Thrash Compactor

If Iron Maiden weren’t a bunch of wet softies, they’d sound something like this. Bruce + amphetamines = Liege Lord

Still the best Cock Rock album of all time. Better than your Eddies and your Yngwies. Yup

Classic sounding straight up NWOBHM. Fantastical themes and metric buttloads of guitar harmonies. Guitarmonies. Totally righteous.

Sleazy, scummy punk/RnR/speed metal/whatever. U.S. BASTARDS.

Wanky wah-wah guitar solos galore, and a throaty rasp that sounds like if Lemmy gargled lighter fluid instead of whiskey.

You can make a great deal of assumptions about a Thrash record by the cover art. A cover featuring a grim-reaper at the wheel of a hot-rodded bus with 4 arms hanging out of the window, some holding booze, others making fists and devil horns suggests that it’s an album that probably doesn’t take itself too seriously.

And it doesn’t. It’s righteous and fun Thrash that leans towards punk/crossover with it’s gang-yells and familiar chord progressions, yet also remains crazily technical with vicious shreds, and gatling-gun rhythms.

They’ve put out 2 more LPs since this one, but this is still my favourite. Finnish party Thrash, so damn fun.

Seriously. Spanish Thrash in the last 3-4 years. It’s ridiculous.

This LP is as close to perfect as modern Thrash gets. Serious speed, mind-bending riffs, the rasping vocals sit perfectly in the mix (not too high like a great deal of modern metal records) and those drums sound like an automatic weapon.

They have a new LP out too, but I’m not in to it as much as this one. It’s a bit too melodic. This one is a straight up ripper.

Unfortunately, Exodia are no longer with us, but during the boom of Spanish Thrash, Exodia released two LPs, this being the 2nd and the more accomplished of the two, and it is well worthy of your time.

Chock full of piercing riffs and maniacal, aggressive screeches, this LP as aggro as fuck.

I, too, hate myself when I’m not skateboarding. Don’t you?

Staying in Britain, XENTRIX, from the north west of England. They've reunited and had more members than they’ve released albums, but this remains an overlooked classic, especially as far as UK thrash goes, which is quite a limited pool.

An important album when I was in high school trying to hear as much Thrash as I could, hearing that a band was from England was exciting. I played this for my mate James who thought it was shit, and he told me to listen to Biohazard instead (the rap/metal era, not the bang-average thrash era). We stopped sharing music with each other at that point.

Thrashist Regime from the North East of Scotland. They’ve been around over a decade, but its been 6 years since their last full length LP. Here is their 2nd album.

It checks all the necessary boxes.

Thrash pun. Repka art. Faster than all hell. Fun as fuck.

This things rips.

Man. The drums on this thing sound like a fucking gatling gun. Name a thrash album with better drum production. There isn’t one.

S.O.B. - Grindcore thrash scum-punk from Japan. Every release they ever did was very different from what came before it, but they’re all fast, violent rippers.

Do you dig your Crossover Thrash laced with monolithic amounts of skull-crushing Metalcore chugs?

If yes, Primal Attack will cave your head in.

If no, fuck you.

It’s over almost before it’s begun at a ripping 16 minutes, but Red Death’s brief yet triumphant Permanent Exile just pummels you repeatedly and leaves you wanting more.

Thunderous east-coast metallic chugs mixed with distinctly Bay Area Thrash groove, it never outstays it’s welcome. It storms into the ring, chokeslams you through a table, delivers a flying legdrop from the turnbuckle and pins you bloodied and unconscious. Bah gawd!