I would say that "Destroy Erase Improve" is one of the greatest metal albums ever released and certainly Meshuggah`s best. Also listen to "Chaosphere" its their second best album.

I'll definitely check both of them out. What do you think of the two that I mentioned?

Destroy Erase Improve> Chaosphere> Nothing are the three classic Meshuggah albums in that order. The EP "I" is another must listen and is just one single song of around 20 mins or so. The only weaker efforts are the debut which is more thrash focused and there is nothing to really set it apart from the rest of the pack. Also "Catch Thirtythree" was never one of my favourites. Surprisingly I`ve not listened to "Obzen" as my listening schedule hasn`t got to that album yet. I`m kind of two years still out of date with modern day music;)

When I think Meshuggah, I think vicious grooves combined with experimental metal carnage............The stuff of modern day metal legend.

As you may have gathered from our conversation in that other metal thread I got a hold of Destroy Erase Improve and Chaosphere a few days ago. I'm enjoying both but so far I'm not sold on them being their best two albums.

Anthrax- attitude and the band that introduced many fans to music outside of metal- namely Hardcore and Hip Hop. No mean feat.
Megadeth- probably the most musically dexterous of the big four but their constant line up changes mean that they have never achieved cohesiveness and they are probably the most commercial out of the big 4.
Metallica- rightly held up as the pinnacle of Thrash but beset by ego's and commercial suicide (Napstergate, black eyeliner) and still missing Cliff Burton to this day.
Slayer - It's a cliche but Reign In Blood is still the most intense Metal album out there but their dogged attitude to try to staying intense has actually been to their detriment and have almost become a parody of themselves.

I'd say Metallica because of what they did for thrash.

They also got me hooked on thrash metal as one of my favorite genres, and as a bass player I must say that they've had three of the best. RIP Cliff.

What did they do for thrash?

IMO,mainly their commercial success, expanding the audience, etc.

They also got Dave Mustaine writing alot of stuff that would later be used for Megadeth's early albums (Mechanix for instance)

More than just their commercial stuff, they showed that thrash groups if they had the ability, should be writing longer more complex material, and progress the thrash sound beyond the confines of hardcore thrash fans, in order for it to survive as a leading metal genre.

Therefore, we had on one axis Metallica showing where thrash could go, at the expense of not really being thash anymore. On the other axis were Slayer, who despite some variation (nu-metal influences on one album) never ventured too far away from their core thrash sound.

Around the late 8o's most thrash groups had started to slow it down anyway and a number outside the big four had put out albums that were heavily influenced by doom metal. Overkill "Years of Decay" Testament "The Ritual" Exodus "Force of Habit" Being three great examples.

When thrash metal had lost its flame around the early 90`s, groove metal stepped into the void as the economically viable metal alternative.

Metallica routinely checked their music into cash, and for that, they win.