Thrash metal, from the outside in. Each step is a genre and the single record this encyclopedia would put on first. Play them in this order and the last one should sound like a next step rather than a wall.
- 1 The way in
Heavy metal 1970
It split off from hard rock and blues rock when Black Sabbath tuned down and wrote riffs on the tritone. Volume, riff and a code of its own - every branch below starts here.
Sung. Melodic singing throughout.
Put on
Black Sabbath - the song Black Sabbath. The first thirty seconds are the genre's birth certificate.
Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath (1970) - 2 What you asked about
Thrash metal 1983
NWOBHM plus hardcore punk: palm-muted riffs, brutal tempos and lyrics about war and society. The first truly extreme branch.
Shouted. Barked or chanted, and you can still make out the words.
Put on
Slayer - Reign in Blood. Twenty-nine minutes that redefined the word extreme.
Slayer, Reign in Blood (1986) - 3 Where to go next
Bay Area thrash 1983
The original epicentre: technical riffing, clearer production and a little more melody.
Shouted. Barked or chanted, and you can still make out the words.
Put on
Exodus - Bonded by Blood. Recorded in 1984, released late, and it held up anyway.
Exodus, Bonded by Blood (1985)
Assembled from the tree: every genre Thrash metal descends from, in order. The last step is the gentlest of Thrash metal's 4 subgenres - least harsh vocals first, then least heavy.