Exodus, Overkill, or Testament?

[zeppelin]

Out of these three I like Testament most, my favouritte thrash bands are Nuclear Assult and Death Angel though, Overkill's cool as well.

 

[MURAI]

I like some Overkill a lot. Testament I dont care for and I admit I never heard any Exodus yet.

 

[MetalRose]

Exodus has really made some great music over the past and only get better with each release.

Not a fan of Overkill... Don't hate them, but don't love them either. Testamant just isn't on the same level as Exodus, IMHO.

-Metal

 

[IWP]

I'm kinda surprised that Testament's winning this considering how unpopular they are on metal-archives.

 

[Priest of Evil]

wow, that was hard. I voted Exodus because they simply thrash harder than the rest.

Testament I like alot but as much as I like them I found they were a touch repetitive in the early albums.
Overkill I'm finding I like alot more these days than I used to(back in the late 80's early 90's).

 

[OldScratch]

Yes I got confused by the way you typed it. It happens.



I'm 35 (twice your age) so I am aware of all that lol I started going to shows when I was 16 back in the 80's. Mostly thrash shows then other metal genre's so I saw everything about the Thrash scene first hand. I saw Testament live in their heyday (Practice What You Preach tour in 1990.. still have the T shirt I bought & still wear it). Saw Exodus as well but not Overkill because I was never a fan of theirs. Don't know why but perhaps I'll give their old albums a chance again in the near future.

As for popular. What is popular? The # of albums sold or one's opinion of popular which could mean shows are sold out & packed wall to wall, constantly written in the metal mags of the day etc.? Because alot of the bands I named were "popular".Their shows sold out to at Sundance in Bayshore Long Island back then. Nuclear Assault, D.R.I., Sacred Reich, Death Angel etc. But regardless. The underground scene became "popular" after Metallica's 1986 album MOP. Trust me on this. Because that is when I first became interested in the underground scene and started going to shows and saw there was a "popular" scene that I wasn't aware of till then.

I am pretty much in the same boat as yourself - only a few years older even and agree with most all of this. The thing that drives me nuts is the tendency folks have to neglect or forget the impact non-American Thrash bands had back at the time! No hardcore Thrashers I knew even cared about Exodus after Bonded by Blood(brilliant), Testament past the first one if at all...or even considered Overkill Thrash in the first place. As others have stated here, bands like Overkill were basically considered "Metal" pure and simple.(and I am in NY)
But back to to the "imports." No self-respecting Thrash fan in the mid eighties wasn't well-versed in German Thrash like Destruction, Kreator, Sodom, etc. or stuff like VoiVod, Frost, Venom, etc. As you recall NO ONE called any metal "Black Metal" back then. All that proto-BM fell under the Thrash/Speed...or maybe Death heading, whether accurate or not.

Side-note: The Thrash underground was well established and going strong before Master of Puppets ever hit the shelves. It may certainly have expanded at that point(or became more Popular as noted) but, I was going to well-attended shows for several years before MOP's impact could be felt. And for what its worth, most Thrashers I knew, myself included, were bored by MOP and never really noticed the scene change as I recall. With stuff like "Pleasure to Kill" and "Infernal Overkill" out there, MOP was - fairly or not - rather tame by Thrash standards of the day. Besides, the earliest incarnations of Death Metal was just scratching to the surface by '87 at least...and a whole new world of heaviness unfolded. Those were great times!

 

[Bryant]

The underground scene became "popular" after Metallica's 1986 album MOP. Trust me on this. Because that is when I first became interested in the underground scene and started going to shows and saw there was a "popular" scene that I wasn't aware of till then.

I couldn't agree more. While I wouldn't say Metallica single-handedly took the thrash movement out of the underground, the success of MoP was light years above their contemporaries and helped bring increased sales and following of the other bands of the genre quickly before metal faded back into the underground.

Back to the original topic:

I chose testament. I like Skolnick (sp?) and Billy. Though I thought the drumming was a little sub-par (on older Testament releases) compared to many thrash bands, I thought the guitars and vocals were top notch.

Bryant

 

[Silent_Scream]

Testament

 

[Captain]

I don't care for Overkill, but I would have to say Exodus. Testament is really close though.

 

[The Heartbreak Kid]

1. Testament
2. Overkill
3. Exodus

 

[teaser666]

Very hard one! 3 great bands but I have to say Testament, they've been on the top of my list of favorite bands since The Legacy-album!

 

[zoidberg]

exodus!!! with testament a semiclose second. dont know if i ever even heard a song by ovekill

 

[RoleModel]

I can't think of a better metal bassist than Overkill's D.D. Verni.

 

[OfTheLie]

I'd have to go with Exodus, because I haven't really listened to alot of Testament or Overkill.

 

[benej]

i guess all three are equal but DEATH is the best of them all coz the technical wizardy + the agression are tremendous .
by thw way lebanon rules in the thrash scene

 

[nafnikufesin]

Not to take anything away from Overkill or Exodus, both are great bands, but Testament is simply in another league.

 

[round-and-round123]

Overkill with Exodus at an extremely close second.

 

[Death head]

I'd have to go with Exodus, because I haven't really listened to alot of Testament or Overkill.

You really should. Testasment gets my vote w/ Overkill a close second. I really dig older Exodus, but, imo, they have not gotten better w/ time where Testament and Overkill have just gotten better and better.

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

i guess all three are equal but DEATH is the best of them all coz the technical wizardy + the agression are tremendous .
by thw way lebanon rules in the thrash scene

Death is a "Death" metal band... so it shouldn't even be mentioned in a Thrash thread... If your a noobie metalhead you should learn some more first...

 

[Unfaithfully Metalhead]

You really should. Testasment gets my vote w/ Overkill a close second. I really dig older Exodus, but, imo, they have not gotten better w/ time where Testament and Overkill have just gotten better and better.

Obviously you haven't listened to Exodus's last two albums (especially Tempo of the Damned) if you think they have not gotten better or just as good with time...