I'm going to have to go with Metallica's "
Kill 'Em All." While Venom's "
Welcome to Hell" (and don't forget the album from the following year, "
Black Metal") and Motorhead's "
Ace of Spades" did lay a lot, if not most, of the groundwork for what would later become the Thrash Metal movement, neither one of these albums would be so imitated throughout the 1980's by the underground Thrash Metal bands as Metallica's Kill 'Em All - from the recording style to the style of writing.
Let's face it, a lot of the 80's Thrash bands who never really got far were ripping off the style from Metallica's early catalog while that band moved on to better things, financially and musically (well, during the 1980's, anyway).
Stormwatch said:
Welcome To Hell is pretty thrashy actually, if it had better production it would probably be classed as the first thrash album. But since the sound quality is shit, it's too hard to hear the actual thrashing riffage!
I agree, but the energy probably would have been lost if they had an actual budget AND if Neat Records didn't take the tapes that Venom were using as a demo to showcase the band's sound and release it as their first LP.
An honorary mention, indeed, though I don't think it can truly be classified as THE first Thrash Metal album.
Oh, and to whoever said that Venom sucked technically - it should be noted that Abbadon has been out of the band for quite some time.
