Technical/Progressive Thrash

[D.Ingram]

Another genre-based thread that we don't have yet - guess what this is inspired by?

Yes, discuss all my friends - Mekong Delta, Vektor, Coroner, Voivod, Watchtower, Sieges Even, Aspid, Mutant, Cyclone Temple, Toxik, Artillery, Realm, Hellwitch, Deathrow, Droÿs, the whole lot. Even certain releases by bands like Forbidden and Destruction are subjects of worthwhile banter.

 

[D.Ingram]

Also, Psychotic Waltz are fantastic. Everyone should give "A Social Grace" a listen.

 

[Covet Chaos]

Mutant are lovely. What are they up to now anyway?

 

[D.Ingram]

They're writing the album as I type this. They won the Damnation festival thing last year and recorded two new songs with Russ, but I remember hearing that they didn't finish them. They were intended to be Evile's replacement on the Sheffield Thrashfest I put on earlier this year, but Tom politely declined due to commitments with writing so... yeah. They're definitely writing a new album, though I don't know when we'll see it. Judging from the video below though, it'll be phenominal!

 

[Covet Chaos]

Where's John?

 

[D.Ingram]

Jon Sexy-Motherfucker Kushner left last year I believe! Paul Fulda is (back) with them on bass now.

 

[Caveman Ninja]

Prog/tech thrash is my favourite thing in the world. It's got to retain a semblance of songness though, when it's just music for the sake of it (a la Watchtower) then I'm not interested and it just becomes wankery.

My favourites are Vektor, Realm, Forbidden and Mutant.

I actually did a tech-thrash special on last week's Iron Fortress. You should have listened!

 

[Keenan]

Aspid?


I love Coroner and Vektor and I need to get more of Artillery's albums as I only have By Inheritance. Realms "Suiciety" is fucking awesome too. I'll have to check more of these bands out when I get a chance.

 

[Covet Chaos]

I find the name of this genre to be a little strange. I can understand prog, as a lot of it is actually rather proggy and it progresses well, and has those jazzy scales that prog does. But the only way you could call these bands technical, is by the fact they have some musical understanding of keys and chord progressions unlike most thrash bands. And that's not really technical. That's just the difference between song writers and a dude with a guitar.

 

[Caveman Ninja]

I think the point is that they show a higher degree of technicality than usual i.e. lots of time-changes, crazy time signatures, complicated song structures and riffs, interesting use of key signature/harmonies etc. Basically the music is complex and technically challenging and it takes musicians of a certain stature and ability to pull it off. I don't really see what's challenging about that as a concept?

 

[Covet Chaos]

Well I don't see how that defines technical. They're just elements of music. I get it to a degree but not totally with all of it. What's technical to one person isn't to another.

 

[Dungeon Vic]

Yeah, well, back in 1988-1990, it was quite a surprise to hear the level of musicianship and unconventional song structures, odd-time signatures etc amidst the thrash straight-forwardness. It was a mixture of following the path of Megadeth and Metallica (who wrote more elaborate songs from 86 onwards), throwing in the (obscure at the time) Watchtower influence and of course the individual differences between those bands. Basically, tech thrash meant thrash metal that was not a full force bludgeoning to the face and not surprisingly, at the time, it was too much for the average thrasher. So, to answer your last comment, to the persons who were into thrash, these bands stood out because of their technical playing, for lack of something more concrete to group them together. I don't think Mekong Delta sounds like Coroner or Toxik but they all were pretty much quite unconventional for their time.

Prog metal was a term that was not really used then, it really took off with Dream Theater's Images and Words. Again, not surprisingly, at that time people began to appreciate those bands more but unfortunately the ship had already sailed.

 

[I-TEND-TO-DIE]

Coroner and Voivod are probably my favorite Prog/thrash bands, I haven't really digged into that genre so much before and still Iam alittle bit of a newb.
Toxik and Realm are very good too though the vocal style is just a matter of taste at some songs but Realm's Suiciety is gold!
Totally underrated and brilliant as fuck.

 

[D.Ingram]

Toxik are fucking excellent. Think This is retardedly technical and mindblowing amazing

 

[Caveman Ninja]

I love Suiciety. That album opened a whole lot of musical doors for me! Toxik, not so keen on. They are undeniably extremely impressive technically but I'm not a fan of the vocals and I sometimes feel their songs are more displays of 'technical arrogance' than actually being about the song itself. That's the key with tech thrash, at the end of the day all the awesome impressive technicality has to serve the song as a whole and not just be soulless "look what we can do" widdly rubbish...

 

[D.Ingram]

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