Thrash metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo. The songs usually use fast percussive beats and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead guitar work. The lyrical subject matter often includes criticism of The Establishment and concern over environmental destruction, and at times shares a disdain for Christian dogma with that of black metal. The language is typically direct and denunciatory, an approach borrowed from hardcore punk.
Dirty Rotten Imbeciles is an American crossover thrash band that formed in Houston in 1982 and would later relocate to San Francisco. The band is currently composed of two of its founding members, vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy, as well as drummer Rob Rampy and bass player Greg Orr.
Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by releasing early grindcore and death metal records between the late 1980s and mid-1990s. Its roster has since diversified into more mainstream guitar music, working with bands such as Rival Sons, the Temperance Movement, Blackberry Smoke, Scarlet Rebels and the White Buffalo. The company also hosted the 'Earache Express' stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2017 and 'The Earache Factory' at Boomtown 2018. The label's logo is a homage to Thrasher magazine, as Pearson was a skateboard culture enthusiast.
Hirax is an American thrash metal band from Cypress, California. Starting in 1984 under the leadership of vocalist Katon W. De Pena, the band played in Los Angeles and San Francisco with several of their thrash metal peers such as Metallica, Exodus, and Slayer. The band was an early example of thrash metal, speed metal and crossover thrash, yet inspired by cross-genre influences including blues vocalist Sam Cooke, who De Pena once cited as "the greatest vocalist [De Pena] has ever heard."
The Accüsed is an American crossover thrash band from Seattle founded in 1981. The band was a progenitor of the crossover style that bridged the gap between thrashcore and thrash metal, later influencing grindcore and some crust punk bands; as well as an influential band in the Seattle area alternative scene. The band calls their music "splattercore", and their zombie mascot, Martha Splatterhead, appears on most of their albums. Common themes involve social issues and Martha Splatterhead coming back from the dead to slaughter rapists and child molesters.
Attitude Adjustment is an American crossover thrash band from the San Francisco Bay Area. Their debut album, American Paranoia, is considered to be an early "crossover" between hardcore punk and thrash metal.
Brazilian thrash metal is a musical movement that originated in the 1980s. Though not as large or well known as the North American or European thrash metal movements, it bridged the gap of the mid-1980s and the death metal scene later in the decade and the first-wave of black metal. Although some bands have become mainstream, the scene is an underground icon.
Concrete Sox are a British crust punk band. They are largely seen as an early crossover thrash band who incorporated many thrash metal-like riffs in the style of their earlier recordings.
Neil Turbin is an American singer known for being the first full-time vocalist for thrash metal band Anthrax. He is the current lead vocalist and songwriter of heavy metal band DeathRiders and a member of hard rock band Bleed the Hunger.
Desaster are a German black/thrash metal band formed in Koblenz in 1988. Their lyrical themes involve war, hate and Satanism.
Toxic Holocaust is an American thrash metal band from Portland, Oregon.
Viking is an American thrash metal band in Los Angeles, California, which had existed for four years, between 1986 and 1990. However, they reformed in 2011. To date, Viking has released three studio albums, Do or Die (1988), Man of Straw (1989) and No Child Left Behind (2015).
Skitzo is a thrash metal band from Santa Rosa, California, United States. The band was formed in 1981 in Healdsburg, California, when Lance Ozanix and several other people joined and called their band Venom. The name was later changed to Skitzo, after discovering that there is already a band with the same name.
Shaun Ross is a bassist from Venice, California, and former member of Excel, a band he performed with from 1985 until its dissolution. He took his first inspirations from very different kinds of music, like Rudimentary Peni, Jungle Brothers, Sly and the Family Stone and Deep Purple. Also he released an EP with the Thrash metal group Hirax in 2001.
Jorge Iacobellis is an Argentine drummer, tour promoter and producer primarily known as the drummer of the thrash metal band Hirax and former drummer of Todos Tus Muertos. He promoted and produced international bands on tour such as Kreator, Sick of It All, Viper, Ratos de Porão and Testament and assisted in the tour productions with Kiss, Iron Maiden, Machine Head, Jerry Lee Lewis, Motörhead, Exodus, Sepultura, Ramones, Poison, REO Speedwagon, Slayer and L.A. Guns.
Noise Chaos War is a compilation album by American thrash metal band Hirax. It contains three EPs in remastered format; Barrage of Noise (2000), Chaos and Brutality, and Assassins of War (2007). The song "Bombs of Death" is a live recorded video from a 2009 show in Japan.
Kraptor is a thrash metal band from San Cristóbal, Venezuela.
Nuclear is a Chilean thrash metal band founded in Arica, Chile, in 1998. The band has gone through several lineup changes and is currently signed to the label Candlelight Records.
Glenn Rogers is an American guitarist who performs mainly thrash metal. He has most notably performed with Hirax, Deliverance, Vengeance Rising and Once Dead.
Hellripper is a one-man black/speed metal band formed by James McBain in 2014. Cited musical influences include black metal bands such as Venom and Darkthrone; thrash metal bands Megadeth, Metallica and Sabbat; and punk-oriented bands like Motörhead and Anti-Cimex. Lyrically, Hellripper focuses on witchcraft, Occult, and Satanic themes, sometimes drawing from historical events, eg. the possession of Anneliese Michel, as in the song "Anneliese", or the Affair of the Poisons in the song of the same name.
