So been listening to and learning to play a lot of this stuff this year. Dunno why. Def fun to play.

We're talking 'bout that moment in the early 90s where a handful of quite disparate bands took thrash techniques down to (mostly) mid-tempo swing and threw in a decent amount of innovation and imagination. They kinda carried the more mainstream metal scene from the dying days of thrash into the halcyon days of nu metal. Lots of touring together despite not having much in common aesthetically / conceptually.

As these guys had all been active for many years (sometimes really taking their time figuring things out) the musicianship was often top notch by this point in their careers. Something their imitators often struggled with.

Just to be clear - we're not including the earlier, indie or thrash material for these bands. Just the 90s groove stuff.

GO!

(I find myself torn between J's GENIUS recontexualising of the Slayer riff and the often bizarre salad of influences Prong brought to the table across a varied discography.)

If I had to pick one, it's definitely the Killing-Joke-inflected groove of Prong. Pantera was pretty bland after Cowboys From Hell, and Machine Head were horseshit.

Chaos A.D. isn't bad, but pales in comparison to thrash-juggernaut Sepultura. I'm kinda surprised that Overkill weren't thrown in the mix.

Don't know so much what these were doing but Machine Head's The More Things Change is really good.

Pantera's Cowboys and Vulgar Display probably win as purest examples of the genre, but Beneath the Remains-/Arise-era Sepultura is by far the best music of any of these bands.

Bluegum LaBloat wrote: Mon Oct 30, 2023 7:29 pm Pantera's Cowboys and Vulgar Display probably win as purest examples of the genre, but Beneath the Remains-/Arise-era Sepultura is by far the best music of any of these bands.

That's why they got my vote, and apparently my first post on this board.

BTR and Arise are definitely death/thrash as opposed to groove metal, albeit with some groove creeping in on the latter.

I listened to those bands A LOT in the mid nineties.

Tell you what, white Zombie might be the lamest of them all... but I listened to AstroCreep hundreds of times when it came out. So there you go. La sexorcisto is fine but the production sucks.

Pantera I still like Cowboys from hell. It's just catchy and groovy.

Sepultura probably has the strongest discography.

Prong... their records sounded awesome but they were a bit too rigid for me. Although they have the best influences.

I rarely listen to any of them nowadays.

I like most Sepultura stuff when Max was in the band. I haven't given Prong a thorough listen but the bland drumming seems at odds with the rest of the band.

penningtron wrote: Tue Oct 31, 2023 7:59 am I like most Sepultura stuff when Max was in the band. I haven't given Prong a thorough listen but the bland drumming seems at odds with the rest of the band.

Cleansing is too long, but a really good record. Ted Parsons and Paul Raven as rhythm section. My personal favorite of theirs is Force Fed, which is more thrashy.

penningtron wrote: Tue Oct 31, 2023 7:59 am the bland drumming seems at odds with the rest of the band.

True. The drumming desn't... groove.