Simply top notch modern thrash. Catchy, full of emotion and energy, good production. Death Angel delivers, as always, despite its more mainstream feel.
Brutal, yet catchy.
Excellent! Very different and I love it!
Yeah it annoys me when people confuse the downvote button for a disagree button. Downvotes should be for the post itself not whether or not you disagree with the opinion presented, smh. That's what comments are for.
Thank you for the support and helping to keep this place alive!
I have decided to post these discography reviews separately for organisational reasons, and to make them stand out and be easier to find. So here goes, my second discography review! The hope is that it promotes discussion and interaction, whilst being somewhat interesting to read along the way xD. So feel free to leave your opinions, whether you agree with me or otherwise!
If you have been following along with my posts, you will know I have paused my usual exploration of the genre and gone back to basics. Early on in my journey into thrash metal, I skipped the obvious choices and opted for whatever piqued my interest, regardless of popularity. While there is clearly nothing wrong with this, the few times I had discussed thrash with others, I found there were gaps in my knowledge, namely the big 4. I know, I know, I'm not a fan of the term either, but there is no denying the fact that many thrash bands are often compared to those in the big 4. I suppose it makes it a tad easier to explore genres you are unfamiliar with. Because of this I made the decision to completely stop listening to new bands until I had cleared the US big 4 and the teutonic big 4 bands off my list (yes, I literally have a list of bands I need to listen to). I have heard all bands now excluding Destruction and up until now, Megadeth!
To be completely honest, I was dreading tackling this discography, and I put off doing it for a while. Having just tackled Kreator and Tankard, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to opt for something a little different. Thankfully it didn't take too long. Unfortunately this was for the wrong reasons. I found myself skipping through many songs which I simply weren't enjoying. I had previously tried getting into Megadeth to no avail. If I had put my finger on the main reason for this, it would be Mustaine's vocals. To me they are almost unbearable. They sometimes remind me of a mad conspiracy theorist's incoherent ramblings. When he is not simply speaking the lyrics, the more energetic side of his delivery just doesn't do it for me - far too nasal-y. I think there were many occasions where I enjoyed a song (instruments alone) but the vocal delivery ruined it for me. That said, there were a few albums which didn't suffer from this problem, namely, their debut, and Rust in Peace. As someone with a taste for the old-school, rough-around-the-edges style, the debut scratches that itch. The latter of the two is an excellent album. Not only does it showcase the skills and technical proficiency of the band, but it also displays their brilliant creativity too. Disappointingly, creativity is something I found lacking on many releases, particularly from the middle of their career to present. Countdown to Extinction had a few good ideas and moments, but was plagued by the more mainstream sound and simplicity, clearly an attempt to appeal to a wider audience (no doubt this attempt worked). I found this turn in direction an odd decision, especially considering the success of the Rust in Peace formula. Youthanasia largely suffered the same fate. Cryptic Writings and most records following this release were far from the highs of Megadeth earlier in their career. Most consisted of some wild tangent Mustaine likely led the group on. There were a few diamonds in the rough, such as Endgame (though not really my cup of tea) and Dystopia. I saw a glimmer of hope with Dystopia, which was a step back towards their old ways. It didn't fully deliver for me, it had a problem in common with a large amount of modern thrash today: material sounding too alike and void of emotion or variety. Despite this return to the "old way of doing things" their latest release The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!, failed to capture any of my interest.
Overall, while Megadeth seriously performs at their peak, the rest of their material ranged from mediocre to bad, in some places. I found I added 2-3 songs to my playlist from most albums. I added very little, if any, from some of their worst efforts, such as: Risk, United Abominations, The World Needs a Hero, Super Collider, Th1rt3en, The System has Failed, The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!
THE ESSENTIALS:
- Killing is my Business... and Business is Good!
- Rust in Peace.
AVOID UNLESS COMPLETIONIST:
- See list above.
SOME OF MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:
- Mechanix (Killing is my Business... and Business is Good!).
- Rattlehead (Killing is my Business... and Business is Good!).
- Chosen Ones (Killing is my Business... and Business is Good!).
- Wake Up Dead (Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?).
- Five Magics (Rust in Peace).
- Hangar 18 (Rust in Peace).
- Tornado of Souls (Rust in Peace).
Thanks for reading! 🤘
I could maybe just use a picture of the band logo, taken from the archives perhaps?
Should I do discography reviews as a separate post or tag it onto a post of a song?
I guess because I didn't enjoy enough of it to give a proper opinion xD? I suppose I could give a few reasons why I wasn't a fan of Megadeth and give some highlights. I will do that since there may be interest in it. I will probably post this tomorrow since I don't have much time to post right now. It could be fun to make the discography reviews for each band I listen to rather than just favourites.
Now I have finished listening to Megadeth's entire discography (liked at most two songs per album, with the exception of their debut and Rust In Peace), all that remains is Destruction. I've steadily made my way through the classic era and the "neo-Destruction" era. I'm picking up where I left off, starting with Metal Discharge. Before we get to the main focus of the post, I should mention that I enjoyed the classic era lots, and of course The Antichrist. Now, I must admit I'm disappointed with this release. The vocals to me, are lacking and to be honest it bores me. Reminds me of the reaction I had to Cryptic Writings by Megadeth, albeit not quite as severe a reaction this time... The song I have chosen to post is passable, truthfully, serving more as a sample of the current stage of my journey, than a serious recommendation. Try to enjoy, nevertheless.
P.S. let me know what you think of the more "critical" review-style descriptions I have been writing recently. Is it something you enjoy reading? If so, when I can muster the energy, I might write them more often in this style xD. How do you feel about discography reviews?
Catchy as fuck. That riff gets stuck in my head, you will know which. It even has a short melodic section, which, normally the thought of a modern melodic section makes me run miles, however this one totally works. Zetro's unique "goblin on crack" vocals shine through, excellent as usual imo. Every instrument has a near perfect tone, though personally I would turn the bass up a notch.
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Don't feel obliged to do the rest if you don't want to, ik it is time consuming haha. That said, like I mentioned if you are ever lacking motivation etc. there are plenty where that came from, so if the listed ones there aren't enough or aren't your style, just let me know. Super grateful for the tab, and the huge amount of time it must have taken to make. Thanks again!
Indeed.
Holy shit dude! I'm speechless! That's super impressive and sounds spot on to me! Can't wait to learn it. If only all tab makers were as good as you! Tysm! EDIT: did you enjoy making it? What did you think of the song? How difficult?
From the darker era of Sodom. I love this era of Sodom. By far my favourite. It includes In the Sign of Evil (EP), Obsessed by Cruelty (LP), Expurse of Sodomy (EP, contains this song), and Persecution Mania (LP). I would recommend listening to all of it, especially if you are a fan of blackened thrash, you can't miss it.
Apologies for my absence. Dealing with some stuff.
Underground blackened thrash from Sweden. Enjoy!
YouTube(official vid), Spotify, metal-archives
One of the first and best crossover albums! Super iconic riff on this song. See this video for an amazing live performance of this song and March of the S.O.D. and one of the craziest stage dives ever!
YouTube, Spotify, metal-archives
EDIT: I can see from the downvotes that some people are misunderstanding the post/aren't part of the thrash community. The album is satirical, the songs written from the perspective of the character and bigoted militant "Sargent D". It is meant to be over the top to show how ridiculous those types of people are. S.O.D. is a joke side project created in a bit of spare time in the studio that took off as one of the first crossover albums, and the earliest representations of blast-beats. It was a side project of Scott Ian from Anthrax who is definitely not racist and has made many songs against racism in his time in Anthrax and he writes the lyrics for Anthrax. Ok, rant out of the way, I can see why it generates bad reactions, which is sorta the point of it I guess.
Bet you weren't expecting this post from me! Now I've finished Tankard, my quest through the big 4s have taken me back to Megadeth. I've decided to give them another chance, wish me luck! I must admit I'm really enjoying the riffs, shame about the terrible vocals.
Post 2 of 2 from this album. Decided to post two given the short length :D.
Possibly one of my favourite MW albums alongside... well... all of their other albums? I fucking love all of their material. I suppose if you put a gun to my head and forced me to say which albums I liked the least it would have to be Electrified Brain or Massive Aggressive. This has to be one of the most energetic 15 mins in all of thrash. Makes me wanna break shit like nothing else I heard.
Post 1 of 2 from this album. Decided to post two given the short length :D.
Possibly one of my favourite MW albums alongside... well... all of their other albums? I fucking love all of their material. I suppose if you put a gun to my head and forced me to say which albums I liked the least it would have to be Electrified Brain or Massive Aggressive. This has to be one of the most energetic 15 mins in all of thrash. Makes me wanna break shit like nothing else I heard.
I really resonate with the lyrics to this song, except the "loving life" part ;). Goofy vocal performance, though I think it might be purposeful to fit with the topic of the song. I consider it thrash but I think it has lots of heavy metal/hard rock influences.
After many, many hours I've finally made it through Tankard's huge discography. It is clear Tankard had found a formula that works extremely well, and has stuck with that ever since. There is little variation between albums and with the sheer number of songs, you are bound to have songs beginning to sound the same, especially if their trademark style is applied to all of their material. In my opinion, Tankard have now just about exhausted their style, I'm not sure how many more variations can be created that still sound fresh.
That being said, you have to applaud their consistent output, having not a single bad release, despite having 18 albums to their name (19 including their compilation re-record). Tankard's commitment to releasing nothing but straight up fun, enjoyable, light-hearted thrash is downright impressive. People have a tendency to complain about little variation in a band's discography, which I understand, but if you are that desperate for change, simply listen to different bands once in a while - there are plenty of them.
Overall, I love Tankard's flavour of thrash, and their unfaltering energy. Though admittedly in their last couple albums I did feel myself listening mostly out of motivation to finish the entire discography. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. To others I would recommend listening to their first few albums at a minimum, which were the standouts for me. From there, listen to more, whenever you crave their style.
I leave you with my favourite track from their latest album.
view more: next ›
Looking forward to it!