Best Thrash band

[Bogmetaller]

Put up a poll ages ago out of boredom and same applies here. I know there could have been dozens of options I could have put up but just picked the bands I think people would be most likely to pick.

[Eoin McLove]

Metallica. After Guns N' Roses they were my first total obsession band and I love how every album up until The Black Album has its own unique character.  I was too young and clueless to understand the concept of subgenres so it seemed perfectly natural to me that every album would sound completely different to the one before it. I didn't realise they had so radically changed (sold out some will say) between Justice and The Black Album and I fell instantly in love with it. I remember seeing the video for Enter Sandman on Top of the Pops in my grandparents' house and literally running up and down the hall with excitement that they had a new album out 

Listening to that stuff now with age and experience and a more analytical ear it is clear why they became the biggest metal band in the world. Such incredible talent.

[ldj]

Yeah I went for Metallica too, in the 80's they were just on another level musically to be honest.

I know some people have the Metallica vs Megadeth argument but even as a Megadeth fan, they were never as consistent, they always had the dodgy cover songs and questionable production on some of the 80's stuff too.

Maybe one for the Controversial Opinions thread but Bonded by Blood is the only notable album Exodus did.

[Carnage]

Metallica, purely for the one-two of Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets. My favourite thrash albums are Nuclear Assault's Game over and Rust In Peace, but the first four Metallica albums are a run that no other thrash band did as well IMO.

Bonded By Blood is probably the only Exodus album I can't listen to, because of the terrible, terrible vocals.

[Bogmetaller]

Slayer for me every day of the week. There is no doubt that Metallica were more talented in a music sense but they only had 4 thrash albums and I'm not a fan of the second or fourth of those (sacrilege to some I know). While Slayer's recorded output dipped post Divine Intervention they still had a handful of good thrash songs on those subsequent albums, apart from Repentless which was pure shit. For what it's worth I would probably put Kreator as my second choice- Pleasure to Kill is just a fucking savage album .

[ldj]

As far as pure originality goes Voivod is up there for me too.

[Trev]

Metallica here too, mostly for the run from RTL to AJFA, which were so formative for me and they're all near flawless albums. Although these days I find if I want to listen to them I go with a mix of my favourites from Load/Reload

Testament have probably been most consistent, I don't think there's any real shitters in their catalogue like St Anger or Risk

Vektor would have to be up there too, even if they aren't strictly all out thrash

[Born of Fire]

Out of the bands listed there I'd personally say that Sodom have the most consistently deadly back catalogue. When other bands were slowing or polishing their sound they were releasing savagery like Tapping The Vein.

Megadeth are probably my most listened to band of all time though. Rust In Peace still sounds fresh to this day despite the countless times I've listened to it. I feel sorry for younger folk who will probably only listen to the godawful remaster which completely castrates the original recording though.

[Blackout]

Metallica up until the Black album are the just the greatest metal band ever no question. However as we are talking from a pure thrash point of view it has to be Slayer. Slayers first couple of outputs - arguably peaking at RIB - in terms of thrash metal are the greatest thrash metal albums of all time.

[vinterland]

To these ears the output from Slayer's first five albums exceeds that of Metallica's first five. What happened Metallica thereafter dropped them down the pecking order somewhat. In a word Slayer. All day long.

[Cailleach]

Metallica have better individual songs, but to  me Slayer are the better  band overall. Also,  while i've enjoyed seeing Metallica live, Slayer have always been better to me. The first time I saw Hanneman and King playing together was a great experience. I never quite had the same feeling watching Metallica live.

[Thorn]

Went with Slayer myself, much as I love all the.other bands ,Slayer had that innate darkness and spite to their stuff that just tips my nod towards  them over Metallica and Megadeth

[Paul keohane]

Metallica for me.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Wouldn't really know what way to vote on this. Metallica only have one true thrash album and that's Kill 'Em All; Megadeth stayed more thrash a bit longer, with elements still dominant in Peace Sells and So Far, So Good. So, yeah, for pure thrash value maybe Slayer, maybe Kreator. I guess, all things considered, I love thrash as an influence more than as an unadulterated style, similar to punk for me in that way. All that said, Kill Em All would be my favourite thrash album, but still seems wrong to vote for Metallica in this poll   

[Nail_Bombed]

Testament - nearly their entire back catalogue from 80's through to the 90s/00s is top notch material - the auld line of "The Big 4 should be Metallica Megadeth Slayer and Testament" applies IMO. They have tapered off somewhat in later years, but they've still given out some of the best stuff with The Legacy, The New Order, Practice What You Preach, Low, The Gathering, Demonic etc. Great band.