Guitar Gear Forum

We know Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax are knowed as "The Big 4" - but some people, and I am one of them, say there should be at least a Big 7 including Testament, Exodus and Overkill. Was there anyone else thrashing your ass off way back when?

There were bands like DRI, Suicidal, Laaz, Flotsam, Metal Church, Death Angel...

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Hr6S_uzCw[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3xC1I2rXHE[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svi6JiMe9c0[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nL_-Yjztsc[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyqupWp07yc[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMeD9F_BeMo[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqPR_hUHnCk[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CwRMMhCkmo[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIzVe7-hSzg[/youtube]

I literally started some of those videos with the volume muted. And I was still able to sing along with them. This shit is in my blood.

So, the "Big 4" are the ones that made the money. Whatever.

Then there's the ones you mentioned.

Then there's Nuclear Assault. And Dark Angel. And Coroner (Arguably Death Metal). And Annihilator. And Onslaught. And ARTCH. And. . . .

This is like asking what's your favorite food? Motherfucker, I can go on for daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaays.

I love Kreator.

Thrash is fun.

Destruction and Kreator for sure. Destruction Release from Agony prolly makes top 4 thrash albums EVER. I easily put those two in above the rest of the American stuff Testament, Overkill, Exodus. Etc. out of those 3 I’m prolly taking Exodus even tho I don’t love their early stuff

Early Sodom prolly belongs too.

And I dont think they quite belong but I can get into some of the beer and metal of Tankard. They had riffs at times that were on par with some of the greats at the time

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqM5idlJOpc[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW0L004yFmM[/youtube]

And at its heart, Sepultura Beneath the Remains is more thrash than death and is an all time record even if they aren’t quite thrash, especially early on. But Neneath the Remains and schizophrenia are right there

The answer is YES. Best genre ever, imo. And the one I followed pretty much till it burned out. So much good stuff.

Endtime; that Destruction album fucking smokes. I have it on white vinyl. My favorite Sodom album is Agent Orange. They got a guitarist who could actually play but they were still brutal. A d riding the write songs as catchy as Slayer at their best phase.

I always loved Heathen. This was their first release, a pop remake that has awesome slippery solos and a tech repair footage scene, lol. Their later work gets more progressive and more metal, but this tune is a fun one:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3IO60Xqwnw[/youtube]

EndTime wrote:Destruction and Kreator for sure. Destruction Release from Agony prolly makes top 4 thrash albums EVER. I easily put those two in above the rest of the American stuff Testament, Overkill, Exodus. Etc. out of those 3 I’m prolly taking Exodus even tho I don’t love their early stuff

Early Sodom prolly belongs too.

And I dont think they quite belong but I can get into some of the beer and metal of Tankard. They had riffs at times that were on par with some of the greats at the time

Hell yes. Destruction, Tankard, Agent Orange, Sodom are definitely some of my all time favorites.

crankyrayhanky wrote:I always loved Heathen. This was their first release, a pop remake that has awesome slippery solos and a tech repair footage scene, lol. Their later work gets more progressive and more metal, but this tune is a fun one:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3IO60Xqwnw[/youtube]

Man I remember first seeing the vid for "Set Me Free" and was insta-hooked.

I didn't realize that Heathen release Chaos 10 years ago. I'm listening now and the guitars sound incredible- it might be my ultimate metal tone!
Did that one guitar player transfer over to Exodus? Awesome stuff

crankyrayhanky wrote:I didn't realize that Heathen release Chaos 10 years ago. I'm listening now and the guitars sound incredible- it might be my ultimate metal tone!
Did that one guitar player transfer over to Exodus? Awesome stuff

Kragen Lum. My old metal band guitar player takes e-lessons from him from time to time. He does all the transcription books for Exodus as well. I picked up the new one for Fabulous Disaster a week or two ago.

And I just realized you are probably talking about Lee Altus. Kragen who plays in Heathen subbed for Gary when he was with Slayer.

Damn, Heathen. Love them so much. Their vocal melodies and harmonies were really unique for a band that heavy.

This is probably my favorite Heathen tune
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tccKPb-Lz0[/youtube]
For the more melodic vocal'd thrash and speed goes; I much prefer Flotsam and Forbidden. Flotsam had more than a few albums after the first 2 that were stylistically a little broad for the genre but I totally dug it. Their latest albums have some great stuff on them as well.

JiveTurkey wrote:This is probably my favorite Heathen tune
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tccKPb-Lz0[/youtube]
For the more melodic vocal'd thrash and speed goes; I much prefer Flotsam and Forbidden. Flotsam had more than a few albums after the first 2 that were stylistically a little broad for the genre but I totally dug it. Their latest albums have some great stuff on them as well.

This is probably y favorite from them

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RigZH0JhQCY[/youtube]

Yes that one is a ripper

Dude, I was listening to Flotsam the last couple days. Mostly No Place for Disgrace, Quatro and Drift, and those seem to have some really great vibes to them, but I tossed a few others into the rotation too. I think Drift might be my favorite of theirs. Though there's tons of great riffs and vocals on all of them, truth be told.

Escape from Within is really sitting in my head when I'm trying to concentrate on other things. The vocal mix on that one is sorta clever for the time, and it still hits me just right.

nightflameauto wrote:Dude, I was listening to Flotsam the last couple days. Mostly No Place for Disgrace, Quatro and Drift, and those seem to have some really great vibes to them, but I tossed a few others into the rotation too. I think Drift might be my favorite of theirs. Though there's tons of great riffs and vocals on all of them, truth be told.

Escape from Within is really sitting in my head when I'm trying to concentrate on other things. The vocal mix on that one is sorta clever for the time, and it still hits me just right.

Oh yeah. Cuatro, Drift, even the earlier When the Storm Comes Dwn when they were flirting with funk thrash oddly enough all had some killer songs on them. And on that same tip; Jer's Death Angel vid posted up top is from probably my favorite of theirs, Act III with some of that same funk/at rock tinge while still being firmly metal.

Escape From Within has some of the best traditional metal screams you will ever hear imo. If you're into that sort of thing EMTEK off When the Storm Comes Down has a similar vibe
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NiWt1sChW4[/youtube]

Drift had some stuff that could have been at home on a heavy AIC record as well. In a good, not trying to be a trendhopped but still seeming timely sort of way
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnRSud6jmec[/youtube]

This is probably my fave tune off Cuatro
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH1xfNUFLwc[/youtube]

These songs are all really in the moody category, I'd say. They have some more vicious (for them) material but their moodiness really shines for me more than anything else.

Secret Square is SUCH a great tune.

Missing is impossible to listen to without singing along. Smoked out in definitely the one that grabs me the most though. Something about the bass breaks and the lyrics hit me at just the time in my life I needed to hear somebody else went through that shit with somebody, so it was a personal uplifter when everything else seemed to be beating me down.

nightflameauto wrote:Secret Square is SUCH a great tune.

Missing is impossible to listen to without singing along. Smoked out in definitely the one that grabs me the most though. Something about the bass breaks and the lyrics hit me at just the time in my life I needed to hear somebody else went through that shit with somebody, so it was a personal uplifter when everything else seemed to be beating me down.

Yep both of those tunes are killer. I really don't think they had a bad album up until My God. And I'd have to relisten to that one to see if I liked it better the second time around.

They just always seemed to stick out in the wrong direction for whatever the time was in metal. Eric AK's voice is amazing but I get how someone that wants a more aggressive attack might not like it.

JiveTurkey wrote:

nightflameauto wrote:Secret Square is SUCH a great tune.

Missing is impossible to listen to without singing along. Smoked out in definitely the one that grabs me the most though. Something about the bass breaks and the lyrics hit me at just the time in my life I needed to hear somebody else went through that shit with somebody, so it was a personal uplifter when everything else seemed to be beating me down.

Yep both of those tunes are killer. I really don't think they had a bad album up until My God. And I'd have to relisten to that one to see if I liked it better the second time around.

They just always seemed to stick out in the wrong direction for whatever the time was in metal. Eric AK's voice is amazing but I get how someone that wants a more aggressive attack might not like it.

I used to get a kick out of how the metal press would say of every. SINGLE. ALBUM. they put out, "this is the make or break album for them. If fans aren't receptive, they'll be done."

Um, I don't think that's how this works in the metal world, and in another year or two it would happen again.

crankyrayhanky wrote:I always loved Heathen. This was their first release, a pop remake that has awesome slippery solos and a tech repair footage scene, lol. Their later work gets more progressive and more metal, but this tune is a fun one:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3IO60Xqwnw[/youtube]

Took me a minute to realize where I had heard this song before, them I remembered there's a badass version of it on Vince Neil's debut solo album with Steve Stevens on guitar

Devin wrote:

crankyrayhanky wrote:I always loved Heathen. This was their first release, a pop remake that has awesome slippery solos and a tech repair footage scene, lol. Their later work gets more progressive and more metal, but this tune is a fun one:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3IO60Xqwnw[/youtube]

Took me a minute to realize where I had heard this song before, them I remembered there's a badass version of it on Vince Neil's debut solo album with Steve Stevens on guitar

This is blasphemous considering the thread we are in; but Steve Stevens is such a bad motherf***er that he makes a Vince Neil solo album good. I listened to it for the first time a few years back and was really surprised at how much it didn't suck. Despite the presence of Vince Neil

JiveTurkey wrote:This is blasphemous considering the thread we are in; but Steve Stevens is such a bad motherf***er that he makes a Vince Neil solo album good. I listened to it for the first time a few years back and was really surprised at how much it didn't suck. Despite the presence of Vince Neil

That first album of his is fucking killer - all the rest of them are abysmal

nightflameauto wrote:Dude, I was listening to Flotsam the last couple days. Mostly No Place for Disgrace, Quatro and Drift, and those seem to have some really great vibes to them, but I tossed a few others into the rotation too. I think Drift might be my favorite of theirs. Though there's tons of great riffs and vocals on all of them, truth be told.

Escape from Within is really sitting in my head when I'm trying to concentrate on other things. The vocal mix on that one is sorta clever for the time, and it still hits me just right.

Man I LOVE Flotsam. When I was doing that band Denim and Leather, Mark Simpson and Craig Nielsen both did a few gigs with us. I know they’re not OG but was still cool. Cuatro got wore out back in the day. Loved that tape.

Had Forbidden been mentioned yet? So great! Saw them Sanctuary and Death Angel back in the day. Twisted into Form is amazing

JerEvil wrote:

nightflameauto wrote:Dude, I was listening to Flotsam the last couple days. Mostly No Place for Disgrace, Quatro and Drift, and those seem to have some really great vibes to them, but I tossed a few others into the rotation too. I think Drift might be my favorite of theirs. Though there's tons of great riffs and vocals on all of them, truth be told.

Escape from Within is really sitting in my head when I'm trying to concentrate on other things. The vocal mix on that one is sorta clever for the time, and it still hits me just right.

Man I LOVE Flotsam. When I was doing that band Denim and Leather, Mark Simpson and Craig Nielsen both did a few gigs with us. I know they’re not OG but was still cool. Cuatro got wore out back in the day. Loved that tape.

Around 89 I Flotsam was my like #1 band

ff to today and Mike Gilbert (a key songwriter/guitar) is local to me and I almost bought a 4x12 off of him. Another time I had a drummer who played with Gilbert on solo stuff around 2000 and they were buddies- if we actually had a complete band we easily could have opened for them. That would have rocked....never could keep a unit together.
The newest guitar player in Flotsam who is in there now was a local at the now defunct Naked Dave's Music for awhile and a super cool dude to chat with- he had that George Lynch old Engl head for sale which I smack myself for not buying when I had the chance.
Good to see they are out there ripping it up still. I really liked their recent releases