The Mosh Pit 5.30.08: Classic German Thrash!

Posted by Dan Haggerty on 05.30.2008

Grab some heavy beer and check in to this week’s Mosh Pit where we look at the best of the German thrash scene. From Kreator to Sodom, and Iron Angel to Destruction, it’s 100% of the heaviest guitar work this side of a blitzkrieg. Check out the full article!







Sadly, I've been sick and out of it since the weekend. A head cold degraded into a bronchial infection… Yippee! Thus the lack of me on the news boards (well that, and it's been a slow news week) and no Fact or Fiction. To bad, I was half tempted to put Ben's comments from last week back in there just to see if a feeding frenzy would erupt.

So I'm sorry for the abruptness of the opening this week, and the lack of feedback on comments. You guys are doing great and I promise to get back to you next week on what you guys post!






German Thrash: Blitzkrieg of the Extreme!

Blitzkrieg indeed, for here we get to look at a thrash scene, while largely ignored by the more mainstream audiences on our side of the pond, still rattled the metal underground in the 80's. Further, and the real source of that title, was the influence these bands would have on the future of heavy metal. But I'm getting a head of my self. So far we have looked at two of the three prominent thrash scenes in all the classic metal-doom. Yes, I get a kick out of spelling it that way…

Bay Area Thrash

East Coast Thrash

This week we dive into the mighty realm of Teutonic thrash, and that bands that crunch and broke their way through the 80's delivering some caustic metal. First and foremost, the thing that hits you about German beer thrash is that it is heavier. This would be because their thrash scene was influenced by home grown bands of huge renown – Like Accept, and the Scorpions before them. Listen to Restless & Wild and Virgin Killer respectively and you'll see what I mean. But these are bases, an influence for the thrash. Another would be none other than Venom.

For those of you not familiar with this band or metal history – This crazy group was very influential. It's almost scary when you think of it, considering the low level of overall talent at work at times. I mean that affectionately – I still pull out Black Metal once in a while. Cronos voice and the lack of production makes it a great late fall album. Anyway, this late NWOBHM and proto black metal band seemed to do the wrong things the right way, because they influenced German thrash and ultimately black metal (where did you think the name came from? Venom's album of course!) and also some death metal.

You think metal got a bad rap? Those dudes got critically trashed and unilaterally panned. "Incompetent" and "A real life Spinal Tap" are the more polite things I've read.

The result was a down tuned more extreme thrash attack with an eye towards darker content. The Bay Area had a greater portion of NWOBHM in it's sound, while the East Coast had more of the punk influence. The German scene had that proto speed/black/death influence as well as the aforementioned growl (or should I say rasp?) of bands like Accept. It was a very direct assault that put extreme subjects in your face. Although satanic themes would eventually give way to violence and war; you got to love it when a band like Kreator "mellows out" by using lyrics about the Vietnam War!

The heavy fast shred of the guitar gives way to a unique form of solo work where the players play a fast repetitive picking. Quick even notes. If my health would have been better, I should have gotten my shit together and emailed a couple of the regular guitar players here in the music zone. They probably would have known a proper name for it. Maybe one you readers can nail it.

But the most divergent and face hitting difference is the drums. Double bass was "popularized" here for metal, as well as some bands used blast beats. If you've heard Kreator, then you know what I mean. If anything from German thrashed influenced death metal, here you go.

While a thriving metal scene in the 80's, German thrash went the way of the dodo like the other thrash scenes by the 90's. The very death and black metal bands they inspired in Europe captured their fans, and the thrash bands suddenly found themselves less extreme. Alternative was on the rise, and the mainstream ate those bands up and considered thrash to extreme. In Germany in particular, the rise of power metal bands like Blind Guardian and Gamma Ray took over the public ear for cutting edge metal.

For all of the problems, and honestly questionable material at times in the 90's, these bands can also be credited with helping the thrash revival now. Slowly returning to form (or close enough) when what was old was cool again (or did we just finally pull the rods from our ass as a culture?) and the unholy trinity was there to usher in the new thrash scene. While not large or as pervasive as the 80's, it's out there and the metal hunter can find some new gems to add to his collection.

But that is a story for another time. For now let's roll back the clock again to the 80's and look as some of the greatest thrash albums to come from our Teutonic brethren:








Coroner - No More Color

Just to prove that German Thrash doesn't have to come from Germany, here's Coroner from Switzerland. And there take on it adds bucket loads of technical hardcore mayhem to a scene already working on the burnt edges of extreme music for the time. This just lights up the war zone as an incendiary bomb, dumping exhaustive riffs that take up that grinding hardcore and groove till you drop. Some albums should come with a height restriction – This is one. The technical madness will force involuntary headbanging that may cause a spine to snap. Where some of the bands other material wanders a tad, this is just tight and spot on in control; I've never made the connection in my research, but I suspect this band inspired some of today's technical death metal.










Holy Moses - Finished With The Dogs

Leave it to the Germans to give us a female fronted thrash band. Further, it isn't a gimmick! When you add that fact front lady Sabina Classen is out their growling away like it's a decade later and it's fairly amazing. Never confirmed it, but I'm sure she inspired a lot of extreme female vocalists of today.

As for the music, this thing shreds with the best, existing somewhere between American thrash and Destruction, with a healthy dose of speed metal tossed in (and I mean loads of it). This just smokes along merrily killing any small creature that happens to wander out in front of the vehicle. This borders on a caricature of speed for the sake of speed, making you wonder what would have been the bands sound if they left the coffee at home. 11 tracks at 35 minutes? Slayer would be proud.










Mekong Delta - The Music of Erich Zann

What in the hell is this? Violins? Progressive thrash? It's a concept album based on a H.P. Lovecraft short story and this piece a metaphysical mind binding, thrash confounding tale is one to be heard to be believed. This is steeped in 70's prog complete with time changes, complex arrangements, key changes, and evil atmosphere to boot – Just all run through a thrash machine. The production isn't the best (or maybe it perfectly captures the disjointed hopelessness of Lovecraft), but the music… No, the pure ambitious nature of the album is worthy of much applause.

I can't even just say it right to explain it. Worth checking out once, and if the prog doesn't float your boat, you'll have a real hard to find collectible and a cool tale for the friends. Make sure you bring enough to share when you play it for them, however…










Iron Angel - Hellish Crossfire

I just love the name – I mean does it get anymore German metal sounding then Iron Angel? Anyway, what you get is essentially early Destruction meets Helloween, and that is really all you need to know. I guess you say that it's early Destruction with purpose…

Working outside of German thrash vocals with a fine bark to incessant scream, and such an over the top sense of riff volume that honestly replaces quality with velocity at times. This is something I like to pull out now and then as a fun escape into Teutonic excess, but don't expect anything as grand as the two bands I compared this one to… Still a fun listen though.














~~~ The Unholy Trinity Of German Thrash ~~~






Sodom - Agent Orange

The fire that does not burn – A metaphor for the chemical that certainly applies to this album as well. Apt reference, as this is the definition of technical chaos in the German scene, and the dark dank of blackened thrash gives way to a grooved jaw dropping speed that replaces the shots at the bar with liquid oxygen. While this shreds and groves, it's the thrash breaks that make this album a monster – Crunching riffs flow like cheap wine at a sorority party, but the earth scaring heft insures that you leave violated. They're that crushing.

Some of the songs are average, and really, the lead and solo work isn't always on point – But man, when they hit that special moment and unload those steel tipped riffs you just got to stand up and salute. This is the kind of album that insures its always happy hour somewhere…












Destroyer - The Antichrist

Ha! I bet by now you weren't expecting a new album in these columns, but here ya go… And I mean Damn! Don't get wrong, there is some fine music in the Destruction catalog, and I would recommend you check out Eternal Devastation or Release From Agony, but this one for me announced that thrash was back baby (!) and I ate it up. Even vox and bassist Marcel Schirmer is back in the fold.

Destroyer is by many accounts the first German thrash band, who started life as a NWOBHM sort of Iron Maiden entity before reportedly getting their hands on a Venom album. It was all down hill and straight to hell from there!

This is just old school dark thrash all over the fucking place. From song titles like "Bullets from Hell" and "Nailed to the Cross", to the riff work that just rips and shreds coast to bloody coast. The aggression just sears you, and it'll take a another listen for you to actually fully appreciate the fine melody and rhythm which actually rides this neck wrecking back stage pass to headbang-ville. Population – You!

This is tight, focused, and just spot on. It may have been part of the return of thrash as a modern entity (and to that we owe a mighty thank you), but really it's just a classic thrash album in it's alright. I mean – Come on! It's the first album from this decade I've mentioned in months since I started to talk classic metal...









Kreator - Coma of Souls

Oh man oh my, here is an institution, the thrash band of the blitzkrieg and in my opinion one of the most unheralded thrash bands to shred axes like it was steel on steel. This band has put out a lot of good material, and 86's Pleasure To Kill is considered the cardinal classic that certainly put the band on the metal map. No denying the history and props there – But much like I did to Slayer, I'm going to stretch outside the popular norm and offer up an album that in my mind is yet even better.

Coma of Souls is Kreator at it's thrash-y best. A manic panic attack that just keeps on delivering riff after riff. Thrash is all about the riff, and while earlier albums are certainly better in a number of ways, there are two that stand out here. One is those riffs. They're good enough to make unborn kids headbang. Poor moms – they thought the kid was just kicking. How cute! NOPE – Somewhere Kreator is playing and the kids are jamming away inthe womb. Now you know the startling truth as well. Go spread the word.

The second is the duel lead work, something Kreator does better than most bands of this brand of axe slicing. It's like the hands of Maiden of Priest reached down and anointed them as preachers of that particular style to preach to the faithful. Now I wouldn't say it is AS good as those two bands, but it's solid and really sticks out for this scene. It certainly adds a depth to this thrash opus that needs to be cheered loud and often.

Really, this is just a damn fine album, probably one of the best of the whole Teutonic scene, and it's up there in the upper echelon of thrash overall. Then again, you really can't go wrong with Kreator, so just start any where in the 80s and work outward, and don't stop until you see the beaches of Normandy!







Encore

All right… There is some fine German thrash for you to check out, or in the case of you existing fans, to reminisce fondly. I'm sure, and certainly expect, you guys to drop in the comment section and add the albums you love and call me out when you think you can do better. Have at it!

I'd also like to again apologize for the brevity – I'm still not 100% and needed to keep it simple this time. I know I missed a few rare ones...

Next week, we'll take a look at a few international bands that really don't make the classic cut for the big three thrash scenes. From our friends across the northern border to the streets of Brazil, and we'll do it in seven. Then the shit will really hit the fan when I diss on a metal punter classic…



Final Thoughts

What? You're still reading? It's the weekend. Go pick up some German thrash and play it LOUD! Go now, I'll be ready to hear from you later.

Keep it real and always play it on 10.