 I was the only one except one guy who liked Motley Crue and nothing else!  

  

Decided to keep this out of the Mike Howe thread....

 

Aus Metal did suffer a bit in the early to mid 90's and it sucked even more in regional areas unless there was metal bands in the area. But if you think it collapsed then I suggest you watch Thrash Or Fuck Off the multipart YT doco about thrash metal in this country. Sure much of it was in the city but the scene was thriving in the 80's, and early 90's, then it did die off a bit but it certainly didn't collapse. Through out the 80's and 90's I worked with a heap of bands that did regional tours, mostly Vic and NSW but there was other states and there was other bands.

I grew up in regional areas and started tech school well before 93 but I do remember the other "metal" fans I went to school with thinking metal started with Bon Jovi, ended with Motley Crue and had Poison somewhere in the middle. But that was school, outside of school there was metal bands playing gigs. None of them ever made it big but some of them kept the music going into the 90's. Some guys like Peter Hobbs, never gave up fighting for metal in the country.

 

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I will check out that video.

I was in Tasmania and by 1995 the scene was dying.  By the time I was old enough to go to pubs (1998) there was no metal scene.  You had bands Intense Hammer Rage and that was kind of it and they didn't play much in Launceston.

I got $50 for my 16th birthday (1996) and went shopping for Iron Maiden CDs and the only thing I could find was Best of the Beast!  That's how bad it got!

 

I do think Aussie metal is the healthiest it's ever been.

 

Local scene was reborn by 2003-04 but it died again.  Though there's far more metalheads now - you see more people wearing metal-ts than any time since the early 1990s.  The issue is none of us are in bands!

People also no longer go to gigs,  I went to King Parrot and there was like 40 dudes and nearly all were middle age!  Last Psycroptic gig I went to was dead in terms of vibe and similar crowd numbers.

I was talking to guitarist/bass player from ZDF/Nosce Teipsum just before COVID and he was saying the biggest issue wasn't lack of venues, it was lack of bands!

All the local bands are generally old and only semi-active:

GAPE - formed 2011 but really just rebadged MSI which formed 1997!

Nosce Teipsum - formed 2000 as Morpheus, most members were in bands in 1990s including vocalist Shane West who was in one of first Tassie DM bands, Van Demon (formed 1993).

Interitum - formed 2015 and perhaps most active of Tassie bands (whereby active is putting an album/EP out and maybe playing 2-3 gigs a year). 

Atra Vetosus - formed 2011.  Seem to have run out of puff but put out EP this year.

 

Psycroptic not really part of local scene anymore (especially with some members on mainland).  There's also all the bands fronted by Matthew Chalk of Psycroptic fame (Mephistopheles, Iciclan, etc) but these all seem on hold.  Intense Hammer Rage front also quiet for years,

 

 

 

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TBH I'm not surprised King Parrot only had 40 people!! Although I'm not a fan so I would say something like that :)

 

We did regional gigs with multiple bands on the bill for less than 100 people in the 80's, it cost me more to fill the truck with diesel than we made from ticket sales. It sucked but if bands wanted to get their music to the regional areas they had to do it. There was plenty of places in the country it just wasn't viable to tour, but there was bands who used the big cities, Melb, Syd, Bris, as their finance for regional tours. Bands could get about $1500-2000 for a solo show at a night club/pub/venue in regional Vic and NSW in the 80's, but with crews of maybe 6 or 8 people and bands of 4 people it was not about the money it was about the exposure.

 

The guy isn't metal obviously but Slim Dusty was a prime example of how to be popular and make money touring Australia. Metal bands could never have hoped to have his success but more of them should have followed his lead and taken the show to the people rather than waiting for the people to come to the show.

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Back at the height of the metal as well as rock scenes in Launceston in 04-06 but also Hobart, it was probably 300 people tops but quickly fell off to 100-150.  And the money was shit when you charge $3-$5 a head.  That's a maximum of $1500 bucks but more likely $300-$450.

All the gigs had at least 3 bands and sometimes more!

And in Lonnie we had to pay a sound guy so not much for bands. 

Usually whatever was left after sound guy was paid was given to interstate band and then to local bands travelling from other towns for fuel and other travel costs. 

 

Last gig I went to was literally maybe 20-30 people there, most of whom were in the bands.  Actual number of non-musician punters was maybe less than 10 guys!   No proper sound set up and bands just running through amps!

 

Tassie bands playing in mainland is an expensive proposition as you have to get your gear across on the ferry which is often not cheap.

 

As for King Parrot, first two albums are great.  And they kick arse live.  Suffice to say we also only had a similar number of punters at last Psycroptic gig,  Lonnie people don't want to go see metal live.

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There is no doubt that metal had it harder. We did gigs for all sorts of bands from country bands to metal bands. I worked with a lot with younger bands and I worked with venues to gets bands on stages. Getting bums on seats, or standing, was harder and harder as time went on. Ticket prices got higher, even at gigs were we had complete control and set everything from ticket prices to the price of chips it was difficult. Kids just wanted some music and to have fun, but they couldn't get it because they couldn't afford $50 for a ticket that we had to charge to break even.

Between arsehole bands with illusions of grandeur who requested $12000 riders for fundraiser gigs where every other band played for nothing with no riders. To power costs to keep to lights on. To massive insurance bills that had to be paid even before the gates opened. Putting on gigs got harder in the 90's for all bands. Sure the Gudinski's of this world with their coke....oops I mean money, could put on arena shows but putting on a gig in the suburbs so that everyone can turn up became so cost prohibitive that it just wasn't worth doing.

 

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30 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

but putting on a gig in the suburbs so that everyone can turn up became so cost prohibitive that it just wasn't worth doing.

 

 

We did it for the love of it.  It all lost money.  The label I was involved with also was pretty much 100% loss but we loved the music.

At some point life and family  gets in the way.  Big issue is whilst we got older and developed family commitments etc, there were not many  youngsters there to take the torch though credit to Atra Vetosus whose members put a bit of effort to resurrect things going.  I think they were responsible for Tassie Metal DVD released in 2016!  The launch party for that was actually the last great full on metal gig in Launceston - total blast from the past.  Though Desecrator playing with Mustang was also intense in 2017 and last time I moshed like a 20 year old!  Both gigs probably did well because they were based on nostalgia! 

 

Might re-watch that Tassie metal DVD tonight!

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I'm not embarrassed to say, we did it for the money, it was our jobs, we needed to pay bills, but we were far from rich. We did spend years, at the same time, working with youth groups, helping them put on gigs and record bands etc which was all free work but we were definitely out there working for a dollar.

There is no way I could have continued doing all that stuff, by the mid 90's I was fucked. More injuries than I could imagine, more effort to get up each day and the pay didn't really change. So I went into driving trucks for someone else. Long haul rigs, across the country, sea to sea, on the road 6 out of 7 days. The time on the road was nearly the same but as a long haul driver I just got to be a steering wheel attendant, all I had to do was make sure the rig got home in one piece. But even that was a shit job for a family man so I moved into computers and really haven't looked back, but kids, and distance have kept me from a lot of gigs.

 

 

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We would have liked to make a living from it, but it was too hard a market to break into and Tassie really is middle of nowhere and too small so as you can see from above cashflows the money simply wasn't there.  I had a job working for University and the health department whilst my co-partner was on unemployment benefits.

 

 

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We'd have loved to have gotten rich from metal but the reality is while the Melbourne scene was thriving there was so many people it was never going to happen, that is why we branched out into all genres of music. Hard rock/pub rock bands were good bread and butter but most of them hired regular crews and toured with them. We did earn more from gigs with those bands but for one of our bands that might have got $1500 a night a band like The Angles or Rose Tattoo would easily pull 5 figures, but they had more people and more crew that wanted more money.

The best part of those gigs though was that many of those 'charting' bands would lets local metal acts play on the same bill, there was of course some arguments, but to see a band like the Baby Animals, who despite having a cute lead singer were not metal, play on the same stage as a few kids playing punk and a local thrash band that hadn't even recorded an album was good.

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