The Mosh Pit (5.16.08): Bay Area Thrash!

Posted by Dan Haggerty on 05.16.2008

This week the Mosh Pit jumps into the thrash scene and looks at the best Bay Area thrash bands to add to your metal collection. From Slayer to Testament, Megadeth to Dark Angel, step into the Pit and find out what bands made the cut!



Greetings and welcome to another Friday/Weekend. Grab a cold one and plug in the headphones, for it's time for another trip into metal meltdown madness. And by headphones, I don't mean that compressed iPod player we all have. Plug into a stereo and listen to the sound in its full, uncompressed glory. Music this good needs to be experienced at the speed of life don't you know.

But that is a column for another time…

This week we take things in a different direction, keeping the theme of looking at great albums from yester year, but change the theme. Hope like the shake up, and keep the feedback coming! As or me, I'm off this weekend to see the Tyranny and Bloodshred tour, so I'll be in death metal heaven. If work permits me some spare time next week, I'll get you guys report. If not, I'll take it out on the Fact or Fiction contributors with a real shitty video. Maybe some crappy emo band… Yea, now I won't get any email responses this weekend.

Skip it, lets get on with why you're here!


Tales from the Pit
Reader Feedback


From gutter:

with Twisted Sister the album stuff always seemed better than the singles they
released.
Death Angel act3 is where they found there sound. that is a brilliant album.
seemingly endless time,veil of deception, the organization, all great songs

Good point on Twisted Sister. That is certainly the truth. Dee Snider FTW!

As for Death Angel, I agree that is a great album. I love all their albums however, and my favorite is really about mood - But I'm an admitted DA fanboy so I'm biased on the subject. Then again, I'm a metal critic who writes in a column so I'm biased against everything…



Krunchy is back:

Headless Cross was a classic album. Cheeseball lyrics ("Can't die, unless
Satan says you die, and Satan takes your soul" which is almost as bad as
when Reverend had a line about Satan biting your balls) but riffs a plenty, and
Tony Martin sings the hell out of them. I think it's my dad's favorite Sabbath
album. I always wondered if it was supposed to be a 2 disc set with Tyr
originally, since Cross is quite "evil", and Tyr is more "redemption".

Tony Martin is an underappreciated singer, that is for sure. I think he suffers from the inevitable Dio comparisons with his vocal style, plus the status of the band as a whole in the final years. I'd also add that many people either choose… Oh hell, I'll just wait for the column!

Interesting thought on the Cross-Tyr connection. I'm a little skeptical due to the lyrical themes (Tyr is so much more fantasy based), but on a philosophic level I see where you're going. I'll listen deeper when I do the column.

Just want to let the readers out there know that they SHOULD make sure they get
STAY HUNGRY, and not STILL HUNGRY, which was a redo of the CD done twenty years
later. Dee doesn't quite have the vocal chops he used to, and in my opinion
it's a much muddier production. It was probably released because TS wasn't
getting money from Atlantic Records for the original.

Consider that a public service announcement from Krunchy that this column fully endorses.

I didn't listen to Waysted that much. Heard a song on a compilation and wasn't
impressed, perhaps I should try again. I liked Fastway much better, ironically,
Pete Way was only in the band for the recording, then formed Waysted. "Say What
You Will" still blisters the paint off my car; in my opinion the BEST zeppelin
rip-off ever. The 1st album was quite good, afterwards they really fell off the
face of the earth, song-wise. Trick or Treat was not exactly the way they
should've went careerwise.

Cirith Ungol I got for free when I worked at a local record store, came in with
Angkor Wat when they were clearing out all their vinyl samples in 1989. You did
a good job explaining what they sounded like. I thought of them as Celtic Frost
clones, although they were contemporaries. I much preferred Angkor Wat. Wow,
some of those album covers, I NEVER would've wanted to walk out of the store
with.

Act III was the Death Angel CD where they tried to crossover to the mainstream,
aka the album in every bands career I came to dread. Same thing happened with
Testament, Voivod, Suicidal Tendencies and other bands I had loved. Act III was
great, but no Frolic in the Park. Great vocalist and instrumentation, and I was
certainly envious of the talent they had at such a young age.

The only reason to mention Dark Angel at all is to mention the best on the
drums named Gene Hoglan. They'd never have done ANYTHING without him behind the
kit.

More possible underrated stuff to look at would be Racer X, Running Wild -
Jolly Roger, 1st Blue Murder CD, and even though they sounded like Rush, I was
a big fan of the Killer Dwarfs.

I have to agree with the Dark Angel comment. I know people who love the band, and I understand the brutal context of the massive riff-age they bring to the table. There is a lot of talent hiding in that cluster. It just doesn't seem to get through however. You'll also notice they didn't make this list either. Extreme metal fans everywhere are now yelling at their monitor.

I have to admit though; you got me on a few of those last albums. Even I haven't heard of some of those. Were going to have to work on that Rush opinion however. I recommend 20 cc's of 2112 stat!



Ashish is back also!

Thank you very much! Everyone talks about Sabbath, but it is only about the Ozzy
or Dio years. I am waiting for the Mosh Pit's look into the Martin years. :)

As for column ideas, I dunno, how about 50 Albums that define Heavy Metal?
Could be fun.

If I may, I have a question for your Fact or Fiction Column - Is Tony Iommi
overrated as a guitarist?

Taboo itself [and he's my favourite and I think he's underrated too - some
people rank JACK WHITE over him!] but still that's what Fact or Fiction is
supposed to do. Should be fun. :D

Thanks very much again!

No problem, it was a great idea.

Top 50 albums that define heavy metal? That would be an interesting project… But probably a massive one. I'll kick it around. I do have a one year anniversary coming up this August…

Good idea on Tony Iommi. I'll wait for while and spring it on the right people. I certainly hope readers of this column already know my opinion. If not, read my write up in the 411 Music Hall of Fame on Black Sabbath. In fact, just read the Hall of Fame. the columnists in the zone poured some serious love into that project.

On Tony Iommi, I agree. He is UNDER rated.

The father of Heavy Riffing.

Testify!!!







Thrash Metal Part 1: Bay Area Thrash





One of the more fantastic things about metal is how diverse this genre of music has become. Outside of rock and roll itself, I'm hard pressed to come with a type of music in modern times that has expanded so well. Without leaving the world of heavy metal, you can experience a wide range of music: Traditional anthems (Judas Priest), technical and fast (thrash), artistic and complex (progressive), hardcore (metalcore to nu-metal), urban influenced (nu-metal), actual rap influenced (rapcore – yes, this exists) alternative (alternative cross over bands like Godsmack), extreme (death metal), even extremer (brutal death metal), cult underground bands (black metal), commercial (glam), symphonies (symphonic metal) and hell, even musical scores now (Rhapsody of Fire – They were better as Rhapsody though…). And there is soooooo much more. Gothic, Viking, melodic death, and on and on…

Anyway, you get the point. Just think about it. In one genre of music you can go from Nightwish to Nile, Dio to Death, from dudes in their girl friend's lingerie to wearing corpsepaint (Satin to Satan?). That is a hell of a range my friends. But hey, I don't expect others to share my idiosyncratic love of classifying things down to minutia. Judging by my few columns on this at the beginning of the year, I think t he average person is obviously bored by it in fact. *Sigh* But that's OK. When you need to know, just yell, that's what elitists like me are for. Of course, the wife calls it being a music snob, so there are two ways to spin that!

After several months of highlighting milestone years for heavy metal, I thought it would be a nice break to stop and look and a specific form of heavy metal – Thrash. I don't expect everyone to be a complete elitist like me and try to identify subgenres of heavy metal, but I do believe if people can identify a style they do like, at least it will help them find similar music, and that is what this multi-part look at thrash is all about – Taking a hard look at one of the more popular forms of heavy metal and show casing some bands. If you identify a few that you like, then there is a good chance you might find more.

This issue of the Mosh Pit will feature the first of a four part series on thrash. Why? Because there are four distinct styles of thrash believe it or not. First, we'll look at the most popular, Bay Area thrash. Next week we'll take a look at the East Coast thrash scene. The third week we'll take a look at the German scene (trust me hardcore thrash fans, you don't want to miss that). Finally, part four will be a catch all for the "Rest of the World" thrash. "Who cares about the rest of the world?" you might ask… Let's just say the Roots of that idea Arise from Brazil and are definitely relevant to the development of metal in the 90's. I think that should clear that up.

And why am I doing this? Well, one is to shake up the column and keep it fresh with something different. Two, like I said, I think there is a lot of interesting things for people new to metal or thrash to learn from looking harder at that specific form of music. Things that might be missed from rolling through the years and grouping albums in a "Best of" column. Finally, by the end of the 80's metal began the process of splintering into subgenres and underground scenes, so marking huge historical years becomes more difficult. Groups and albums really take center stage from here on out. Well, they always have, but hopefully that makes some sense… For example, I wouldn't call 1992 a historic year for heavy metal overall, but Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power packed a huge punch. Metal was launched to new devastating terrain and thrash really evolved into groove at that point.

Enough of the jabber - Let's get on with the show!




The History Of Thrash (And The Bay Area Scene)


Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal, although we never thought of it that way at the time. It was just a harder and more extreme form of metal at the time. It was part of the underground, and the music that separated the men from the kids (in our eyes at the time – ha!). You were cool because you listened to Megadeth or Slayer, and not that MTV crap your kid sister played! But in the end, as metal evolved and grew, a distinct form of metal it was eventually identified as.

High speed riffing, aggressive, fast, percussive, shredding leads, and did I mention the riffs? Lots of riffs that formed leads, rhythms, and the back bone of the music. Lyrically, the music frequently was and honest if blunt critique of society. If you think about the "Big Four" of thrash (Megadeth, Slayer, Metallica, and Anthrax) you'll get the basic idea.

Incidentally, if you get the chance, check out Dan Marscalano's excellent column when he did a four part series with a hard look at one album from each of those bands. Very good stuff and it will give you a solid look into thrash itself. As usual, I will only give the albums I do the broad descriptive approach. I'm more of an empathic descriptive reviewer and less the professional he is. My style is to try and give you a "feel" for the album so you might be able to determine of you want to hear it or not, or at least entertain you with wordy and colorful metaphors. He pops open the hood and actually gives you the dirt on how things run. So pester him to do it again, those were some fun columns. Did I just spend a paragraph plugging someone else's column? Well now you know it's good.

Anyway, that is the basics of thrash. Thrash was born of heavy metal as seen through the eyes of the New Wave Of Heavy Metal that was popular at the time. But thrash added the sublime sounds of speed with the aggressive influences of punk and hardcore. Mix and shake well, and BAM! There you have thrash in it's basic raw form. Or I could be snide and say thrash is punk played by people who could actually play there instruments, but that would be uncalled for. True… But uncalled for…

I really need to write these remarks down. Maybe do a Glossary for metalheads column some time.

The birth of thrash itself is a bit shrouded in the mists of history. While bands like Metallica popularized the sound, demos for bands like Overkill show they were doing it first. Go figure, as Overkill started as a punk cover band that was influenced by NWOBHM and the growing metal underground. But we'll get to that fine institution next week. When thrash hit though, it went off like a mortar. It reshaped the underground and redirected the course of heavy metal. From here it branched out to shape other subgenres (or influence them) and even impact the world of music itself.

Biggest of the thrashers was what we call the Bay Area thrash. Of all of the thrash scenes, the Bay Area bands were influenced by NWOBHM the most. The British invasion was in turn replicated to a higher degree in their music. You can tell from the greater melodic and powerful vocal style within the dual lead guitar systems. Punk rock was also important, especially in the movements early years, although not to the extend of the other thrash scenes

This was the first wave of thrash, and by the second wave punk was becoming a slighty less influence while complex song structures, melodic musicianship, and even harmony crept into the sound of a few bands. Basically they became slightly more progressive in their sound. This varied from band to band however. For the perfect example, think of the evolution of Metallica from Kill ‘Em All (more punk and raw) through Lightning and Master (fuller production, increasing melody) finally to …And Justice For All (longer and more complex songs).

By the end of the 80's there was the emergence of cross-over bands that would eventually go on to influence other styles of music. D.R.I. is a good example of a crossover band. These bands reasserted the hardcore punk influence to dominance with thrash. This included hardcore's now well known breakdown style. While not a huge movement into itself, its influence on thrash was huge as it would eventually go on to help create thrash's future siblings: Groove and metalcore.

By the beginning of the 90's, the crash of heavy metal into the underground was accompanied by the almost implosion of the thrash scene. Some thrash bands would evolve their sound into commercial friendly directions (Metallica), others would evolve into the next generation of thrash – Groove (Rob Flynn of Vio-lence would form and front Machine Head), or even death metal (Possessed – although they were on their way before the 90's!).

Overall, thrash was an incredibly influential form of metal music, and the Bay Area bands were at the epicenter of that storm. By all means the best thrash was not exclusive of these bands, as we will learn in the coming weeks, but very popular with quite the impact to the future of metal. Plus there is no arguing that this branch of thrash produced some of the greatest metal albums of all time.

What follows is a list of key Bay Area thrash bands, featuring a great album by them. This time I'm going to shake up the format by including the album I consider their best thrash album!







Possessed - Seven Churches

Sort of like Slayer meets Bathory, these guys never got very far beyong the wild alcohol drenched underground, but they are beloved in tight circles for not only being thrash, but influencing death metal and even black metal as well. In many ways, this is great death metal in the sense it just drops pretenses and hit you over the head with thrash riff work. A dark and dank guitar tone, simple melody and axe structure, but memorable and evil. Possessed are better known for the music they would eventually influence, but the forgotten story is the axe work. Blackened and death like thrash is something you definitely don't want to turn your back on. Fun fact: Joe Satriani produced the bands final album (an EP actually).












Vio-lence - Eternal Nightmare

Took me awhile to get into this one, as the vocals leave a lot to be desired; in fact, some people can't get past them. But the axe work, that is something else. Completely fast and furious, Vio-lence typifies the second wave of thrash at the time in that their songs were longer and more complex (overall). That didn't keep this violent bash through riff and ruin from being seductively dangerous and damaging. This thing hides out at the frayed ends of reality and pounces when you stop taking it serious. Lead axeman Phil Demmel is a treasure trove of guitar work and riff construction, and the band rushes through these fast, almost too similar, tracks to keep up with the ruckus. Other guitarist Robert Flynn would form Machine Head and make a name for himself with that institution, and ironically Phil would eventually join him there.










Death Angel - The Ultra-Violence

Oh my, talking about having to choose from amongst your favorite children. Picking an album to represent the Death Angel catalog was hard for me, for I love all their albums for different reasons. I'm simply picking this one because it is the best representative of thrash, and is the best album when judged by that standard. By 1987 the thrash scene was already going melodic and complex terrain, but Death Angel showed up with fists full of violence too shake up the Bay Area sound. What's interesting is that the band is mostly related by blood, Philippine no less, and that international flare shows in the band as a bridge between the Bay Area with their Germanic brethren. Not that the raw riff crash is the only thing sliting throats in this mosh fest, for that just check out the solo five minutes in the very first song. As a band comprising many influences, they keep their raw throttle while proving thick riffs that crush. Simply beautiful. Fun factoid: Urban legend has it that the singer's vocals actual beat Rob Halfords's record pitch on one of those shrieks.







Exodus - Bonded By Blood

Ironically better known as the band Kirk Hammett came from, Exodus is indeed a fine institution in its own right. In fact, it's a not a big secret that Kirk came from Exodus packing some of their song structures and riffs. It shows, as the album packs some awesome axe work, less thrash and more speed. Hell, even the vocals are less sung and more crammed down your throat. Basically, this is Metallica that kept their demo day's street credibility with the raw pummeling to prove it. Don't' let the violence fool you, there is some great lead work working under the attack, making Bonded By Blood that unlocks surprises the more you venture into it's bloodied halls. Story goes, this was done for a 84 released, and tapes were even traded that summer. Issue with the art work (original artwork provided to the right) caused a delay while a replacement art was found. Thus the 1985 release of this album. Betting money is that Exodus would be a lot better known if that original date was kept.







Testament - The Legacy

I‘m going to really cheese a few people by pointing out that I've never been fully on the Testament bandwagon; can't quite put my finger on it, but the band lacks something for me. Although I've heard very good things about their new album, so I'll be checking it out. I'm picking this out, because this still packs a hungry underground punch, but more so for main axeman Skolnick who is a great guitarist plus he steals the show with some absolutely amazing solo work. Testament is a thrash band, but I see them more as a speed metal band that crosses into thrash. Not that that is a bad thing, just somehow not always working for me on some of these tracks. Still a fun album however – Aren't us critics strange creatures? You can check out lead axe slinger Alex Skolnick when he plays with Trans Siberian Orchestra as a tour member.









Sadus - Illusions

Part thrash-crash, part war-march, this is thrash and death metal (weird and out of place in 88). Think Sepultura with a little Slayer and some proto-technical death tossed in. Vacant production that some how convey a bashing think assault at the same time (think Suffocation), this is simply no a pretty thing to witness. This is deep into the underground and off the radar to the casual metal fan. To them I say wear protective gear first! But once inside and past the caustic onslaught, there is some mighty fine riff work here. Fast, furious, this is one of the most extreme thrash albums released at the time. Add in crazy tempo changes and the death influences and you have an amazing album that those who survive will appreciate.






Heathen - Victims Of Deception

When Victims Of Deception first hits your ears, you immediately get a momentary impression that this might have been a mid 80's Metallica album. That is what it sounds like a bit. But then the impression fades as the pure underground riff assault hits you between the eyes. And yes, I using that image additionally because this was released in 1991, the same year of Metallica's jump from thrash to more commercial territory. While Heathen's first album was more speed, this is definitely thrash and for 91 quite the old-school thrash throw back. Very cool. It's fast, it's furious, it's like 300+ bpm of where thrash could have, should have, to bad it didn't go at this point in time.









Slayer - South of Heaven

Oh shit, now I've done it. If I get killed by a drive by mosh pit you know why. I just picked this album over Reign In Blood. Don't get me wrong, Reign is a good album. Not only is it one of the most influential thrash albums ever released, but also one of the most influential heavy metal albums released. No denying that. But as I see it, everything Slayer did was build to that seminal album to hand the metal scene a new asshole, then they took everything they learned and accomplished, slowed it down a bit to actually produce an album with better riff work. I mean, you get to hear all of that well constructed aggression destroy and dissolve, while amazingly enjoy an actual melody. The band is still tight and crushing (They're Slayer!), but their also so much more, and this stands for me as their greatest moment as a riff slinging entity. Reign Influenced death, speed, aggression, extremes, and probably several new psychological disorders, but this is the bands best statement on the subject of thrash.









Metallica - Ride The Lightning

I think I've said more than enough about Metallica and my opinion on the bands first four albums. For more on the subject, please see HERE and HERE. All I will add is that you can't go wrong with the first four Metallica albums. Kill ‘Em All is notable in that thrash elitists consider it their finest moment, but by my measure Lightning is still the ultimate statement on the subject.














Megadeth - Rust In Peace

As frequent readers should know, I absolutely love this album. For once, I'm not alone as many people consider this to be the apex of Megadeth's catalog. The rest usually choose Peace Sells… But Who Is Buying, and that is hard to dispute actually. For me, this is my favorite thrash album of all time. Technically, it's also my favorite speed album of all time as well. Big Dave finds his ultimate wingman in Marty Friedman, who chemically reacts with Dave into a symbiotic hybrid of musical genius that creates blinding duel leads and traded solos that rip and roar back and forth at the speed of sound. Rhythmically memorizing, technically terrorizing, and epic in its grandeur, this is the ultimate expression of the genre. It leaves you stunned in awed silence as if the left hand of god himself stamped it into your psyche. After the shock and awe experience ends, you come to the numb realization that you've just heard the ultimate statement on the subject.












Encore

Well, that list wasn't exactly exhaustive of the Bay Area scene, just the top albums. Don't forget to sound off below with your favorite albums and why you think they're great. I'll make sure to recap and post feedback next week!

Speaking of next week, we move on to part 2 in the series and take on the East Coast thrash scene, including the only band in the "Big Four" not from the Bay Area and the band most people think were the first thrash band proper…




Final Thoughts

Heavy metal survives by natural selection – Be a survivor!

Keep it real and we'll see you in seven.