The Top 10 Temple: Thrash Metal Bands

Top 10 Thrash Metal Bands

Hello everybody! Welcome to my first Top 10. Now, one of my all time favorite metal genres is thrash metal. And for those that don't know what it is, it is a type of heavy metal that is generally very fast, heavy, extremely riff oriented, and has a lot of really fast and skilled guitar solos. Now this list, will determine some of my favorite bands that possess this specific genre. Now, if a band you don't think counts as thrash metal is on here, I don't care because they are thrash to me. I will also list a bunch of honorable mentions because usually 10 is too small of a number to say all the ones I want so I hope you see those too. So now, let's begin!!!

Number 10.

                                      Band: Anthrax

Current Lineup:

Joey Belladonna (Vocals)

Scott Ian (Guitars)

Frank Bello (Bass)

Charlie Benante (Drums)

Jonathon Donais (Guitars)

Discography:

Fistful of Metal (1984)

Spreading The Disease (1985)

Among the Living (1987)

State of Euphoria (1988)

Persistence of Time (1990)

Sound of White Noise (1993)

Stomp 442 (1995)

Volume 8: The Threat Is Real (1998)

We've Come For You All (2003)

Worship Music (2011)

For All Kings (2016)

 Now, Anthrax is a band that I have not heard the majority of their discography, but what I've heard is some amazing thrash metal. Fistful of Metal is the amazing yet primitive debut with production rough around the edges but the great riffs redeem it. Spreading the Disease. Among the Living, and State of Euphoria are the classics that everyone deem as the best. They have good enough production and amazing performances with a much better lineup. Persistence of TIme has a lot of good songs with the great song "Got the Time" and Sound of White Noise, Stomp 442, and Volume 8: The Threat Is Real are just awful. Just plain bad. The three most recent albums are okay, but definitely not thrash. They took a much more melodic, slower approach to song writing. But the main albums I'm talking about are the three straight up classics. Overall, the lineup has stayed decently consistent. Joey Belladonna is a spectacular vocalist with some good phrasing. Scott Ian is a solid rhythm guitarist and the current lead guitarist, Jonathon Donais is pretty skilled. The lead guitarist of the classic lineup, Dan Spitz was also really good. Frank Bello is an amazing bassist who is very skilled at finger style. And Charlie Benante, while not an amazing drummer, at least much better than Lars Ulrich was in the 80s. So overall, the lineup isn't filled with gods at their instruments or anything, but they are really tight and very well suited together. The one song I'd choose to recommend from them would be "Antisocial" from State of Euphoria. It has an awesome chorus and some cool riffs. "Caught in a Mosh", "Be All End All", "Madhouse" and "I Am The Law" are all really awesome songs by them as well, in terms of the thrash department. They're great, check them out.

Number 9.

                             Band: Overkill

Current Lineup:

Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth (Vocals)

D.D Verni (Bass)

Dave Linsk (Guitars)

Derek Tailer (Guitars)

Jason Bittner (Drums)

Discography:

Feel The Fire (1985)

Taking Over (1987)

Under The Influence (1988)

The Years of Decay (1989)

Horrorscope (1991)

I Hear Black (1993)

W.F.O (1994)

The Killing Kind (1996)

From The Underground and Below (1997)

Necroshine (1999) 

Bloodletting (2000)

Killbox 13 (2003)

ReliXIV (2005)

Immortalis (2007)

Ironbound (2010)

The Electric Age (2012)

White Devil Armory (2014)

The Grinding Wheel (2017)

The Wings of War (2019)

Ah yes, the band that is called the most consistent band in thrash metal. And that is mostly true. The lineup has stayed tight, the albums have just kept churning out, and because there are so many, I have not heard too, too many of their albums. But you can almost always tell that they're going to be very tight, heavy and solid. Obviously the best album they ever made is 1989's The Years of Decay. It's just a masterpiece. But highlight albums of their career are The Grinding Wheel, The Electric Age, Ironbound, The Killing Kind, Horrorscope, and Feel the Fire. They have had such a long career full of great and quality albums. They have always been very thrashy, very aggressive and very powerful musicians. D.D Verni is one of the best bass players in the genre because of his ability to keep up with the fast guitar parts and drums and blend everything in nicely. And of course Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth is an amazing and memorable vocalist with a great tone to his loud voice. A few songs I'd recommend for newcomers to the band would be "Time to Kill", "Elimination", "Overkill", "Nothing To Die For", "Frankenstein", "Ironbound" and "Come and Get It". All of those are amazing bangers all with fantastic riffs and grooves. This band is amazing and a must listen is their album The Years of Decay.

Number 8.

                                     Band: Testament

Current Lineup:

Chuck Billy (Vocals)

Eric Peterson (Guitars)

Alex Skolnick (Guitars)

Steve Di Giorgio (Bass)

Gene Hoglan (Drums)

Discography:

The Legacy (1987)

The New Order (1988)

Practice What You Preach (1989)

Souls of Black (1990)

The Ritual (1992)

Low (1994)

Demonic (1997)

The Gathering (1999)

First Strike Till Deadly (2001)

The Formation of Damnation (2008)

Dark Roots of Earth (2012)

The Brotherhood of the Snake (2016)

Titans of Creation (2020)

Ah yes, another super consistent and amazing thrash metal band. Their debut The Legacy is an amazing, nostalgia filled album with a very nice production. The New Order and Practice What You Preach are both amazing solid albums with a lot of longer songs. Souls of Black is not liked by a lot of people for changing very much and not being as good because it was a little bit rushed in writing it. But it is spectacular and the title track is my favorite song by them. The Ritual is considered as their "Black Album" but is has its own identity and it holds up extremely well. The next few albums are pretty bad as they tried to be a nu metal ish band. But the last 4 albums are heavy, fast and have amazing production. In fact, the current lineup, that has 2 former Death members, that played on their 2020 album TItans of Creation is amazing and is probably all in all, the best lineup they have ever had so I am very excited for whatever album they release next. Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson are in the top 15 guitar duos at least. They play great together and Alex is a great soloist. Greg Christian, the former bassist, is an amazing bassist that had some great riffs. Chuck Billy is an amazing vocalist and of course the 2 former Death members, Steve Di Giorgio and Gene Holgan, are amazingly skilled and play greatly together especially on Titans of Creation and Brotherhood of the Snake, both awesome thrashy albums. This band is amazing, simply put.

Number 7.

Band: Power Trip

Lineup:

Blake Ibanez (Guitars)

Nick Stewart (Guitars)

Chris Whetzel (Bass)

Chris Ulsh (Drums)

Discography:

Manifest Decimation (2013)

Nightmare Logic (2017)

This is a straight up tragedy in the thrash metal world. Nightmare Logic showed a band with amazing promise and talent. But only a couple months ago, the lead singer of this great group, Riley Gale, died in his sleep. And he was an amazing vocalist. Nightmare Logic had so many amazing songs and it had great pacing and no filler. Chris Ulsh and Chris Whetzel holds a great rhythm section and can play quite like a punk band. Nick Stewart and Blake Ibanez are superb guitarists, with really cool styles. And Riley Gale, had a great sound to his voice. Now, these aren't prodigies or legends as individuals, but as a team they are extraordinary and very skilled at playing and writing catchy riffs and songs. The songs you'd need to hear by them, would be "Executioner's Tax (Swing of the Axe)", "Soul Sacrifice" and "Crucifixation". They are all catchy, fun as hell and heavy with awesome riffs. This band had true potential. I hope they go on without Riley, although they will never be the same.

Number 6.

                                       Band: Havok

Lineup:

David Sanchez (Guitars, Vocals)

Reece Scruggs (Guitars)

Brandon Bruce (Bass)

Pete Webber (Drums)

Discography:

Burn (2009)

Time Is Up (2011)

Unnatural Selection (2013)

Conformicide (2017)

V (2020)

This is by far the all time best thrash metal band of modern times. All 5 albums by them are fast, upbeat, heavy and the epitome of brutal. The guitars are extremely fast and even though David Sanchez is more well known as a brutal shrieking vocalist, he is still a beast at guitar and really good at keeping rhythms. Pete Webber is a drummer god that can do all sorts of things inside the songs they have. Brandon Bruce, who just joined the band in 2019, is an awesome bassist who has a great tone on the latest record, V. And the bassists in Havok of the past like Nick Schendzielos and Jesse de los Santos are amazing, amazing bassists as well. The debut album, Burn, is a great, raw album with a drier production with some cool riffage. Time Is Up is a significantly better album with better production, better solos, and great performances and songs. Unnatural Selection and Conformicide are solid follow ups, just a little less memorable. But, their masterpiece is by far the latest album, V, their fifth album. It is heavy, blisteringly intense, brutal, amazing solos and has countless great songs on it. The production is amazing and the performances are so tight. The first songs I'd recommend for them would be "Prepare For Attack", "Post Truth Era", "Ritual of the Mind" and "Point of No Return". They will have some amazing riffs, solos, and vibes, I promise. Best band ever right now for me.

Number 5.

                                        Band: Slayer

Final Lineup:

Tom Araya (Bass, Vocals)

Kerry King (Guitars)

Paul Bostaph (Drums)

Gary Holt (Guitars)

Discography:

Show No Mercy (1983)

Hell Awaits (1985)

Reign in Blood (1986)

South of Heaven (1988)

Seasons in the Abyss (1990)

Divine Intervention (1994)

Diabolus In Musica (1998)

God Hates Us All (2001)

Christ Illusion (2006)

World Painted Blood (2009)

Repentless (2015)

Now we get to the big, big leagues. Slayer has been one of the top thrash metal bands of the world until their retirement in 2019. Even with the retirement, they have left a humongous legacy. Their raw Judas Priest-like debut, Show No Mercy is an entertaining debut with some really good songs. Hell Awaits is an evil, ominous and really spectacular sophomore release with much longer song lengths. Then you get the string of their 3 most famous albums: Raining Blood, South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss which are all full of hits and amazing songs. Then there's a dramatic drop in quality with Divine Intervention and Diabolus In Musica. Both are raw, sludgy, dumbed down and considerably worse production and vibes within the songs. There are a few good songs on Divine Intervention but the rest is bad and especially on Diabolus In Musica, it is a terrible album with no good songs on it. They have a tiny amount of redemption with God Hates Us All which coincidentally was released on September 11th, 2001. A very weird feeling it brought upon listeners. But the band really hit their comeback with Christ Illusion and World Painted Blood. Those albums are amazing, filled with great riffs although I am not too big of a fan of the production of World Painted Blood. Their last record, featuring Gary Holt of Exodus, was okay but not really that great. Not too memorable but still not as bad as the 2 dud records from the mid 90s. Repentless thankfully does have some amazing solos from Gary Holt so that's a plus of course. A few recommendations from me include: "Raining Blood", "South of Heaven", "Seasons in the Abyss", "Expendable Youth", "Black Magic", "Hell Awaits" and "Angel of Death". This band will always be one of the most influential thrash bands, and metal bands in general on the planet. We will always have their music and we will always carry on their legacy.

Number 4.

                                     Band: Sepultura

Current Lineup:

Derrick Green (Vocals)

Paulo Jr (Bass)

Andreas Kisser (Guitars)

Eloy Casagrande (Drums)

Discography:

Morbid Visions (1985)

Schizophrenia (1987)

Beneath the Remains (1989)

Arise (1991)

Chaos A.D (1993)

Roots (1996)

Against (1998)

Nation (2001)

Roorback (2003)

Dante XXI (2006)

A-Lex (2009)

Kairos (2011)

The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart (2013)

Machine Messiah (2017)

Quadra (2020)

This is band had one of the best lineups and best potential with their third and fourth albums but they kind of just went to different genres and styles that just turned me off the band. Let's start with the debut though. Morbid Visions is a very very raw and dark album almost black metal like because the writing was quite primitive because Andreas Kisser wasn't in the band yet. But Schizophrenia was when they seriously stepped things up. It was Andreas Kisser, Max Cavalera, Igor Cavalera and Paulo Jr, playing really powerful and fun thrash songs. But the masterpieces they made with that lineup were Beneath the Remains and Arise. The tracks got stronger, the arrangements were more diverse and the performances got way tighter. The production also got better by far. Then Chaos A.D was released which changed everything up dramatically and went all groove metal. Which was cool, but not the reason I got into Sepultura. Then Roots was even worse because it went nu metal in a way and the production was pretty bad. Then unfortunately, Max Cavalera's nephew died in a car crash and a bit later, he quit the band. Which sucked because he truly was a valuable member of the group. Derrick Green joined as vocalist. And he's really good, but doesn't captivate me the same way. The albums dropped in quality and Igor, the original drummer, left a few albums later. A-Lex and Kairos were probably Sepultura's worst times and albums. The songs didn't have any soul or talent poured into them like Beneath the Remains did. But things are looking up as Machine Messiah and Quadra are actually really solid albums. I am quite happy with the current vibes in the band and they went a little more powerful with their songwriting. But overall, they will never top their third and fourth albums. Ever. My few recommendations are "Beneath the Remains", "Inner Self", "Stronger Than Hate", "Arise", Desperate Cry" and "Dead Embryonic Cells". I promise you will be surprised if you only ever heard songs from Chaos A.D and Roots.

Number 3.

                                      Band: Exodus

Lineup:

Gary Holt (Guitars)

Steve "Zetro" Souza (Vocals)

Jack Gibson (Bass)

Lee Altus (Guitars)

Tom Hunting (Drums)

Discography:

Bonded By Blood (1985)

Pleasures of the Flesh (1987)

Fabulous Disaster (1989)

Impact is Imminent (1990)

Force of Habit (1992)

Tempo of the Damned (2004)

Shovel Headed Kill Machine (2005)

The Atrocity Exhibition...Exhibition A (2007)

Exhibit B: The Human Condition (2010)

Blood In, Blood Out (2014)

Now, we get to the top 3 ultimate thrash metal bands. Exodus is a beast of a band that has always kept their music at the top of quality and speed. Gary Holt is probably in my list of my favorite guitar players (coming later) and I think Steve "Zetro" Souza is a fantastic metal vocalist. Tom Hunting is a beast on drums and while the original second guitarist and bassist Rick Hunolt and Rob McKillop aren't in the band any longer, they were key parts of the early albums. And of course the great late Paul Baloff was an amazing thrash vocalist on the debut album Bonded By Blood. Speaking of which, I think their best album on terms of thrash, is indeed their debut Bonded By Blood. It is full of riffs, great solos, and awesome songs. The title track is probably the best Exodus song. The next album, Steve "Zetro" Souza joined the fray because Paul Baloff was fired unfortunately. I love the next 2 albums as well. Pleasures of the Flesh and Fabulous Disaster are excellent follow ups. These albums have really tasty productions and they seem especially musically invigorated on Fabulous Disaster the songs just seem so alive on the first three albums. Then, in 1990, apparently their sound producer had a massive stroke and seizure because Impact is Imminent and Force of Habit have some of the absolute worst productions I have ever heard on a studio album. The songs are good sure, except Force of Habit is a bad album, but on Impact is Imminent, they seem like they wrote pretty good songs but it is set back immensely by it's god awful production. Force of Habit is a really bad album though. The songs feel so lazy and laidback and just not creative. Like Testament, Megadeth and Anthrax did at one point, in 1992, Exodus wanted to make a "Black Album" sort of album. And they did. And it just didn't work and I don't like this one at all. A couple songs are okay but that's it. Then, Exodus took a very long hiatus of around 12 years. But then they suddenly came back with one of their best ever albums, Tempo of the Damned. This album is the epitome of comeback. The songs are epic, full of riffs, and this finally has a great production. The guitars are seriously heavy and smooth. The songs on this album had a lot of great moments and I'm happy they had quite a bit of success with this album. Then, they went on a string of really solid albums until the 2014 successful album, Blood In, Blood Out which had a lot of success on the Billboard 200 at number 38! Their most recent album is such a great album and I really enjoy a lot of the heavy, thrashy songs on it. I love this band so much and a few recommendations from me are: "Bonded By Blood", "The Toxic Waltz", "Brain Dead", "Impaler", "And Then There Were None" and "A Lesson In Violence". If you like thrash metal in any way, you've already heard of them, what am I saying?

Number 2.

                                     Band: Megadeth

Current Lineup:

Dave Mustaine

Dave Ellefson

Kiko Loureiro

Chris Adler

Discography:

Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good (1985)

Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? (1986)

So Far, So Good...So What? (1988)

Rust in Peace (1990)

Countdown to Extinction (1992)

Youthanasia (1994)

Cryptic Writings (1997)

Risk (1999)

The World Needs A Hero (2001)

The System Has Failed (2004)

United Abominations (2007)

ENDGAME (2009)

Th1rt3en (2011)

Super Collider (2013)

Dystopia (2016)

Megadeth, even though they probably changed the most out of most of these bands in terms of sound and genres, Megadeth, at their roots, have always been an awesome thrash metal, aggressive and speedy band. In the span of 9 years, they managed to release 6 amazing classic metal albums. Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good was the raw, aggressive debut. Peace Sells...But Who's Buying was a progressive and catchy smash hit. So Far, So Good...So What? was a solid and fun thrash album. Rust in Peace was the masterpiece of progressive thrash masterpiece with their most classic lineup. Their next couple albums had a great catchy, almost poppy songwriting style. But it went downhill with the next couple albums as they went too radio friendly and sounded terrible as a result. But over time and over the decades, besides the atrocity Super Collider, they continued to put out more quality, more heavy and more thrashy albums after Risk. The band has always had an amazing guitarist in Dave Mustaine who is very skilled at guitar and okay at singing. Dave Ellefson is one of the top metal bass players to ever live. Kiko Loureiro, the current lead guitarist, is an amazing virtuoso with amazing technique and writing ability. And of course Marty Friedman and Nick Menza were the legends that occupied the all time classic lineup from Rust in Peace to Cryptic Writings before the band fully went to crap with Risk. This band has always been able to put out amazing music and they are so talented at writing heavy metal. The solos in this band has always been very skillful and restless, always laced with intricate and technical phrasing at all times in the band's career. The band's drummers have always been very skilled like Gar Samuelson and Chris Adler and of course, Nick Menza. And like I said, Dave Ellefson is one of the all time best metal bassists and always added an extra bit of joy into Megadeth's music. It makes it all the more fun to listen to them. Megadeth have always been a huge part of my musical journey and I will never get tired of them. My few recommendations are "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due", "Peace Sells", "Symphony of Destruction", "In My Darkest Hour" and "Tornado of Souls". All of those contain catchy riffs, blistering solos and amazing technicality to all of them. I really love Megadeth.

Honourable Mentions:

These are just some of the honorable mentions I could not get the pleasure of mentioning them in the list. But they still deserve a place here, so I will list the bands, and some recommendations for every band!

Band: Toxic Holocaust

Recommendations:

Acid Fuzz

Rat Eater

War Is Hell

Arise From The Cemetery

Chemical Warlords

Band: Skeletonwitch

Recommendations:

Fen of Shadows

Beyond the Permafrost

Submit to the Suffering

When Paradise Fades

Serpents Unleashed

Band: Municipal Waste

Recommendations:

New Dead Masters

Mech-Cannibal

The Art of Partying

Blood Drive

Band: Nuclear Assault

Recommendations:

Critical Mass

Nuclear War

Search and Seizure

Something Wicked

Human Wreckage

Band: Annihilator

Recommendations:

Alison Hell

W.T.Y.D

The Fun Palace

Never, Neverland

Knight Jumps Queen

Set The World On FIre

Band: Kreator

Recommendations:

Pleasure to Kill

Extreme Aggression

Betrayer

Mental Slavery

Reconquering The Throne

Satan Is Real

Band: Forbidden

Recommendations:

Chalice of Blood

Forsaken At The Gates

Dragging My Casket

One Foot In Hell

Forbidden Evil

And now..... for my Number 1...…

 

Number 1.

Band: Metallica

Current Lineup:

James Hetfield (Vocals, Guitars)

Kirk Hammett (Guitars)

Robert Trujillo (Bass)

Lars Ulrich (Drums)

Discography:

Kill 'Em All (1983)

Ride the Lightning (1984)

Master of Puppets (1986)

...And Justice For All (1988)

Metallica (1991)

Load (1996)

Reload (1997)

St Anger (2003)

Death Magnetic (2008)

Hardwired...To Self Destruct (2016)

Now I know Metallica isn't the thrashiest, or the loudest, or aggressive band. And they probably have had one of the least consistent discography of these bands in terms of thrash. But the thing is, this band is just the best. You've got the all mighty trio of Kill 'Em All, Ride the Lightning, and Master of Puppets. The three albums the legendary bassist Cliff Burton played on before he tragically died in 1986. These three albums have some of the most iconic songs, some of the most powerful and emotional performances and overall, in terms of thrash, some of the best thrashy songs ever. ...And Justice For All is an extremely aggressive and angry sounding record as it was released just two years after Burton's death. But newcomer Jason Newsted is a beast and a shredder and his bass tracks from the album sound amazing. Even though you can't hear them at all in the mix. Across these 4 albums, they had some of the best and aggressive thrash songs at the time. Some examples of these great songs are "Phantom Lord", "Metal Militia", "Fight Fire With Fire", "Creeping Death", "Damage Inc.", "Leper Messiah", "Blackened" and "Dyer's Eve". Not necessarily the best per se, but still amazing songs in the name of thrash. Of course all of the next albums until Death Magnetic and Hardwired...To Self Destruct are not thrash at all. I mean, some songs on the self titled album had some thrash songs like "Holier Than Thou" and "Through The Never" but overall, the album is way more simple and slower. But after the terrible St Anger, the two most recent albums are super thrashy and have amazing moments. But nothing in terms of thrash, will top the amazing first 4 albums. The current bass player, Robert Trujillo, is a really groovy player with great tone but all in all, I think Jason was the best player suited for playing the thrash songs from the first 4 albums. But of course Cliff Burton played on them and he played amazingly of course. Speaking of musicians, I'd say James Hetfield is one of the best riff writers in metal and extremely gifted to his instrument. I love his tone especially on Ride the Lightning and Metallica. Kirk Hammett is an amazing lead player with some amazing solos but I don't think currently, they are using him to his fullest potential and I hope this new album changes that. And of course Lars Ulrich isn't a great drummer but he has certainly improved over the years. Even on the non thrash material I still love this band to death. But for this list alone, my recommendations of this band will be based on their thrashiness alone. So I shall recommend: "Dyer's Eve", "Trapped Under Ice", "Creeping Death", "Battery", "Damage Inc.", "Phantom Lord", "Blackened" and "No Remorse". These songs are of the pure essence of thrash metal and definitely some of the greatest of all time. This band will live on forever!

Thank you everyone for reading, if you've gotten this far. I'm hoping you are enjoying all of these! And if you haven't heard of any of these bands, I urge you to check out my recommendations!