Friday's Playlist: Thrash, Death and Black Metal Classics

Let's get brutal, shall we?

Thrash Metal was a mostly American school of Metal that fused the violence and velocity of Punk and Hardcore with the epic heaviness of British Metal. Out of that first wave of early eighties Thrash, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax were considered The Big Four. Metallica of course went on to become the Heavy Rock behemoth we know today. In their wake, bands like Exodus, Flotsam and Jetsam, Testament almost made it out of the underground. Overseas, bands like Kreator in Germany or Sepultura in Brazil would also carve a nice career out of frantic riffs, implacable drums.

Death Metal was even sicker in its imagery and more brutal in its execution. Any semblance of singing had been abandoned, replaced by a growling, demonic borborygm reminiscent of a monster risen from the grave. The drums were even more furious and introduced the concept of Blast Beats. Death (from Florida, not the Detroit 70's band) and Possessed were the originators, and bands like Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse or Obituary would cement the style and inspire a veritable international scene.

Black Metal was spawned from early bands like Venom, Celtic Frost or Mercyful Fate, widely different outfits that had a common interest in the occult and satanic imagery. The 90's Norwegian scene would take these obsessions to their extremes with a series of crimes that are still being talked today. But the influence of bands like Mayhem, Immortal or Emperor goes beyond the legend and the deplorable anecdotes.

Since then, it seems that nothing has upped the ante in terms of ferocity, brutality, violence, sheer malevolence and pure evil. Except maybe Taylor Swift.

Enjoy, comment and share!