Annihilator is pretty well known within the thrash community, but isn't as well known as they should be in the complete heavy metal spectrum. I have listened to their first three albums, all of which I enjoy greatly, but each one is less impressive than the last. Their first album, Alice In Hell, is a thrash masterpiece with great tracks like Alison Hell and W.T.Y.D. Never Neverland is almost as great as their first effort and has awesome songs like Never Neverland and Road to Ruin. Annihilator's third album, Set the World On Fire, is not that great and not that thrashy, but the title track is good and Brain Dance is my favorite song on it. Annihilator incorporate comedy in their music every once in a while, like the song Kraf Dinner, and the funny interlude in the song Brain Dance. Jeff Waters' guitar work is phenomenal and without error. Each of these albums have a different singer, but all of them do a good job, my favorite being Randy Rampage. Overall, these guys are pretty solid for three albums, I believe that they get too experimental afterwards, I'll have to check out their later stuff sometime, but from what I've heard I give Annihilator a score of 8.5/10.
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Now here's a band that perfectly encapsulates what people who do not listen to metal think metal looks and sounds like. A bunch of ripped dudes with animal hides and leather as clothes, holding swords on their album covers. Now that's heavy metal. They have some of the cheesiest lyrics around, which are about war, honor, mythology, and (of course) heavy metal. Although the cheese factor is extremely high, the songs are still extremely metal. You can't help but laugh when you listen to them, but you also can't help but want to slay a dragon. They have very catchy choruses, loud drumbeats, simple (yet catchy) riffs, and powerful vocals. From the select songs I've heard, I haven't heard anything that I would consider bad music. These guys have memorable choruses, drums and guitars that are easily heard and simple, but effective, and just all around catchy songs. For these reasons, I give Manowar a 7/ 10. I have not listened to a complete album, so I am going off of their most popular songs, but for right now this is a reasonable score. The best way to defend this is by the simple line: Other bands play, Manowar kill. Right, Calvin?
Motorhead is a band that is synonymous with heavy metal, but this doesn't mean that everyone must like them. I understand how people can enjoy them, but I get bored before completing a full album. Lemmy's vocals are unique and are cool for like two songs, but after that they can get quite annoying. Motorhead is however, for whatever reason, very influential. They influenced many bands, a lot of them in the thrash genre, including the almighty Metallica. This makes them even better. Motorhead remind me of a heavier Deep Purple, and that isn't a bad thing, but they aren't as enjoyable as Deep Purple and Lemmy's vocals are good for a couple tracks, but he just sings the same way on every track. Their lyrics aren't that outstanding either, but they do have some decent instrumentation. If I was basing my grading solely on my own taste I'd give them a 3, but since they are so influential and have good guitar and drum work I will give Motorhead a 4.5/10.
This is a band I had read about on quite a few different lists of good thrash bands, but just recently decided that I should check them out. I listened to By Inheritance completely, and I am currently in the process of listening to Fear of Tomorrow. On By Inheritance, I heard a lot of things that I liked: the riffs, the solos, the lyrics, but the one thing that I need to get used to are Flemming Ronsdorf's vocals. At times, they sound like a higher pitched Bobby Blitz, and then other times they sound like normal thrash vocals. Blitz' vocals took time to get used to, but now Overkill is one of my favorite thrash bands, so I can definitely get used to them. The vocals were more suitable for me on Fear of Tomorrow (from what I've heard so far). By Inheritance is a decent album, with three or four standout tracks, but that is on the first listen. Once I listen to it a couple times over I can get a full grip on my opinions. For now, this band look like they have a lot of stuff I can get in to. I will give them a 6.5/10 for now, which isn't bad for a band I have just discovered.
Sanctuary is a band that I stumbled on a few months ago and thought that they weren't half bad. The vocals are in a power metal style while the instruments sound similar to thrash. At least this is the case on their 1987 debut album Refuge Denied. This is the only album I have heard by them, but I almost picked up their 2014 release when I was at a CD store in Des Moines the other day but ultimately decided not to. The main reason I consider Refuge Denied thrash is because Dave Mustaine produced it and even played a solo in the song White Rabbit, which is a Jefferson Airplane cover. If you are a fan of power metal and thrash metal, then these guys are definitely worth a listen. I believe I have also read that their newer stuff is progressive metal. Based on the one album, I see this band's other material having some potential, so I will give them a 6/10. They have good music, good songs, and at least one good album, but nothing that I really felt was amazing the first couple of listens. Maybe they'll grow on me, but until then they deserve a 6.
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