Guitar World's 11 Essential Thrash Albums

Found this on Trunk's site. Personally I would have picked Taking Over instead of Years of Decay, and Extreme Aggression instead of Coma of Souls. And Pantera is the old-age debate.

Metallica: Master of Puppets
An extraordinary display of the full range of thrash metal’s capabilities. Although Puppets isn’t quite as groundbreaking as the band’s two previous efforts, its huge sound an ambitious scope make it Metallica’s — and thrash metal’s — finest moment.

Slayer: Reign In Blood:
On which Slayer stake their claim as the masters of brutality, bar none. In 1986 this was the fastest and most depraved music in existence. Twenty-eight years on, it still is.

Megadeth: Rust In Peace:
Dave Mustaine & Co. were always touted as the most dangerous band in thrash, but here they show that they earned that title for their wicked instrumental dexterity rather than for their infamous bouts with drugs and alcohol.

Exodus: Bonded By Blood:
An influential and essential early thrash masterpiece. Exodus never received the level of recognition enjoyed by many of their peers, but no band was ever more dedicated to the cause than these Bay Area bashers.

Metallica – Kill ‘Em All:
The sound and Fury of Metallica’s debut sparked the birth of a genre. Powered by galloping tempos and air-tight riffing, Kill ‘Em All rumbles along with the intensity of a well-oiled machine, its menacing ferocity barely concealing the giddy excitement at its core.

Anthrax: Among the Living:
The first half of the record comes close to thrash perfection, comprising as it does four rapid-fire, neck-snapping tunes that are among Anthrax’s best work.

Testament: The New Order
On the group’s second record, Alex Skolnick is a teenage shredaholic happily splattering sweep arpeggios all over the band’s thrashy grooves and singer Chuck Billy’s paranoid, apocalyptic tirades.

Overkill – The Years of Decay:
This is music as cold and hard as the New York/New Jersey streets that Overkill call home.

Possessed: Seven Churches:
Four high school friends conjure the devil in their parents’ garage and in the process give birth to death metal.

Pantera: Cowboys From Hell:
Pantera are perhaps the one band revered equally by old and new-school metalheads, and Cowboys, their major label debut, was as influential in the Nineties as Kill ‘Em All had been in the previous decade.

Kreator: Coma of Souls:
Often overlooked by thrash fans on this side of the Atlantic, Kreator are another classic thrash band who many would say are churning out the best albums of their career now. That said, it’s tough to beat the pummeling riffs found on 1990′s Coma of Souls.

Let the "who is and isn't thrash" argument now commence.

Pretty good albums, nice list.

S.D. wrote:

Let the "who is and isn't thrash" argument now commence.

Megadeth is SPEED metal!!! WTF????????

  

Metallica - Kill Em All
Slayer - Hell Awaits
Anthrax - Spreading The Disease
Megadeth - Killing is My Business
Exodus - Bonded By Blood
Dark Angel - Darkness Descends
Kreator - Pleasure to Kill
Destruction - Eternal Devastation
Whiplash - Power & Pain
Possessed - Seven Churches
Coroner - Punishment for Decadence
Sodom - Agent Orange

That would be my 11, if it were 15 it would include Taking Over, The Legacy, Scream Bloody Gore and Eternal Nightmare. If it were 15,000,000 it still wouldn't include f**king Pantera!

Just realised that my top 11 has 12 albums in it!   

For the first album on the list I would choose Ride The Lightning instead.
Slayer I would personally go with South Of Heaven first, but Reign In Blood is deservedly famous.
Megadeth I would choose Peace Sells, Rust In Peace would be my second choice.
My Exodus choice would be Pleasures Of The Flesh
Kill 'Em All can stay where it is.
Anthrax would be Spreading The Disease
Testament would obviously be The Legacy
Overkill would be Taking Over
Possessed is an interesting choice, my favorite is The Eyes of Horror EP.  
I would delete Pantera and add Coroner instead, probably Punishment For Decadence
Kreator would be Terrible Certainty or Pleasure To Kill, flip a coin

...add Destruction's Infernal Overkill
...add Nuclear Assault Survive
...add Whiplash Ticket To Mayhem
...add Sodom Agent Orange

Could have done without the Pantera shit and "The New Order," but yeah.

20. Annihilator- Alice in Hell
19. Vio-lence- Eternal Nightmare
18. Deathrow- Deception Ignored
17. Metallica- Ride the Lightning
16. Onslaught- Killing Peace
15. Dark Angel- Time Does Not Heal
14. D.R.I.- Dealing With It
13. Sabbat- Dreamweaver
12. Znowhite- Act of God
11. Artillery- By Inheritance
10. Exodus- Tempo of the Damned
9. Evil Army- Evil Army
8. Vektor- Black Future
7. Heathen- The Evolution of Chaos
6. Anthrax- Among the Living
5. Coroner- Mental Vortex
4. Tourniquet- Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance
3. Voivod- Dimension Hatross
2. Toxik- Think This
1. Megadeth- Rust in Peace

S.D. wrote:

For the first album on the list I would choose Ride The Lightning instead.

Ride is my favorite Metallica record by a mile. I just think that it's impossible to have a essential thrash list without Kill Em All. It really was the starting point.

If there's one guy in the world who knows his thrash it's Eddie Trunk!

I'd strike Pantera from the list only because I don't consider them thrash. The other entries seem acceptable if not my first choice in some cases.

I can't really argue with any of those (maybe replace a few here and there) but I have to say I've never heard any Possessed so I'd strike them from my list. Maybe add Artillery's By Inheritance.

Witchfinder wrote:

I'd strike Pantera from the list only because I don't consider them thrash.  The other entries seem acceptable if not my first choice in some cases.  

I think its a decent list, as far these things go, thou I am a fan of Pantera, I would exclude them for the same reason

Here's a list I made a few years ago...
1. Metallica - Kill 'Em All (the one
that started it all for me!)
2. Vengeance Rising - Human Sacrifice (few can match it's raw power! Obviously one of my all time favorites and a huge influence on me personally!)

3.
TIE:
Anthrax - Spreading the Disease
Overkill- Taking Over (two of the soundtracks of my youth!)

4. Metallica - Ride the Lightning
5. Exodus - Fabulous Disaster
6. Testament - Practice What You Preach
7. Dark Angel - Leave Scars
8. Anthrax - Among the Living
9. Megadeth - Peace Sells...

10. TIE:
Deliverance - s/t
Deliverance - Weapons of our Warfare (both equally great IMO)

11. Dark Angel - Time Does Not Heal
12. Megadeth - Rust in Peace
13. Believer - Extraction from Mortality
14. Voivod - Killing Technology
15. Nuclear Assault-Survive!
16. Kreator - Terrible Certainty

17. Hirax - New Age of Terror (this is one newer thrash album that has
become one of my all time favorites.)

18. Sodom -Code Red
19. Death Angel - Frolic Through the Park
20. Overkill - Under the Influence

A few of my newer favorites:
Havok - Burn
Vektor - Black Future

Here are some interesting lists:

Guitar World - 10 Essential Thrash Records (2007)
1. Metallica - Master of Puppets
2. Slayer - Reign in Blood
3. Megadeth - Rust in Peace
4. Exodus - Bonded By Blood
5. Metallica - Kill 'Em All
6. Anthrax - Among the Living
7. Testament - The New Order
8. Overkill - The Years of Decay
9. Possessed - Seven Churches
10. Pantera - Cowboys from Hell

Terrorizer Top 20 All-Time Thrash Albums (2007)
1. Slayer - Reign in Blood
2. Metallica - Ride the Lightning
3. Metallica - Master of Puppets
4. Exodus - Bonded by Blood
5. Possessed - Seven Churches
6. Kreator - Pleasure to Kill
7. Dark Angel - Darkness Descends
8. Anthrax- Among the Living
9. Slayer - Hell Awaits
10. Sepultura - Beneath the Remains
11. Venom - Black Metal
12. Voivod - Killing Technology
13. Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion
14. Testament - The Legacy
15. Nuclear Assault - Gave OVer
16. Bathory - Under the Sign of the Black Mark
17. Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales
18. Metallica - Kill 'Em All
19. Death Angel - The Ultra Violence
20. TIE: Megadeth - So Far, So Good...So What!
Nuclear Assault - Handle With Care

I think the list is pretty good but i would have taken Sodom - Code Red, Kreator - Violent Revolution and Suicidal Tendencies - Lights... Camera... Revolution instead of Pantera, Kreator and Possessed.

S.D. wrote:

For the first album on the list I would choose Ride The Lightning instead.
Slayer I would personally go with South Of Heaven first, but Reign In Blood is deservedly famous.
Megadeth I would choose Peace Sells, Rust In Peace would be my second choice.
My Exodus choice would be Pleasures Of The Flesh
Kill 'Em All can stay where it is.
Anthrax would be Spreading The Disease
Testament would obviously be The Legacy
Overkill would be Taking Over
Possessed is an interesting choice, my favorite is The Eyes of Horror EP.  
I would delete Pantera and add Coroner instead, probably Punishment For Decadence
Kreator would be Terrible Certainty or Pleasure To Kill, flip a coin

...add Destruction's Infernal Overkill
...add Nuclear Assault Survive
...add Whiplash Ticket To Mayhem
...add Sodom Agent Orange

This would pretty much be my list as well, although with Exodus my favorite was Fabulous Disaster, and I'd throw Death Angel's debut somewhere in there, probably in place of Coroner (fabulous album though). Probably Annihilator's Alice in Hell too. Sepultura's Beneath the Remains belongs here too.

That wasn't really my definitive list, I was just riffing on the choices from the poll.

Not a bad list compared to a lot of these things.A few I would replace:
Peace Sells,R.I.P would have been second
Fabulous Disaster instead of Bonded
Extreme Aggression instead of Coma of Souls
Scratch Pantera and Possessed and add Nuclear Assaults Survive and Forbiddens Twisted into Form

^^Good call on Forbidden.

If somebody was new to thrash (or whatever), it's a decent list.    For those familiar with that particular flavor, it's kinda/sorta genric compared to whats actually available.

 

Loads of great bands on the Terrorizer list that I left off because I wanted to keep to that classic thrash vibe but if we are including stuff like

Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales
Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion
Voivod - Killing Technology
Bathory - Under the Sign
Venom - Black Metal

Then obviously those are five of my favorite all time records

The other two that were really important to me at the time but I somehow forgot were

S.O.D - Speak English or Die
Sepultura - Beneath The Remains

So, to recap, i have no possible way to keep it down to 11 bands, never mind 11 records!

Overall, that's not a bad list. The only one I'd quibble about is Pantera. I'd be inclined to replace it with maybe Dark Angel - Darkness Descends or possibly Death Angel - The Ultra-Violence.

Right now my list looks like this. Tomorrow some of the albums could be different:

INFERNAL MAJESTY - None Shall Defy
DESTRUCTION - Eternal Devastation
MEKONG DELTA - S/T
FORBIDDEN - Forbidden Evil
ANACRUSIS - Manic Impressions
SANCTUARY - Refuge Denied
SABBAT - Dreamweaver
AGENT STEEL - Unstoppable Force
S.D.I. - Sign of the Wicked
SEPULTURA - Arise
WATCHTOWER - Control and Resistance

Not enough space, but definitely having place:
VOIVOD - Killing Technology
NASTY SAVAGE - S/T
CORONER - R.I.P.

Didn't read it but no because it's Guitar World. "Less than 100 artists exist in our world" world would be a better title.

Thrasher73 wrote:

Not a bad list compared to a lot of these things.A few I would replace:
Peace Sells,R.I.P would have been second
Fabulous Disaster instead of Bonded
Extreme Aggression instead of Coma of Souls
Scratch Pantera and Possessed and add Nuclear Assaults Survive and Forbiddens Twisted into Form

good call on the Fabulous Disaster.

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

Didn't read it but no because it's Guitar World. "Less than 100 artists exist in our world" world would be a better title.

So true!