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Thrash metal

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Thrash metal
Stylistic originsNWOBHM, speed metal, hardcore punk
Cultural originsEarly 1980s, United States
Typical instrumentsRhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, vocals
Derivative formsDeath metal, black metal, groove metal, metalcore
Fusion genres
Crossover thrash
Regional scenes
Germany – Brazil – United Kingdom – Poland – Australia – Canada – United States: Bay Area – East Coast – Japan
Other topics
List of bands

Thrash metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work.[1] Lyrics of thrash metal songs often deal with social issues using direct and denunciatory language, an approach which partially overlaps with the hardcore genre. The "Big Four" bands of thrash metal are Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer,[2] who simultaneously created and popularized the genre in the early 1980s.

The origins of thrash metal are generally traced to the late 1970s and early 1980s, when a number of bands began incorporating the sound of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal,[3] creating a new genre and developing into a separate movement from punk rock and hardcore. This genre is more aggressive compared to its relative, speed metal, and can be seen in part to be a reaction to the lighter, more widely acceptable sounds and themes of glam metal.[4]

Musical traits

Thrash metal generally features fast tempos, low-register, complex guitar riffs, high-register guitar solos, double bass drumming. Vocally, thrash metal can employ melodic singing to shouted vocals.

Most thrash guitar solos are played at high speed, as they are usually characterized by shredding, and use techniques such as sweep picking, legato phrasing, alternate picking, Tremolo picking, string skipping, and two-hand tapping. Thrash lead guitarists are often influenced by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement.

Thrash guitar riffs often use chromatic scales and emphasize the tritone and diminished intervals, instead of using conventional single scale based riffing. For example, the intro riff of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" is a chromatic descent, followed by a chromatic ascent based on the tritone. Rhythm guitar playing is characterized by extensive palm muting and down picking to give the riffs a chugging sound, along with extensive use of the pedal point technique (creating what can be considered a distinctive, 'thrashy' sound).

Speed, pacing, and time-changes also define thrash metal. Thrash tends to have an accelerating feel which may be due in large part to its aggressive drumming style. For example, thrash drummers often use two bass drums, or a double-bass pedal, in order to create a relentless, driving beat. Cymbal stops/chokes are often used to transition from one riff to another or to precede an acceleration in tempo.

To keep up with the other instruments, many thrash bassists use a pick. However, some prominent thrash metal bassists have used their fingers, such as Frank Bello, Dave Ellefson, Greg Christian, Steve DiGiorgio, Robert Trujillo and Cliff Burton.[5] Several bassists use a distorted bass tone, an approach popularized by Burton and Motörhead's Lemmy.

Lyrical themes in thrash metal include isolation, alienation, corruption, injustice, addiction, suicide, murder, warfare, and other maladies that afflict the individual and society. Humor and irony can occasionally be found, but they are limited, and are the exception rather than the rule.[6]

History

Origins

Venom's early work is considered a major influence on thrash metal

NWOBHM bands directly influenced the development of early thrash. The early work of artists such as Diamond Head, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest,[7] Venom, Motörhead, Tygers of Pan Tang, Raven, and Angel Witch, among others, introduced the fast-paced instrumentation that became essential aspects of thrash. Features on Judas Priest's British Steel, "Rapid Fire", have been noted as a "proto-thrash" song.[8]

In Europe, the earliest band of the emerging thrash movement formed in 1979, which was Venom from Great Britain. Their seminal 1982 album "Black Metal" has been cited as the major influence on many subsequent genres and bands in the extreme metal world, such as Bathory, Hellhammer, Slayer and Mayhem. The European thrash scene was almost exclusively influenced by the most aggressive music both Germany and England were producing at that time. British bands such as Tank, and Raven, along with German metal exports Accept, motivated musicians from central Europe to start bands of their own, eventually producing German thrash exports such as Sodom, Kreator and Destruction. The Swedish punk band Warheads have also been mentioned as a proto-thrash band.[9]

In 1981, a Southern California band by the name of Leather Charm wrote a song entitled "Hit the Lights". Leather Charm soon disbanded and the band's primary songwriter, vocalist/rhythm guitarist James Hetfield met drummer Lars Ulrich through a classified ad. Together, James and Lars formed Metallica, the first of the "Big Four" thrash bands, with lead guitarist Dave Mustaine, who would later form Megadeth, another of the "Big Four" originators of thrash, and bassist Ron McGovney. Metallica later relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area. McGovney was replaced with Cliff Burton, and Mustaine was later replaced with Kirk Hammett. The band released "Hit the Lights" on their first studio album, Kill 'Em All, in July 25, 1983.

Another "Big Four" thrash band formed in Southern California in 1981, when guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King met while auditioning for the same band and subsequently decided to form a band of their own. Hanneman and King recruited vocalist/bassist Tom Araya, a former respiratory therapist, and drummer Dave Lombardo, a pizza delivery driver, and Slayer was formed. Slayer was discovered by Metal Blade Records executive Brian Slagel while performing Iron Maiden's "Phantom of the Opera" at a show, and were promptly signed to the label. In December 1983, less than six months after the release of Kill 'Em All, Slayer put out their debut album, Show No Mercy.

In the early 80s Canada produced influential speed metal bands like Toronto's Anvil Ottawa's Exciter and Jonquière's Voivod.

Mid-1980s

The popularity of thrash metal increased in 1984 with the release of Metallica's Ride the Lightning, Anthrax's Fistful of Metal, Overkill's self-titled EP and Slayer's Haunting the Chapel. This led to a heavier sounding form of thrash, which was reflected in Exodus's Bonded by Blood and Slayer's Hell Awaits. In 1985, the German band Kreator released their debut album Endless Pain and the Brazilian band Sepultura released their EP Bestial Devastation. Megadeth, which was formed by former Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine, released their debut album Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!, and Anthrax released the critically acclaimed Spreading The Disease in 1985.

"Damage Inc." (1986)
An example of a thrash metal song from Metallica's Master of Puppets.
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A number of high profile thrash albums were released in 1986:

  • Metallica's 1986 album Master of Puppets.
  • Slayer, regarded as one of the most sinister thrash metal bands from the early 1980s[10] released Reign in Blood, an album considered by some to have almost single-handedly inspired the entire death metal genre.[11]
  • Megadeth released Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?, which proved to be the band's commercial and critical breakthrough.[12] Considered to be a landmark thrash metal album, Allmusic cited Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? as "One of the most influential metal albums of its decade, and certainly one of the few truly definitive thrash albums".[13]
  • Kreator released Pleasure to Kill, which would later be a major influence on the death metal genre.[14][15][16]

Late 1980s

In 1987, Anthrax released their album Among the Living, which bore similarities to their two previous releases:[citation needed] Fistful of Metal and Spreading the Disease, with fast and heavy guitars and pounding drums. Death Angel took a similar pro-thrash approach with their 1987 debut, The Ultra-Violence.

In 1988, Suicidal Tendencies, who had previously been a straightforward punk band, released their major label debut How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today.

Slayer, shown here in 2007, are one of the "Big Four" thrash bands.

Sepultura's third album, Beneath the Remains (1989) earned them some mainstream appeal as it appeared on Roadrunner Records. Testament continued through the late 1980s with The New Order (1988) and Practice What You Preach (1989), both albums showing the band was continuing to grow musically and almost gaining Testament the same level of popularity as the "Big Four"[2][17][18][19] of thrash: Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. Vio-lence, a relative latecomer to the Bay Area thrash metal scene, released their debut album Eternal Nightmare in 1988. Canadian thrashers Annihilator would release their highly technical debut album Alice in Hell (1989) which received much praise due to its fast riffs and extended guitar solos. Sadus was a later thrash band, featuring a sound which was primarily driven by the fretless bass of Steve DiGiorgio. Meanwhile in Germany, Sodom released Agent Orange and Kreator would release Extreme Aggression.

Slayer released South of Heaven in 1988, Megadeth released So Far, So Good... So What! while Metallica's album ...And Justice for All of the same year spawned the band's first video, the World War I-themed song "One".

1990s

In the 1990s, many veteran thrash metal bands began changing to more accessible, radio-friendly styles.[20] Metallica was a notable example of this shift, particularly with their mid to late 90s albums Load (1996), and ReLoad (1997), which both displayed minor blues and southern rock influences, and were seen as a major departure from the band's earlier sound.[21] Megadeth took a more accessible hard rock route starting with their 1992 album Countdown to Extinction,[22] and Testament released the melodic The Ritual in 1992.[23]

A number of more typical thrash albums were released in the 1990s, including Megadeth's Rust in Peace, Anthrax's Persistence of Time, Slayer's Seasons in the Abyss, Suicidal Tendencies' Lights...Camera...Revolution!, Testament's Souls of Black, and Kreator's Coma of Souls. All of those albums were commercial high points for the aforementioned artists. Many of these bands embarked on a group tour called the "Clash of the Titans" the same year.

As further extreme metal genres came to prominence in the 1990s (industrial metal, death metal, and black metal each finding their own fanbase), the heavy metal "family tree" soon found itself blending aesthetics and styles.[24] For example, bands with all the musical traits of thrash metal began using "death growls", a vocal style borrowed from death metal, while black metal bands often utilized the airy feel of synthesizers, popularized in industrial metal. Today the placing of bands within distinct subgenres remains a source of contention for heavy metal fans, however, little debate resides over the fact that thrash metal is the sole proprietor of its respective spinoffs (see below).

Recent popularity (2000s)

Thrash metal has recently seen a certain degree of resurgence of popularity.[25] Bands including Municipal Waste, Evile, SSS, Sanctity and Gama Bomb have been cited as key in the "resurgence" of thrash metal.[26] The genre's sense of recklessness and energy has been cited as a potential reason for its resurgence.

Also many bands that ended around the 90s gathered again around 2000s, bands like Exumer, Angelus Apatrida,Evildead, Dark Angel, Death Angel, Nuclear Assault, Defiance, Whiplash, Hirax, Forbidden, Violent Force, Wehrmacht, Toxik and Possessed.

Older thrash bands have continued to put out material such as Metallica's "Death Magnetic" (2008), Megadeth's Endgame (2009), Slayer's World Painted Blood (2009), Destruction's Day of Reckoning (2011), Sodom's In War and Pieces (2010), Death Angel's Relentless Retribution (2010), Kreator's Hordes of Chaos (2009), Exodus' Exhibit B: The Human Condition (2010), Tankard's Vol(l)ume 14 (2010), Overkill's Ironbound (2010), Onslaught's Killing Peace (2007), Testament's The Formation of Damnation (2008), Metal Church This Present Wasteland (2008), Artillery's When Death Comes (2009), Machine Head's The Blackening and Voivod's Infini (2009).

"Big Four" Tour

Main article: The Big 4 Live from Sofia, Bulgaria

In September 2009, it was reported that Metallica's Lars Ulrich was attempting to assemble a tour with thrash metal's "Big Four" — Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax — together on one bill. The "Big Four" took the stage together for seven shows in the Sonisphere Festival concert series. The first show together took place in Warsaw, Poland on June 16, 2010 and the last took place in Istanbul, Turkey on June 27.[27] On May 5, 2010 Metallica announced that the live show in Sofia, Bulgaria on June 22, 2010 would be transmitted via satellite to over 450 movie theaters in the U.S. and over 350 theaters across Europe, Canada, and Latin America.[28] The show also provided the historic moment of all current members of the Big Four (with the exception of Tom Araya, Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman) sharing the stage to perform the song Am I Evil by Diamond Head.

Regional scenes

Like many musical genres, thrash had its own regionally-based scenes, each of which had a slightly different sound.

  • East Coast (New York/New Jersey): The East Coast bands tended to be more punk and hardcore influenced than West Coast bands, with more emphasis on aggression and speed than technicality (though not in the case of bands like Toxik).[citation needed] Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, Overkill, Whiplash, as well as crossover acts S.O.D. and Method of Destruction (M.O.D.), were a few of the more prominent bands to come from the East Coast thrash scene.
  • Texas thrash metal: Though not as well known as the Bay Area or New York/New Jersey scenes in the U.S., Texas has had it's share of thrash metal bands. Rigor Mortis, Gammacide, Torture, Watchtower, and Arcane are all bands that have come from all over Texas. Texas continues to offer new thrash metal bands, as well, with bands such as Insinnerator, Terrorist, Skelteria, Hexlust, and Warbeast playing thrash metal.
Sepultura, a key band of the Brazilian thrash metal scene.
  • Australian thrash metal: While distantly cut off from the main thrash scenes, Australia also has its own thrash metal scene. In the year of 1988, Australia made its first stakes in the genre when Sydney band Mortal Sin and Melbourne band Hobbs' Angel of Death released their respective debut albums to a worldwide audience. These two bands would probably be the best known Australian thrash metal bands, alongside the more cult Slaughter Lord, and Armoured Angel. Today, most Australian thrash metal bands incorporate elements of black metal and death metal, some including Christian subjects (such as Mortification), Deströyer 666, Gospel of the Horns and Atomizer.
  • United Kingdom thrash metal: The British thrash metal scene of the 1980s was caught behind the stronger and more developed US scene, with bands hampered by weak support from record labels and a rush to catch up to the American bands. There were important bands such as Onslaught, Xentrix, Sabbat, Atomkraft, and Acid Reign, but these bands never achieved the success of the US Big Four, and were never able to compete with this or the German scene.[29] In recent years the UK has taken part significantly in the thrash metal resurgence, with bands such as Evile, Savage Messiah, Gama Bomb, and a reformed Onslaught.
  • Spanish Thrash Metal: Similar to other scenes in Europe, Spain spawned numerous bands in the 80s, such as Muro, Com, Fuck Off and Legión. In the 90s, bands like Paranoia, Ktulu, Soziedad Alkoholika, Nopresion, Su Ta Gar and Silvertfist came to prominence. More recently the scene has experienced the rise of a new wave of bands, with groups such as Angelus Apatrida, Omission, Aggression, Roar, Sabatan, Toxik Society, Atomik Destruktor . The new wave is noted for placing a strong emphasis on aggression. [according to whom?][importance?]
  • Portuguese Thrash Metal: The Portuguese Thrash Metal scene is majority composed by Old School Thrash Metal bands like Prayers of Sanity , Adamantine , W.A.K.O some of this bands are very recent. Ramp is one of the most popular names in the Portuguese scene.
  • Other scenes: Similar to the British scene, Scandinavia has also become a breeding ground for thrashers, such as F.K.Ü., Tantara, Zombiekrig and Blood Tsunami. Thrash is also emerging in popularity in the New England area,[citation needed] thanks to Municipal Waste (from Richmond, Virginia) and Toxic Holocaust (from Portland, Oregon) who appeal to the area's predominant punk rock and hardcore culture.

Genre spinoffs

Thrash metal is directly responsible for the offshoot of popular underground metal genres, such as death metal and black metal.[30] The blending of punk ethos and metal's brutal nature led to even more extreme, underground styles after thrash metal began gaining mild commercial success in the late 1980s.[30] With gorier subject matter, heavier downtuning of guitars, the more persistent use of the blastbeat, and darker, atonal death growls, death metal was established in the mid-1980s. Black metal, also considered the offspring of thrash,[31] may have risen even sooner, with many black metal bands taking influence from thrash metal bands such as Venom. Black metal continued with such deviations from thrash, often providing more orchestral soundtracks and Pagan or Occult-based aesthetics to distinguish itself from thrash.

Thrash metal with even more punk elements than standard thrash is called crossover thrash or crossover for short.[32] According to Encyclopaedia Metallum, the term was coined by the band D.R.I. with their album Crossover, released on 1987.[33] Its overall sound is more punk-influenced than traditional thrash metal, while more metal sounding than traditional hardcore punk and thrashcore.

References

  • Ekeroth, Daniel (2008). Swedish Death Metal. Bazillion Points Books. ISBN 978-0-9796163-1-0
  • Dome, Malcolm. Thrash Metal. Omnibus Press, 1990. ISBN 0-7119-1790-6.
  • Sharpe-Young, Garry (2007). Thrash Metal. New Plymouth, New Zealand: Zonda Books. ISBN 978-0-9582684-3-1.
  • Weinstein, Deena (2000). Heavy Metal: the music and its culture. United States of America: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-80970-5.
  • Agarwal, Manish (2006). Dimery, Robert (ed.). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Quintet Publishing Limited. ISBN 0-7893-1371-5.

Notes

  1. ^ "What Is Thrash Metal?". heavymetal.about.com. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
  2. ^ a b Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal (Review). Stylus Magazine. 7 May 2007. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
  3. ^ "explore music... heavy metal". All Music. Retrieved 2007-02-18.[dead link‍]
  4. ^ Weinstein 2000: pp48
  5. ^ Crouch, Mick; Gregor, Ed. (2005) Mick and Ed's Grand Classification of Rock Bassists. Pit Of Despair.
  6. ^ Weinstein 2000: pp50-51
  7. ^ "Complete Band History". Slayer Saves fansite.
  8. ^ Dimery 2006 pg. 460, "British Steel embodied this, channeling Halford's scream-to-a-sigh vocals and the guitars of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing into lightning strike proto-thrasher "Rapid Fire"."
  9. ^ AoS: "Punken lever". All Tom Stockholm (Swedish). Retrieved 2010-08-10.
  10. ^ "Slayer band page". Rockdetector.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
  11. ^ Huey, Steve. "Reign in Blood - Slayer". Allmusicguide.com. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
  12. ^ Huey, Steve. AMG.com "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? Review". All Music.com. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
  13. ^ Birchmeier, Jason. "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? Remastered version review". All Music Guide. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
  14. ^ CD Gallery - Kreator No Life 'til Metal.
  15. ^ "The History of Thrash Metal". Metal and Horror Movies. Archived from the original on 2007-04-28. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
  16. ^ "Interview with Cannibal Corpse". Invisible Oranges. Archived from the original on 2007-07-03. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
  17. ^ Ferris, D.X. (8 August 2007). "Talkin' Thrash". Cleveland Scene Magazine. Archived from the original on 2007-11-10.
  18. ^ Kane County Chronicle[dead link‍]
  19. ^ 93X Minnesota[dead link‍]
  20. ^ "Thrash Metal". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2008-03-06.[dead link‍]
  21. ^ Sharpe-Young 2007: pp256
  22. ^ Sharpe-Young 2007: pp241
  23. ^ "Interview with Chuck Billy". MetalUpdate.com. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
  24. ^ Dunn, Sam (2005). Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. IMDB.
  25. ^ Myers, Ben (28 August 2007). "Thrash was no flash in the pan". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  26. ^ James McMahon (12 July 2007). "Thrash is back" (JPG). NME. Retrieved 2009-11-22. Archive of original article.
  27. ^ Killing Road Megadeth website.
  28. ^ "The Big Four . . . Coming To A Theatre Near You!". News Headlines; Metallica website. 20 May 2010.
  29. ^ Sharpe-Young 2007: pp150
  30. ^ a b Sharpe-Young 2007: pp162
  31. ^ Sharpe-Young 2007: pp208
  32. ^ Claes, Sean. "Superjoint Ritual Feature Interview". Blistering. Retrieved 2010-08-10. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  33. ^ Dirty Rotten Imbeciles notes. Metalarchives.com.
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