Who Is The Greatest of the Non Big 4 Thrash Metal Bands?
 

Yeah yeah yeah we all know Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and to a lesser extent Anthrax are all great bands, bu thrash metal was a large genre that reached out all over the world. With that there is a lot of bands who did not get the same attention that showered the "Big 4", despite being just as good if not better. Even some are still putting out albums now, building up a small but loyal fanbase, continuing their sound despite the seemingly abandonment from the major record labels and mainstream radio.

If you think I missed a band who deserves to be on the list, state your argument and I will add it.

Enjoy.

from what i've heard Testament, Exodus and Kreator are all good band and Suicidal tendencies are terrible.
I voted Testament because i've listened to them most.

What have you heard from Suicidal Tendencies? None of the bands on this list have solid discographies but they're not without their charm. Lights Camera Revolution (1990) is probably their best work after How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today (1988), but I tried to include all of the thrash metal bands I could think of, even the ones with really spotty discographies like Suicidal Tendencies and Infernal Majesty.

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What have you heard from Testament? If you haven't heard The Gathering (1999) then you need to get on that shit ASAP. It features Steve DiGiorgio (Death, Control Denied, Iced Earth, Charred Walls of the Damned, Vintersorg, Obituary, etc.) on bass and Dave Lombardo (Slayer, Fantamos) on drums. The album also features some of Chuck Billy's best vocal work to date, and really blurred the boundaries between death metal and thrash metal.

However if I had to choose three bands from the list for you to check out it would go like this:

Anacrusis - Screams & Whispers (1993)

Some of the most experimental and unique thrash metal I've heard in my entire life.

VoiVod - Nothingface (1989)

Often regarded as their best work, and certainly my favourite album by them, however I would ask Lee (Jackhammer) for his opinion because he's more knowledgeable on the band than me.

Sepultura - Beneath The Remains (1989)

Again this is often cited as their best work, however you can really listen to anything between this album and Roots (1996) and find some great International thrash metal.

Out of the choices I'm going with Overkill, Exodus, and Heathen. However, Artillery is right up there with them in my opinion.

I own The New Order and The Gathering from Testament and they're both brilliant albums.
I can't remember what Suicidal Tendencies i heard because I deleted it, but it wasn't very good.
I will check those albums out ASAP.

I`m probably one of the few people on here that doesn`t think Testament`s "The Gathering" a great album. Despite that fact that "Eyes of Wrath" is a classic song.

With the exception of Sepultura, all these bands have patchy discographies. Both Kreator and Voivod also have some stellar runs of great albums as well.
Overkill in vocalist Bobby Ellsworth is one of the best around, and they had some of their best metal releases in the late 80`s to early 90's period.

Have to agree that Suicidal Tendencies weren`t that good, maybe its because crossover thrash is not really my thing.

Bands that could`ve possibly been added are Watchtower and Flotsam and Jetsam.

Every thrash metal band has had a patchy discography. It's a pretty limiting genre when you really think about it so there's not much innovation you can add to it without either alienating your old fans a la Metallica. In terms of bands staying true to thrash metal, I think Exodus deserve the prize because they soldiered through it, never compromosing their sound, despite some god awful albums (from what I've read, I'm not intimately familiar with Exodus so take this opinionated speech for what it is Exodus fans).

The reason I rate The Gathering so highly is not necessiarly because of the original members of Testament, but because anything Steve DiGiorgio touches turns to gold as far as I'm concerned, and Dave Lombardo isn't far behind him, although when it comes to metal drummers Gene Hoglan and Richard Christy will always go down as my favourites.

Also have you heard Overkill's newest album Ironbound (2010)?

My penny's worth on these bands:

Kreator
One of the very few Thrash bands to rarely deviate from the classic Thrash sound although main man Mille Petrozza's garbled high vocals put a lot of people off which is a shame as their music has always been fast and technical whilst still holding your attention.

Testament
Whilst I appreciate Pete's liking for The Gathering, we are a lot different in ages and I grew up with their classic Thrash sound and disliked them (and a few other bands) branching out to incorporate Death Metal etc. I prefer my Thrash generally pure so the first 3 albums are where it's at for me and they utilised their twin guitar sound well. They also had some fantastic acoustic breakdowns too.

Exodus
We have talked about these quite recently and their debut Bonded By Blood is definitely up there with the most influential albums but band members coming and going (or passing away) meant that they rarely made a cohesive album IMO.

Annihilator
Alice In Hell (the album) begins in storming fashion with some serious musicianship and then the vocals kick in and they sounded like a crappy Heavy Metal band and in fact their first two releases sound like Power Metal to me and lacking intensity. I stopped listening to them after this so not sure what came after.

Voivod
One of the most distinctive bands of the Thrash era although their debut borders on Hardcore more than Thrash but due to being influenced by Pink Floyd, Avant Garde and Psychedelia, they never quite fitted in the scene for many people. One of my definite favourites though and the sort of band you could listen to even if you are not a big Metal fan.

Infernal Majesty
Well this will get you. I don't think I have ever heard a single song by them! I only know the name and that's it.

Overkill
They have always come across as more of a fun band to me. The sort of band perfect for moshing and stagediving. I do like them and have their first 3 or 4 albums but I wouldn't put them too high on my Thrash faves.

Sodom
This German 3 piece don't get nowhere near the attention they deserve. Very tight, heavy and with a very distinctive guitar sound, almost muddy and a lot less slick than their American counterparts which I really like. Agent Orange is an essential Thrash album.

Sepultura
Well I just recently made a post in my Thrash thread so I am obviously a fan but I'm one of a few fans that really disliked their sound becoming more groove orientated. However Schizophrenia is yet another Thrash must have. Very tight musically too.

Anacrusis
When their debut Suffering Hour came out it completely split opinion with some fans liking their left field approach with odd time changes and different vocal styles and others not liking because they thought that the band couldn't quite work out what they wanted to sound like. This continued for a couple of albums and I really liked them. One of the more interesting bands of the genre.

Suicidal Tendencies
I like their early as well as later albums but never really considered them Thrash although they used that sound a lot more on later albums. Their guitar sound is quality though. Very crunchy and clean.

Anvil
Never liked them only admired them. I think they were a Heavy Metal band that just ramped it up a bit.

Heathen
Surprised they are on the list TBH. Their debut Breaking The Silence is reallly solid but sounds more like a power/doom album. They then made one more album before disappearing for 15 years so I just don't consider them important enough (although they were one of the early Bay Area bands).

Destruction
Mad Butcher is such a great E.P and their fast kinetic sound was exciting but after a few tracks they start to bore me personally.

Death Angel
Their debut The Ultra Violence is still probably the best Thrash debut ever made (yes it's better than Kill 'em All) but then their follow on was completely forgettable. They redeemed themselves with Act III but then they had near fatal road accident and never really recovered. Shame.

Dark Angel
I would class these as the perfect advertisement for Speed Metal and both Darkness Descends and Leave Scars are definitely albums to have in your collection (No One Answers from Leave Scars is probably my favourite Thrash riff ever) but their intensity suffered through bad production IMO.

So what was left off and who am I choosing?


Sacred Reich
This 4 piece with probably the biggest drummer to grace a Thrash drumstool relied on a much more traditional heavier sound than some other bands at the time and also Vocalist Phil Rinds awesome throaty voice and socially conscious lyrics gave them a much more professional sound too.

Coroner
One of the most respected bands of the era with both fans and other bands themselves looking on in envy at their power and technical ability, especially for a 3 piece. They were also very good songwriters and were probably too good to stay within the Thrash template.

It has to be Voivod for me.

Great write-up and agree with nearly all that you`ve said, there are some bands in there that even I`m not too familiar with and will have to give another listen to, or bands that I`d long forgotten about.

Annihilator bloody awful band and not recommended!!!

I can see a hardcore thrash fan, not being in love with death metal influences on their thrash sound. The late 80`s and throughout the 90`s were very much the era of metal bands incorporating different sub genres of metal into their sound. Most of these thrash bands actually deviated away from their true thrash sound more than some people realize. Elements of death, doom, groove, nu-metal and prog etc are scattered across their discographies. Their saving grace in the eyes of their true fans, is that they never ventured too far away from their roots though.

Worth noting that German thrash had a feel quite distinct at times from its American cousin which makes listening to Kreator and Sodom worthwhile.

And Pete no I haven`t heard "Ironbound" what`s it like?

Ironbound is a real return to form for the band, and kicks the absolute shit out of the newer thrash metal bands and shows them how it's done (With the exception of Witchery). It's been almost unanimously rated as one of the best metal albums of the year along with Heathen's new album Chaos In Evolution and Exodus' Exhibit B: The Human Equation.

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Also a great write up Lee, very fair and full of good info. For me I used thrash to get me into metal and kind of prepare myself for the abrasiveness found in death metal and black metal, and when I made that leap, I didn't really look back until far later. A lot of the metalheads I know in real life started off with thrash, kind of dabbled in other genres, but never really expanded too far out, but refined and mastered what they did know. I wanted to at least be able to keep up with them in conversation, so I went back to explore some of the lesser known thrash acts, but even then, I was focusing a lot of my attention on the newer stuff.

I just realized I didn't even vote yet. I think I have to go with Kreator because of the influence they had on death metal.