Metal Monday: Metal Essentials – Thrash

posted in: Features • Rock

If a person is to consider themselves a metalhead, they had best know the roots ” the basics. Be aware of all subgenres, identify the artists who dominates them and know the albums that helped shape that subgenre. For the next few weeks, I’ll be schooling you on some essential metal albums from metal’s biggest subgenres ” making sure you know the biggest and the best in the metal world and giving you some essential albums to add to your metal collection.

This week we’re looking at the genre that features some of the most renowned metal bands of all, thrash metal

First up this week is an album considered by many people to be the greatest metal album ever, and deservedly so. Metallica‘s 1986 magnum opus Master of Puppets trancends its time and genre in a lot of ways, but instead of inspiring further subgenres the album raised the bar for their competition. Like many great thrash albums, not a single second on Master of Puppets is wasted. Sill, the album is not nearly as dense as many albums that came before it. With more than half the songs clocking in at over six minutes, there is room for a lot of things. From acoustic intros to solos, extended riff sections to slow building bridges ” this album truly delivers on all fronts, becoming a staple of metal’s history.

The second album from this week’s list takes a much more simple approach to thrash. Straight riffs, solos and attitude ” Megadeth‘s vehement 1990 album Rust in Peace features no frills, just thrills. Consisting mostly of Dave’s politically-fueled, venom-spitting vocals and blistering lead guitar parts, Rust in Peace is a go-to album if you’re just looking to have your angry face melted for a little while. It also doesn’t hurt that Dave Mustaine’s voice is one of the most recognizable in the history of metal, giving the perfect tone to lines like “What do you mean I don’t support your system? I go to court when I have to.”

The final album in this week’s metal essentials isfeatures one of the greatest riffs in all of metal, a riff that is so full of animosity it almost makes your blood boil. Slayer‘s 1986 rage-filled slaughterfest Reign In Blood is an album that is completely different from Metallica’s release the same year. With only a fifth of its songs coming in over three minutes, Reign In Blood is at full speed for almost every moment of the entire album (the only section that’s not is the “thunderstorm” section of “Raining Blood” which is completely awesome in its own right).

The experienced metalheads out there probably already know these albums pretty well. For all you young metal upstarts, make sure you’ve added these to your collections” they’re perfect for giving your neck a great workout as you master your hair whip without the bangover in the morning.

(FYI: a bangover is the result of headbanging at a metal show the night before)