Might be too punk for some, but my vote for “war” is Cryptic Slaughter: MAD.

War:War Ensemble (Slayer)
Instrumental:March of the S.O.D. (S.O.D.)
Closer:Perish in flames (Dark angel, " real" answer is probably Raining blood but one needs to mix it up a bit me think)

The correct answer is either Battery or Fight Fire With Fire

Opening - Battery/South of Heaven
War - Behind The Crooked Cross
Instrumental - Orion
Closing - Damage Inc./Spill The Blood/Dyers Eve <— smashing track this one.

i saw the video for Wake Up Dead last Friday for the first time in maybe 30 years and it blew me away. i completely forgot how massive that song is. it made me re-listen to Peace Sells and made me quickly realize why I forgot - the rest of that album is pretty bad. however, it seems like Wake Up Dead was definitely a sign of what was going to happen eventually with Rust in Peace.

With that in mind, really hard to choose between Wake Up Dead and Blackened. Both feature complete tempo switch ups that knock me on my ass every time. Really impossible.

Coroner - Die by my Hand deserves some consideration.

Tree wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 10:50 am

MoreSpaceEcho wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 9:33 amThat first song on Death Angel's debut is a killer too, those guys were by far the most interesting of the JV squad/second wave bands IMO.

Fantastic answer. That opening guitar destroys and the whole album is great. Since "Battery" is the best song in the world some days, that's still my vote.

This thread caught me at a good time as I've been listening to so much thrash that my usual Cool Dad Alert skate shoes suddenly turned into white hi-tops the other day. I would like to submit the following side subjects to the thread:

Best thrash closing track
Best thrash song about war
Best thrash instrumental

A little late to the party here, but how about "Best thrash song about thrash"? Any genre that has entire songs dedicated to their genre being awesome kinda rules. Gonna go with "Black Metal" with this one

twelvepoint wrote: Thu Apr 25, 2024 7:36 am

Tree wrote:

MoreSpaceEcho wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 9:33 amThat first song on Death Angel's debut is a killer too, those guys were by far the most interesting of the JV squad/second wave bands IMO.

Fantastic answer. That opening guitar destroys and the whole album is great. Since "Battery" is the best song in the world some days, that's still my vote.

This thread caught me at a good time as I've been listening to so much thrash that my usual Cool Dad Alert skate shoes suddenly turned into white hi-tops the other day. I would like to submit the following side subjects to the thread:

Best thrash closing track
Best thrash song about war
Best thrash instrumental

A little late to the party here, but how about "Best thrash song about thrash"? Any genre that has entire songs dedicated to their genre being awesome kinda rules. Gonna go with "Black Metal" with this one

Nice addition! I'm going with "Thrashers" by Death Angel. If there's ever a thread about the best albums made by teenagers, I'm submitting The Ultra-Violence.

The other day I was picking up a pizza and as I turned onto my street I changed the channel on Sirius/XM to Ozzy's Boneyard and "Battery" was just starting. Even though I can listen to it any time, I couldn't let it go and sat there in the driveway with my dogs barking at me from the front window cuz I had to listen at least get to the brief solo that bridges the first chorus and the second verse.

Great topic.

I feel like this almost certainly has to be "Angel of Death", but this was a fun excuse to go back and check my memory on some things, like "What was that Destruction album I had way back when? I remember it starting off pretty cool..." (Confirmed)

Nice to see Exodus "Deranged" on here, that came to my mind as well.

I listen to Testament's debut "The Legacy" much more than the Big Four these days, and the opener "Over The Wall" is no slouch. Super underrated record.

Not classic thrash, but High on Fire's "Devolution" is a kick-ass way to open a record.

But for sheer blunt force trauma, I think "Angel of Death" is still the correct answer, if for no other reason that the double-bass break towards the end.

Instrumental: "Call of Ktulu"

Closer: "Damage, Inc."

Super fun poll.

Tree wrote: Thu Apr 25, 2024 8:46 am If there's ever a thread about the best albums made by teenagers, I'm submitting The Ultra-Violence.

What could possibly beat it? Seriously.

"Thrashers" is a ripper for sure, but as far as best thrash songs about thrash, that's basically half of Kill 'Em All: Hit The Lights, Motorbreath, Whiplash, Seek and Destroy, Metal Militia.

Also on the subject of opening thrash tracks, I was listening to RTL in the studio the other day, and every time I hear Fight Fire With Fire I can vividly remember being 15 and hearing it for the first time back in '84. And it was just SO MUCH HEAVIER than anything else I was listening to then. Guitars just didn't sound like that on metal records in 1984.

So it's on in the studio and I got curious: were the guitars REALLY that much heavier or is it just nostalgia/my foggy memory? Let's do a quick a/b. I grabbed the first track off "Piece of Mind" and dropped it into the session with RTL. Flipping over to that from FFWF and It. Was. Ridiculous. Maiden's guitars sounded like they were made out of paper, just a thin slice of nasally midrange. Try it, you'll laugh at the difference.