What happened to Guillotine?

Anybody out there know what has happened to Guillotine? The thrash band responsible for the modern day classic albums Under the Guillotine and Blood Money seem to have fallen off the earth.

I am a really big fan of their brand of harsh thrash and would love to hear more material. Maybe I missed an update on some metal website somewhere, but have these guys called it quits or do we have to wait another 10 years before they release another slab of metal?

Come back, guys!

Diamond Plate ROCKS!

I've just recently been turned on to Diamond Plate, a thrash band consisting of some extremely talented guys in their late teens!

As I searched online for their website and vids, I learned they were recently signed to Earache! What a break! These guys deserve it and I can't wait until their debut.

Check out their MySpace page here.

The massive MAP OF METAL

Here we have a map of heavy metal and all its glorious branches. From Doom Metal to Thrash to Stoner, you'll find it here on the Map of Metal.

The map is impressively comprehensive, allowing drop lists of bands from specific genres. Click on the band and hear a representing tune! Unreal.

Check it out here.

New song from Lazarus A.D.

Lazarus A.D. just posted a new song titled The Ultimate Sacrifice from their upcoming album Black Rivers Flow.

Check it out!

NWOTM: new discoveries for a new generation

When I first got into thrash and death metal back in the mid and late 80s, I couldn't get enough.

I would scan the tape (and later, CD) aisles at least twice a week to see if there was anything I might have missed. My friends and I bought tons of metal magazines to check out any ads they might have of underground bands.

We did not yet have the convenience of the internet, so we relied on magazines, word of mouth, and specific record labels which put out the stuff we liked.

Combat, Metal Blade, Century Media, Megaforce and R/C (among others) always got our money first. Sometime we were disappointed with a blind purchase, but the thrill of the hunt for new music was always a rush.

Back then, it was a glorious time of discovery. This is why I love the NWOTM so much.

Now we have kids between the ages of 12 and 15 discovering thrash metal for the first time. With SO many choices out there, those kids will experience the same rush of discovering new thrash bands as my friends and I did back in the day.

The best aspect of having new young thrash bands is that the kids can actually anticipate new releases instead of relying on a dead catalog of broken up or nearly forgotten bands. Yes, new fans should absolutely seek out as much old-school stuff as possible (and as fans of thrash metal, they most certainly will), but it sure is bad-ass to consider the slew of new music being produced right now for both noobs and old-schoolers to enjoy.

Wow, those new fans are lucky. Not only do they have a ton of new stuff, but also a megaton of older thrash to hunt through.

Lazarus A.D.'s new album

February is looking to be a great month in thrash (for me). Not only am I going to see the Death Angel/Lazarus A.D./Early Man/Bonded by Blood/Hexen/Hammerlord concert on the 11th, but it looks like Lazarus is releasing their new album "Black Rivers Flow" on the 1st!

Hee hee!

I hope to snag a copy so I can drink in the new tunes before hearing them performed live.

No communication = No classic Sepultura reunion

I recently read on everyone's favorite metal tabloid that Max Cavalera believes that Paulo is the only one holding back a classic SEPULTURA reunion.

Now, before I get into this, let me state that I am a biased man when it comes to the SEPS. ARISE, to me, is a perfect death/thrash album. The song structures, the beauty, the madness...everything about that particular album makes my blood pump, even to this very day, when I listen to it.

I was lucky enough to see SEP on both the Chaos A.D. (with Fear Factory and CLUTCH) and Roots tours. Even after the many concerts I've attended, those SEP shows (particularly the Chaos show) stand out in my memory as highlights in live metal.

After Max left, I caught SEP during their AGAINST tour (with Earth Crisis and...ummmm...Downset? Can't remember). It was a good show, but my attitude toward the so-so Against album and my adoration of the original SEP had me close the door on my once favorite band.

It's none of my business what Andreas and Company wanted to do with the SEP name at the time, but I always thought they should have done what Max did and start over with a new band. SEP had a specific sound and voice, and once the main element was removed, so were those two essential pieces to the band.

I've been a moderate fan of Soulfly, mainly because Max can still write a monster riff, although I do get sick of both the cussing for the sake of cussing as well as the "Jump da fuck UP" type of lyrics. So far, I've seen Soulfly two or three times, and all shows have been excellent.

Now, since Igor has once again joined forces with his brother in Cavalera Conspiracy, it seems the SEP reunion talk has stepped up a bit. Fingers have been pointing all over the place as to who is to blame for not making this happen, but now, according to Max, it's bass player Paulo.

Really? Isn't Newstead free? Geez.

Max says in the interview, "We can do it again, but people should ask Paulo why it doesn't appeal to him."

No, Max. Why don't YOU freaking ask him?? Man, this is probably why a classic SEP reunion will never happen, because of the unbelievable lack of communication. A band needs to be a united force, not guys with their backs turned to one another who only communicate via the PRESS.

I, for one, am all for a classic SEP reunion. Also, I guarantee that nearly every NWOTM band had been influenced one way or another by the Max/Igor/Andreas/Paulo line-up. I believe that a lot of young fans who are just getting into bands like Lazarus A.D., Sworn Amongst, and Mantic Ritual would kill for a chance at seeing SEPULTURA rise again.

Again, I am for a reunion - new material and all - but I can't see this happening if these guys can't even get to the first step of making it a reality: picking up the phone.

Top 100 Thrash Albums

The Thrash Unlimited forum held a vote for the top 100 thrash metal albums (find it here on this thread).

Well, now you can hear a riff off of every album on the list thanks to the Thrash til Death channel on YouTube!

The 10 vids are quite an impressive endeavor. The poster named ThrashMetalRiffs, who compiled these, said these videos are "Great for new thrashers wanting to be introduced to new bands."

Agreed!

Check out video #1 here and move through the list.

Dr. Living Dead! Please come to the States!

I've been listening to Dr. Living Dead's Thrashing the Law a lot lately, which in turn makes me lurk the internet for any news/pics of the band like some kind of crazed thrash stalker.

These guys are so damn GOOD, and they need some serious backing so they can bring their brand of heavy-hitting crossover here to the States.

Sorry, I just needed to get that out. Anyway, I'll just have to be satisfied with a full length album once they get it done. Someone out there keep me posted on their progress on the full length! I can't find any news on it!

AHHHHH!!!!

Countdown to a killer thrash show!

yes, I am counting the days. On Feb. 11, 2011 at the Riot Room in Kansas City, I am going to see:

Death Angel, Lazarus A.D., Early Man, Bonded By Blood, Hexen, and Hammerlord.

I will finally be able to cross Death Angel off my list!

I am really psyched to see Lazarus A.D. and Bonded by Blood, the latter I listen at least every other day.

I also hope that Hexen brings some audio merch because I can't seem to find their freaking CD anywhere.

Anyway, I plan to take a camera, so hopefully I'll have some pics posted here after the mayhem.


























METAL!

Toxik Society ROCKS!

Man, do I love to discover new bands that tear my head clean off. Toxik Society, a thrash band out of Spain, did just that with their latest demo.

The three-song demo that I was able to download here, is a ferocious thrash attack with quick riff-rock undertones.

Here is one of my faves, titled Human War.




Check them out on their MySpace page.

I am simply a fan

In the mid to late 90s, I went to a lot of metal and hardcore shows. Agnostic Front, D.R.I., Pro-Pain, No Innocent Victim, Earth Crisis, S.O.D., Life of Agony, Clutch, Downset, Napalm Death, and Madball (just to name a few) hit the stage in Lawrence, KS more than a few times, and it was great.

Since I was in a local band, I knew many of the regulars who would pop up at these shows. I became friends with a couple guys I would see at the clubs and we would talk music - in particular about the bands we were about to see live.

I began noticing an irritating trend in our infrequent conversations. Whenever we would talk about a band, these two would always make sure to get the following line in:

"I love their first record, but everything after that sucks."

Every time. Every band.

Now, I'm not just talking about bands that radically changed their sound like 90s-era Metallica or post-Max Sepultura. No, these guys ragged on everybody. When Hatebreed released their first major full-length back in 1997, those buddies of mine complained that it wasn't as good as their first independently released ep.

REALLY? Hatebreed? Since when did Hatebreed EVER radically change their sound, let alone between their first ep and their first lp???

After a while, their inevitable statements started to bug me to the point that I wouldn't even want to talk with these guys about the band we were about to see. Most of the time, I already had the band's new release, and usually, I freaking loved it.

Little did I know at the time that such an attitude is fairly widespread amongst so-called fans.

"You know, I love the band's first practice demo they recorded on a cheap boom box in their basement, but everything after that sucks. I mean, they didn't even have vocals recorded over their half-written songs yet - now THAT'S metal!!!

Please, everyone, look at what a purist I am!"

Nowadays, I will get into online discussions about metal, and I'll find the same ideas expressed there as well (in spades). Many will express love and admiration for a band's early records and hate the rest.

For example, Testament's first two albums (The Legacy and The New Order) are thrash classics. To me, so is Practice What You Preach, The Gathering, and even Testament's unfortunately panned heavy weight album Demonic.

But I guess admitting that I like Testament's later material just as much as I like their early stuff makes me, what?...not old-school enough? Not purist enough?

Hell, I simply call it being a FAN of the band.

I may not enjoy everything Testament has put out, but I love their music and will always be a first day buyer of any future releases. I am a fan, see?

For those who hate the later releases of bands they supposedly love, who are they trying to impress when boldly slamming anything past the first or second album? I really would like to know how such ideas give them feelings of self-satisfaction.

I guarantee there is someone out there saying "Municipal Waste's first two releases were good, but the rest sucks."

I guess only a purist's ears can hear the change in quality when there clearly is none.

Dr. Living Dead rocks

For those of you who haven't heard of Dr. Living Dead (and who like a little humor in their thrash) are in for a treat. These guys like to mix a little SOD and Slayer with their Suicidal Tendencies to produce something that crushes!

Unbelievably, as of this post, they are unsigned, but you can download their latest demo for free at their web site here.

Fueled By Fire - new release available

According to their forum at Thrash Unlimited, Fueled By Fire's new release Plunging Into Darkness is now available!

Details here.
























Check out their myspace page here.

Sworn Amongst!

How did these guys fly under my radar? I just discovered these guys by accident and I think their new album Severance is simply killer.




Check out their web site here.

Back to my roots

As a 37 year-old male who grew up on a steady diet of hard rock and heavy metal, I always had a soft spot for thrash. I first noticed thrash metal (and crossover) when my friend Matt played me Cryptic Slaughter, S.O.D. and Metallica. I hated 'em. I couldn't make sense of anything that these supposed musicians were trying to accomplish.

At the time (7th or 8th grade), I was knee-deep in bands like Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, but I still had this craving for something heavier. However, it didn't take long for those songs that Matt played for me to start getting into my head.

The night I finally gave into the sounds of thrash metal is the time I stayed overnight at Matt's house and asked him to play the "Battle Ray" song ("Battery" by Metallica). The next day, he recorded me a tape of Master of Puppets, and I was hooked.

In high school, I started a thrash band with a couple buddies called Judgement (sic). We covered an array of Big Four songs as well as a few choice cuts from Prong, Sepultura, and D.R.I. among others.

However, just as soon as I found my love for thrash, I discovered bands like Death, Obituary, Entombed, and Malevolent Creation. Soon, my friends and I were all about death metal.

Not that we left thrash in the dust - we would still buy from our favorite bands, but as for searching for NEW stuff, it had to be death metal. Make all the Cookie Monster jokes you want. To me, the sludgy growls only made the music heavier. It fit that type of music, and I loved it. Me want cookies and death metal.

Throughout the years, I dabbled in all things from the heavy spectrum of music, from hardcore (Biohazard, Hatebreed, Sick of it All), nu metal (Korn), metalcore (Demon Hunter, Machine Head), stoner rock (CLUTCH!), grind (Napalm Death, Terrorizer), and power metal (Edguy, Celledor).

I liked it all, and I STILL like it all, but after the dust has settled, I find myself wanting to go back to what got me into heavy music in the first place: Thrash Metal.

Bands like Kreator, I.N.C., Testament, Sacred Reich, Overkill, Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Death Angel, Vio-lence, and the classic Big Four.

So recently, I decided to rediscover my roots in metal, and maybe pick up a few albums that I missed back in the day. Little did I know that there was (and still is) a flourishing new movement in thrash. As soon as I hit the internet looking for my favorite classic bands, I found a slew of relative newcomers influenced by them.

Bands like Merciless Death, Bonded by Blood, Hyades, Fueled by Fire, Municipal Waste, Lich King, Zombie Holocaust, Mantic Ritual, Pitiful Reign, Dr. Living Dead, Gama Bomb, Evile, Warbringer, National Suicide, etc, etc, etc.

Now THIS is exciting, I thought. Look at all these bands! An overflow of them, really. Everything from crossover, Bay Area, and Germany-influenced thrash, with so much from which to choose, and many of them really freaking GOOD.

The thrash snobs may thumb their noses at the New Wave of Thrash Metal (which I cannot understand how one can be a "snob" about thrash metal. It sounds so Caddyshack), but I embrace it. I am a fan of heavy music.

People complain that the NWOTM bands are unoriginal, recycling ideas from 25 years ago. However, when a band adds some new elements to their sound, the purists will THEN complain that the music deviates too far to be actual thrash metal.

Screw all that. I like it. I like the classic stuff and the new stuff. I like THRASH.

So this blog will be a celebration of the New Wave of Thrash Metal (NWOTM) and its influences. Here I will dump links, vids, thoughts and news on all things thrash.

I'll try to keep this blog updated regularly, so I hope you check back often.

Take care and Thrash 'til DEATH!