Forgotten 80's thrash classics

[Erik]

My interest for 80's thrash has grown a lot recently (with Sorath's and my + 2 other guys' band LETHAL just having secured a rehearsal place for playing thrash metal terror) and I was wondering what not-so-popular albums you guys like? I recently found this great page which has 464 mostly out-of-print classic albums from the 80's in 20 kbps RealMedia format (oh well...) I spent a couple of hours some days ago picking the bands with cool names and/or cover art and found some great thrash you don't hear very often about:

Darkness "Death Squad"
Devastation "Signs of Life"
Onslaught "The Force"
Viking "Do or Die"

So... Aside from the common Bay Area and German thrash bands, what recommendations do you have? Thrash 'till death.

 

[NAD]

Sacred Reich is my favorite thrash band, but I guess they were known a bit, just not like the major groups.

 

[Erik]

Yeah, I actually heard of them because of Dark Tranquillity's cover of the self-titled song. Micke has "Ignorance", and what I've heard of it was very good. I might pick it up sometime.

 

[Lutz]

Well not exactly forgotten but it is not mentioned enough: Infernäl Mäjesty - None Shall Defy
If you don't like them then you are a fucking wimp.

 

[Erik]

Yeah, I have the Infernäl Mäjesty demo "Creation of Chaos" from 1991 but I haven't listened to it enough. I shall put it on now.

 

[Nate The Great]

I haven't heard any of the bands Erik and Lutz mentioned.

When I listened to thrash EXCLUSIVELY, I didn't even know what the internet was. I was into bands like Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax, but I was also into Sacred Reich, Nuclear Assault, Pro-Pain, and others that I can't even remember right now. Most of that stuff is on tape in some secluded farm house in Western Kansas. I had no way of finding out what was good and what sucked. I would just buy whatever I could manage to find . . . and that wasn't very much. I usually got to go to Denver a few times a year. That is when I bought whatever I could find.

 

[lurch70]

Infernal Majesty fuckin ruled !!!! None Shall Defy is a classic !!!

Others from the Euro side of the pond:

EXUMER
DEATHROW
ARTILLERY ... love these guys!
CANCER
ASSASSIN
DARKNESS .. great Kreator rip-off band

some US bands

WARGASM ... awesome !!! Why Play Around ... brutal riffing !!!
VIO-LENCE
SACRED REICH
WHIPLASH ... with the three Tony's
RAZOR !!!!!


maybe i remember some more

but try to get WARGASM ... that band ruled !!!

 

[Erik]

Hey thanks, that's very helpful. I mentioned Darkness, yes, they seemed very good from what I could hear through the 20 kbps sound quality Whiplash I have heard lots of great things about, Vio-lence stuff I would buy IF I COULD FIND ANY. Assassin, Artillery and Wargasm are definitely also on my check out-list. Tell me more about Razor?

 

[Erik]

I haven't heard any of the bands Erik and Lutz mentioned.

When I listened to thrash EXCLUSIVELY, I didn't even know what the internet was. I was into bands like Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax, but I was also into Sacred Reich, Nuclear Assault, Pro-Pain, and others that I can't even remember right now. Most of that stuff is on tape in some secluded farm house in Western Kansas. I had no way of finding out what was good and what sucked. I would just buy whatever I could manage to find . . . and that wasn't very much. I usually got to go to Denver a few times a year. That is when I bought whatever I could find.

Yeh, kids these days have it so easy with their fancy-schmancy Intar-webs and CD players...

 

[lurch70]

Tell me more about Razor?

RAZOR was/is (i think they are still around in some form or another) Canadian thrash band that is really legendary in thrash circles ... great riffing .. great songs.
Their early records were great especially EVIL INVADERS (they have that on that site you mentioned .. which is great by the way .. thanks for the time warp )

Vio-lence is on that site as well ... their first release ETERNAL NIGHTMARE ... some say their best but personally I like Oppressing the Masses .. their second better. They have a site here: http://www.vio-lence.com

 

[Erik]

Thanks for the info, again! I know Vio-lence, but Eternal Nightmare (not sure about the other one) is severely OOP. A re-release is in progress but hasn't happened yet.

 

[Burkhard]

I was very surprised to find even Original Sin´s album "Sin Will Find You Out" on the site you´ve mentioned in your first post. The album cover is really silly, but Original Sin were one of the very, very few all girl thrash metal bands in the eighties who actually released an album (though they were never heard of again afterwards). The sound of their album isn´t exactly overwhelming and the songtitles suggest rather clichéd lyrics, yet somehow I liked the album, especially songs like "Conjuration Of The Watcher", "The Curse", "To The Devil A Daughter", "Succubus" and "Enchantress Of Death".
One of the best thrash albums from the eighties - "Act Of God" by Znowhite - is unfortunately not on this site. They only have two EP´s of Znowhite there, of which I only know "All Hail To Thee", but compared to "Act Of God", "All Hail To Thee" is just a joke!
Another excellent thrash metal album from the eighties is Voivod´s "Killing Technology".
If you want to listen to some more complex/technical stuff, give Watchtower´s "Energetic Disassembly" a try (it´s also on the site you mentioned), though I prefer their second album "Control And Resistance". Comparable to the music on the latter is Sieges Even´s debut album "Life Cycle".
Another more technical thrash metal band which had a somewhat strange sound were Mekong Delta from Germany. I think on each of their albums there´s also at least one cover version of some classical music piece, e.g. "The Hut Of Baba Yaga" on their debut album "Mekong Delta", "Gnomus" on the CD-version of "The Music Of Erich Zann" and "Night On A Bare Mountain" on "Dances Of Death".
One of the best thrash metal bands of the eighties were definitely Coroner from Switzerland - unfortunately neither "R.I.P." nor "Punishment For Decadence" nor "No More Color" are on vibrationsofdoom yet!
Another two excellent thrash albums which have to be mentioned are "A Tribute To Insanity" by Hexenhaus from Sweden and "Suffering Hour" by Anacrusis.
Well, these would be my thrash metal recommendations of some lesser known bands from the eighties.

 

[Erik]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions! I have Coroner "Mental Vortex" and some earlier live tracks on a split live LP (with Kreator, Sabbat and Tankard...) and I like them quite a bit. Watchtower I've heard. Decent, but not really my thing, I remember really liking the song "The Eldritch" though. Your other suggestions are noted.

 

[NAD]

I want to find find Razor, I love Hypocrisy's cover of Evil Invaders.

Vio-lence I need as well, but when I heard them long long ago I hated that dude's voice so much I couldn't enjoy the music.

 

[R.I.P.2]

I second the recommendation for Coroner, I think this band is pretty underrated. Personally, I prefer Punishment for Decadence to Mental Vortex.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

This thread is really missing any conversation about Laaz Rockit.

Also, I had Vio-lence's debut on cassette. I was just like npearce, except I didn't live in the boonies and was able to get new thrash metal cassettes pretty much every other week or so (as often as I could convince me mum to take me to Disc-O-Mat).

 

[Erik]

I am of the firm belief that Lääz Rockit would've been much more widely discussed had they chosen a less silly name.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

I wish I could put those dots over my "a".

 

[Erik]

HAHA! Look: Motörhead! Infernäl Mäjesty! Mütiilation!

 

[R.I.P.2]

I wish I could put those dots over my "a".

Hä hä!