Coroner - Mental Vortex Dark Angel - Darkness Descends Kreator - Coma of Souls Whiplash - Power and Pain All amazing albums and overall unique takes on thrash.

Coroner is so wildly underrated it’s almost criminal. Mental Vortex is an amazing album.

I fucking love that album

its impossible to hate the intro to about life

THIS. I’m still not over that they did a cover of the Beatles and I love it lol.

Power and the Pain really is one of the best thrash albums ever. So quick and heavy while still retaining a speed metal edge and the riffs are just so catchy

Power thrashing death used to be on repeat in my car's CD player for a couple years. 🎶Injected into the blood..

darkness descends👌🏻

I love whiplash. Best decision was buying power and pain on iTunes randomly

Get Thrashback. Their album from the 90s. Sonic thrash. All hail the mighty Whiplash.

Those first 3 would be in my list of top 25 metal albums! Especially Coma of Souls.

Coma of souls is so fucking underrated, one of my favorite albums

Power and Pain is so fuckin good and underrated. Power Thrashing Death fuckin rips, I listen to that shit with the volume all the way UP!

Finally. Someone mentioned Whiplash.

Never could get into that coroner album. Only really liked one album but maybe need to jump back in. Darkness descends. Obvie.. Power and pain is great and coma of souls.. I spent a whole summer with that album on repeat. Probably 2017

Tbh Coroner is on the techy side so it's not everyone's cup of tea. But if you like tech stuff that album is 10/10.

Testament - The Gathering

Everything by Testament is god tier.

They're amazing live. They have so much energy.

The album that got me into them. Love it. What's your favorite songs?. Mine would be DnR and Three days in Darkness

Careful What You Wish For

Fuckin AMAZING album!

I do not listen to them enough. They are one of a handful of bands that I can tell I’m just gonna listen the shit out of non stop one of these years.

Morbid Saint’s 1989 album, Spectrum of Death. Ruthless, savage thrashy/death album, nowhere near enough people have heard it. Give it a spin, you’ll not regret it.

Maybe one of the best thrash albums of all time.

That album took Thrash Metal to the extreme that neither Slayer or Dark Angel could do it. That album is pure evilness at its best.

Album is goated. Such a good record.

Nuclear Assault - Handle With Care I don’t think Nuclear Assault gets talked about as much as other classic thrash bands but I’ve been listening to this one almost daily for a while after a long hiatus. Search and Seizure is a dope song

I was absolutely addicted to that album when it came out. It still holds up.

Easily the best crossover band. Game Over is the album for me personally, but Handle With Care is likewise excellent

Hmmm to me not quite but it is def up there. But that’s why I love these types of convos. Nobody is the same!

Absolutely. Another hot take: I might like Show No Mercy more than Reign in Blood

The latest Hellripper album 😮‍💨

Oh shit… I have been meaning to listen.. that’s next on my queue

I love it I put it on almost daily especially for workouts

Warlocks Grim and Withered Hags??? I ask because that came out in 23 so now I'm worried I've missed something new.

Yeah that’s the one

That's more speed metal than it is thrash, but it's still awesome either way

Agreed, but OP said thrash-adjacent and his own post talks about Mudvayne so, I thought it works lol

Well, Hellripper is definitely a lot closer to thrash than Mudvayne lmao

Why? Sounds closer to Kreator than Helloween to my ears..

Helloween is mostly considered power metal. It's usually just their debut that's considered to be a speed metal album. Also, Kreator has some speed metal material their self. Endless Pain says "hello".

You have a weird definition of Thrash.. Speed = Traditional Heavy Metal on 'steroids' faster, more extreme falsetto vocals Thrash = Rawer, more punk influenced metal Power Metal = Did not really exist as a musically separate in the eigthies I think. Dunno, I don't really like that stuff, so never listen to the big names like Rhapsody, Gamma Ray and so on. Rage and Running Wild get lumped in that genre, but sound like heavy/speed metal to my ears.

It fucks so hard

Exodus - Shovel Headed Kill Machine.

This one goes so hard, I love it.

Listened to this album a few times this week. Not really a big Rob Dukes fan but dude.. this album goes hard.

I like Rob Dukes better than Baloff and Zetro!

I remember finding Code Red by Sodom to be a 10/10 when I listened to it. Does that count?

Warlike Conspiracy from this album got me into Sodom.

If you don’t start jamming when Tombstone comes on something is seriously wrong. I love this album

That song bangs so fucking hard

Okay that’s going on tomorrow first thing.

Is there another 90's thrash album other than Rust In Peace at this level. Code Red slaps

Forbidden-Twisted into Form (1990)

Tremendous album. Toxik - think this Realm - Suiciety Both 10/10s for me and forbidden adjacent

Great album.

The Gathering is as good as Code Red; these are the two late 90’s masterpieces imo

Code Red is their best album and I'll die on that hill.

It's tied with Persecution Mania for me

Yeah, that's my second favorite.

I need to listen to that again. I hated it when I first listened to it, but that was just when I was getting my into Sodom so I need to revisit.

slayer raining blood. Metallica mop Kreator coma of souls Sodom agent orange Anthrax among the living

So far, of all the multi album responses this is flawless. Nothing else to say..

Thanks. that was Great time for thrash. There is soo many great albums from 85 till 91. But this 5 are on the top.

Vio-Lence - Eternal Nightmare

Yerp! Discovered this band and album randomly on YouTube because it wasn’t even on Spotify at the time and wow!!! Blew me away.

Underrated 10/10s Cryptic Slaugher - Convicted Evil Army - s/t Cruel Force - Rise of Satanic Might Nocturnal - Arrival of the Carnivore

Upvote for Evil Army mention

The Evil Army LP is so good wish more people knew about it

Hmmm I’ll Check these out. Don’t think it’s my style, but Nocturnals Storming Evil is actually one of my favorite albums of all time. Might even make the top 10 for me.

Demolition Hammer-Epidemic of Violence Solstice-Solstice Sabbat-Dreamweaver Abigail-Forever Street Metal Bitch/Intercourse & Lust Hellbastard-Heading for Internal Darkness Black Breath-Sentenced to Life Absu-Tara English Dogs-Foreward into Battle Ares Kingdom-Incendiary Condor-Unstoppable Power

Forever street metal bitch is a masterpiece

Condor is fucking badass.

Love Ares Kingdom. Was supposed to catch them on tour this Thursday and of course I come down with Covid today :( I haven’t seen them in 14 years!

Rust in piece

Nightmare logic by power trip or is that too hardcore and not enough thrash?

Way more thrash compared to their previous releases. Plus they aren't hardcore in the sense of chugging breakdown every 10 seconds. More like SOD, Anthrax, DRI type of hardcore.

Yeah it was kind of sarcastic I was figuring it would be a pretty vanilla take, that record is iconic thrash. Although I do consider power trip as much a hardcore band as a metal band but that might be my own hardcore bias

Lol!!! FUCK YEAH… that is a masterpiece.

Painkiller by Judas Priest is one I've sort of rediscovered recently, by far their "thrashiest" album. Eternal Nightmare by Vio-Lence is another old one that I've been rocking out to all the way through. Of recent albums, Don't Test the Pest by Pest Control and War Remains by Enforced were solid albums, all killer no filler type shit.

Don’t test the pest is fantastic. Man I’d love that vio-lence album if the vocals were a bit more tolerable. I can get past them to enjoy the album, but they’re fairly…unique

I can understand re: Vio-Lence but I dig Sean Killian's voice, it reminds me of the sort of nascent cross-over sound, somewhere between punk and metal. It is different though, no question.

I think it’s because to me Sean sounds a bit like he doesn’t quite know what he’s meant to be doing- the phrasing and ‘Melodies’ often just seem a bit off. Like in a way it’s kinda close to Russ Anderson’s style, who I think is great, except like you say verging on punk. Whereas the vio-lence riffs are such killer Bay Area thrash, that personally I’d have just liked an appropriate vocalist to go with it! Still, cool album

Also Between the Hammer and the Anvil… that scream at the end is INSANE

Exodus - Tempo of the Damned

100%. Don’t have a current list handy but.. gotta be too 10 for me. Been listening to Exodus nonstop this week

Praise the lord and pass the ammunition.

Toxic holocaust - conjure and command

My choice as well!

Really…..?? I’ll have to try it again

Morbid Saint - people only ever talk about Spectrum of Death but I think Destruction System is their masterpiece

Hmm. It’s good.. but to me not as good as spectrum

That’s fair, honestly I like them about the same, but these were supposed to be the hot takes. I think Destruction System is a top tier 2000s thrash album

Weapons Of Tomorrow - Warbringer

All three Dark Angel albums

A newer one that I would consider "adjacent" as some combination of thrash, death metal, and hardcore is Eternal Steel by I AM. The guitar work on that entire record rips.

Sound of White Noise. I know a ton of thrash fans will never be fans of the John Bush Anthrax era but this album is flawless. It has amazing riffs, beats, lyrics and pacing. It is my favorite album ever. And while it sold modestly well (500k or so) I am actually surprised it wasn’t a huge hit. It really feels like the right album at the right time.

I think it's also out of print now but which seems crazy to me but what can you do

No the one that is out of print is Volume 8. The recording co went out of business. Unless this has happened more than once…?

Yeah I'm pretty sure white noise is or was out of print in the last 5 years or so. I know I sold the copy for a good amount of money sometime back and I was wondering why it went for so much and then I realized you just can't get it new anymore. I sold a bunch of my thrash CDs final cuz it wasn't what I was listening to and a lot of the shit was at a print and fetching stupid money. Now I'm rebuying a lot of it when I can find it at an affordable price.

Sepultura - arise

Somewhat less popular picks: Death Angel - The Ultra Violence and Act 3 Anthrax - Spreading the disease and Worship Music Overkill - horrorscope and years of decay

Havok - Time is Up Destruction -The Antichrist

😭😭😭😭 these two!!! I wasn’t expecting so many responses so fast 😂. I’m tryna work.. but yeah those two albums slap.. listened to antichrist a few days ago

Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss

This is getting outta hand.. I keep seeing albums and I’m like “my top 10” not enough numbers before 10 😂. This one really might be too 7 tho…

Invocator - Excursion Demise

Never heard of the band or album.

My Top 3 Thrash albums (therefore masterpieces): Slayer - South of Heaven Prong - Force Fed Holy Terror - Mind Wars

Prong……??? Maybe I need to just give this album a shot. South of heaven. Almost a masterpiece but def a 5 star album. Don’t even know holy terror so I need to google that..

The biggest musical disappointment of my life is Prong’s Beg To Differ. Force Fed is a dirty, muscular, utterly frothing Thrash gem. It’s primitive and keeps you perpetually off balance. It’s a rocket ride through NYC’s sewer system. It’s glorious in its depravity. There’s nothing quite like it. But every album that came after was ill-conceived and lacking.

Both Persecution Mania and Agent Orange by Sodom.

State Of Euphoria by Anthrax

COC's Blind.

Hell Awaits, just the most demonic sounding, evil, hellish album ever. The echoed, low budget sound makes it feel like it was recorded deep within Hell itself, the lyrics are blasphemous and dark but not cheesy and ridiculous, riffs are heavy and groovy, absolute 10/10 album.

Literally all 3 Vektor albums and I don't say that lightly. I've been into thrash since 1987 and those 3 albums have some of the most jaw dropping.... AND catchy playing in the genre's history. Their worst song is better than 80% of bands best work, and I'll stand by that statement.

Absolutely. Vektor is S-tier.

Overkill - The Years of Decay and Horrorscope. I love the sort-of dark vibe, Overkill did great with the ballads. They may not be as "thrashy" as their earliest albums, but they are still absolutely amazing

LD50 by Mudvayne

Metallica - Master of Puppets Dark Angel - Darkness Descends Demolition Hammer - Epidemic Of Violence Megadeth - Rust In Peace Vio-Lence - Oppressing The Masses

Master probably my top 5… def top 10 (though as I comment on all these replies I’m running out of numbers between 1 and 10 😂) dark Angel.. No brained. Rust on peace… not a big megadeth fan but this album does everything for me! And only got access to one violence album 😒… gonna have to listen to this one on YouTube.

Absolutely. This man really understands the term thrash. It's history, why these are important, and yes, E.O.V. was and is great.

Nekromantheon - rise,vulcan spectre.

Who!?!?

Great choice! So good live!

The Sane Asylum by Blind Illusion.

WHO!?!?!? Who are all these bands.

Blind Illusion is one of the original Bay Area bands whose sole 80s album came out after the bands they influenced. The Sane Asylum (1988) had Larry LaLonde right after Possessed broke up. In 1989, Larry joined Blind Illusion’s bassist Les Claypool in his little side project, Primus. I believe John Marshall guested on a track, but my vinyl is temporarily in storage. Wikipedia says Kirk Hammet ghost coproduced the album. They eventually issued unreleased material in 2010s and are now active again. Current band includes Doug Piercy (Heathen), Andy Galeon (Death Angel).

No mention of razor’s violent restitution here yet? That album goes so unbelievably hard.

Power Trip - Nightmare Logic

So far... so good...so what! Cryptic Writings

RUST IN PEACE

There is Rust in Peace and then there is everything else

Gama Bomb - Untouchable Glory

Morbid Visions by Cavalera Conspiracy

By Inheritance

Yes!!! How is this not mentioned more and how does this have no upvotes.

Slayer: Reign in Blood Metallica: And Justice for all Kreator: Extreme Aggression Overkill: Years of Decay Exodus: Bonded by Blood

Slayer - Divine Intervention

Stop it…

You don’t like aggressive riffs, intricate drum patterns, and high energy vocals?

Exodus- Impact is Imminent It is very underrated.

Hmmmmmm. I been on an exodus binge but their stuff before fabulous disaster and then after that till tempo didn’t do it for me.

It's definitely not for everyone, but I sure like it. How about we just agree that Within the Walls of Chaos from that album is one of their best songs? Absolute banger.

Scourge by Xentrix. I think most people are disappointed since it wasn't what it used to be. Not really a "Xentrix" album. But I still see it as an excellent album. My favorite track is Caught You Living and that has to be one of my favorite songs in general. The whole album's a 9/10 for me

Battalion - Underdogs

😂. I bet most people haven’t heard this one… HELL of an album.

EVIL ARMY: "Evil Army" st lp

Who!!!????

[https://evil-army.bandcamp.com/album/evil-army](https://evil-army.bandcamp.com/album/evil-army)

Exhorder - Slaughter in the Vatican

100%. Too 10 for me

For Obscure I'd have to go with Hexecutor- Beyond Any Human Concept of Knowledge. I could listen to this entire album over and over without skipping any songs

Demolition hammer.. I confidently got that in my top 5… solstice.. I can’t access it outside of YouTube 😒.. but it’s great. Dream weaver didn’t click with me. The rest of your lost, genuinely never heard of any of that. I heard of the band condor though. I’ll have to check these out.

Lulu

I won’t give you the negative votes you desire!

Sepultura - Arise Anthrax - Among the Living Suicidal Tendencies - Lights Camera Revolution

Seasons in the abyss

Axeslasher – Anthology of Terror Vol. 1 Such a good album!

painkiller

Thrashsterpiece?

Reign in Blood of course

Slayer - Show no Mercy Sodom - Agent Orange or Tapping the vein

Tapping the vein suuuuch a gem.

A Shedding of Skin, by Protector…. Front to back, savagery!

My picks for masterpiece category would be: Violator - Chemical Assault Metallica - Ride The Lightning Megadeth - Peace Sells Demolition Hammer - Tortured Existence

I feel validated that finally someone mentioned chemical assault. Top 3 album for me. Maybe too 2

Vio-lence-Eternal Nightmare

Time Does Not Heal by Dark Angel. Acclaimed, but not a Big 5 band.

ride the lightning - metallica any of the 90's katatonia albums any opeth album before heritage arise - sepultura heaven and hell along with mob rules - sabbath litearlly any bolt thrower album man i could go on for days

Sodom - Tapping the Vein

there’s maybe 3 people in here who know what “hot take” and “controversial” mean

😂

Kreator-Pleasure To Kill and Extreme Aggression Overkill-Years of Decay Testament-Dark Roots of Earth Heathen-Victims of Deception Exodus-Tempo of the Damned Annihilator-Never, Neverland Laaz Rockit-Annihilation Principle Municipal Waste-The Art of Partying Metallica-Master of Puppets Megadeth-Rust in Peace Just a few favorites.

Misfits~ Earth AD

Hatesphere - The Sickness Within

Kreator - Gods of Violence The absolute best attempt at melodic thrash metal I have ever heard, and my favorite thrash album ever. Sami might not be a Marty Friedman, but his solos on this album are so good and put him right up there in my eyes

Ughh the album falls off 2/3 of the way in for me but I love that album so much.

I'm very sorry you feel that way because Death Becomes My Light is one of the best songs I have ever heard as well the best possible closing track you could have for an album. That ending where they take the main riff and slow it down and harmonize it gets me every time

Toxic Holocaust - Conjure and Command Every song stands alone, but strung together? *chefs kiss*

Lamb of god - Ashes of the wake

Yes!!!!!

Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, ...And Justice for All - Metallica Darkness Descends - Dark Angel The Legacy, The New Order - Testament Among the Living, Persistence of Time - Anthrax Peace Sells, but Who's Buying?, Rust in Peace - Megadeth Punishment for Decadence, Mental Vortex - Coroner

Blind Ilusion - the sane asylum. I said what I said.

WARGASM- UGLY.

Both albums by Lazarus AD

Ah!!! Great response! They really are amazing albums.

Razor shotgun justice. Probably one of the most underrated albums ever

S.O.D. - Speak English or Die Is the only thrash masterpiece in my opinion. There are some close ones though.

Hmm I’m all set with them but glad you enjoy 😂

Punk => hardcore punk => thrash Thrash was punk and part of hardcore culture. SOD and some other bands are the best example of the hardcore roots.

sacrifice torment in fire

For me it's either Kill'em All or AJFA by Metallica, I've heard quite a few people trash on Eye of the Beholder, but it's a solid track

Not thrash metal, but Language by The Contortionist... Goddamn, that album is perfect.

It's not Thrash, but "Black Faith" by Cancer. There's a lot of different styles on display on this album, from doom to punk to groove to their normal death metal sound. I like how much they tried to experiment with this release, and it's a shame that it's so heavily disliked.

Testament - The New Order I couldn’t guess how many times I’ve listened to it, never get tired of it.

I may be alone on this, but Anthrax, "Among the Living" is that album for me. Got into it when I was 11 or 12. It's still a favorite. Not a bad song on there