KERRANG! 4721 Voivod
Killing Technology (1987)
Voivod always
appeared to be a lot
more gifted in the brain
department than many
of their peers. The
Montreal quartet were,
of course, fast, hard and loud, but
creatively they also operated with a
modicum of intelligence and incredibly
broad horizons, exemplified by this,
their third album. It found them going
into almost sci-fi territory, with
computerised alien voices and a
genuinely prog approach to
songwriting on Forgotten In Space
and Order Of The Blackguards.19 Overkill
The Years Of Decay (1989)
Roaring out of New Jersey
in 1980, Overkill quickly
established themselves as a
band who lived up to their
name. Following a trio of
blinding albums, fourth LP
The Years Of Decay saw them team up with
Pantera producer Terry Date to sharpen
their already effective attack into something
genuinely deadly. Who Tends The Fire is a
killer ‘frasher, while the doomy dirges of
the appropriately heavy Skullkrusher’s
10-minute onslaught is just as the title says.18 Destruction
Infernal Overkill (1985)
‘I’m an invincible force of
evil / My eternal hatred
is destructive / There’s
no chance to survive /
I incarnate the end of
mankind’. As opening
throws go, Destruction frontman Schmier’s
misanthropic proclamation on the German
trio’s 1985 debut is formidable. Not as
expertly produced as works by Anthrax
or Metallica, Destruction instead revels in
sheer, bottle-to-the-face hatred and
aggression. It’s a modus operandi that still
works to this day. And if it ain’t broke...17 Sabbat
History Of A Time To Come (1988)
While they were angry about
many of the same things as their
peers – nuclear war, injustice,
racism – Nottingham crew
Sabbat’s lyrical tack was entirely
their own. From the seething
pen of youthful pagan Martin Walkyier, the
words on their debut album were full of wisdom
from an older time, yet still fiercely relevant in
Thatcher’s Britain. Nowhere was this truer than
on the raging anti-fascist warning of Behind
The Crooked Cross. This is an absolute gem.16 Slayer
Seasons In The Abyss (1990)
By 1990, Slayer had firmly
established themselves as
masters of brutality. But they
had grown, too. Satan was
all but out on Seasons In
The Abyss, and in his place
were the far more real but equally horrific
topics of war (War Ensemble), serial killer Ed
Gein (Dead Skin Mask) and spree killing
(Hallowed Point). But slowing down (ish) and
simply holding a mirror up to the world
hadn’t softened Slayer. If anything, it
galvanised their status as the world’s most
uncompromising band.25 Tankard
Chemical Invasion (1987)
Beer and thrash (unsurprisingly)
make for very good bedfellows.
Enter German squadron
Tankard. While the Frankfurt
quintet did dabble in the
occasional bit of social
commentary, too, their second album is
largely a boozed-up celebration of the joys
involved in getting completely and utterly
tanked-up. But for all the lyrics like, ‘Puke!
Puke! I drank too much and vomit on the
chair!’ (Puke), songs like Total Addiction,
Don’t Panic and the title-track are among
some of the most aggressive that thrash has
ever produced.
24 Vio-Lence
Eternal Nightmare (1988)
Before he formed Machine
Head, a young Robb Flynn
cut his teeth in Bay Area
thrashers Vio-Lence,
alongside future ex-Machine
Head guitarist Phil Demmel.
Living up to their name, the band’s 1988
debut album was a vicious blast of riffs and
fury cut through with a gritty sense of
street hardness that came from living in a
less-than-upmarket area of Oakland. That
they packaged the album’s Phobophobia
single with fake vomit was hilarious. That it
was music to get your teeth knocked out
to, was not.
23 Onslaught
The Force (1986)
Compared to the U.S. and
Germany, Britain’s thrash
scene was not one of our
crown jewels, with bands like
Acid Reign and Lawnmower
Deth more into LOLZ than
tearing it up. Along with Sabbat, however,
Bristol’s Onslaught were a force to be
reckoned with, and on their 1986 second
album, they firmly offered the competition
outside with songs like Flame Of The
Antichrist and the devastating Let There
Be Death. We may not have had quantity, but
here Onslaught defiantly brought the quality.
22 Nuclear Assault
Game Over (1986)
While California had the San
Francisco Bay Area, over on
America’s East Coast, New
York was throwing up its own
gaggle of thrashing maniacs.
After being given the boot
from Anthrax in 1984, having played on their
Fistful Of Metal debut, bassist Dan Lilker
decided to set up his own shop with Nuclear
Assault. Heavier, meaner and more single-
minded than his previous employers, Game
Over was a triumph, taking the genre’s
established fixation with nuclear Armageddon
to scary new heights, while pushing the
speed limit into the red, in the process.
20 Possessed
Seven Churches (1985)
Possessed were still in school
when they recorded Seven
Churches during 1985 spring
break, but it didn’t stop them
sounding more evil than
everyone else. You wouldn’t trust
drummer Mike Sus to accurately hammer a nail
into a wall, but the scrappiness adds to the
horror of The Exorcist and Satan’s Curse, with
Larry LaLonde’s (yes, from Primus) riffs sounding
like he’s got razorwire for guitar strings. Pure evil.photoS:getty, gene ambo