10# Exumer-Possessed By Fire
I happen to be a huge German thrash fan and Exumer was one of my first bands. This shit came out in 1986, when it was still early for thrash. Despite these factors, Exumer can deliver some solid and raw thrash with destructive force. The songs are obviously influenced by early heavy metal bands like Maiden. The solos are bluesy yet chaotic, like Slayer. There is some serious Exodus worship here, having contain some ferocious and primitive riffs. The only upside about this album is the production, which frankly the band could have done nothing about. But besides this minor problem Exumer can really thrash in the vien of Exodus and Slayer and punish you with some primival yet aggressive riffage.
Highlights:
Xiron Darkstar
Fallen Saint
Destructive Solution
Although the German scene was filled with brutal bands like Exumer and Kreator, Paradox came to a total surprise. After I plugged in my headphones I immedeatly noticed the huge power metal influence along with the vast majority of technical glimpses in the album. Paradox had a much diffrent style than all the other German bands and played some really catchy and memorable riffs with powerfull and high-pitched vocals in order to perfect the power/thrash style.
Highlights:
Heresy
Crusaders Revenge
Search For Perfection
#8 Protector-A Shedding Of Skin
Protector were among the more obscure bands which came from Germany, although this album tells the completely opposite of that fact. A Shedding Of Skin is without doubt the best album that Protector ever released. The vocals are pretty harsh, even death-ish at times which just intensifies the whole experience for listeners. There's an abundance of blazing riffs, furiously forged and delivered. Protector doesn't get any heavier than this.
Highlights:
A Shedding Of Skin
Tantalus
Mortuary Nightmare
#7 Assoted Heap-Mindwaves
Coming from Germany, one of the real highlights of old school thrash scene, Assoted Heap were actually quite obscure. Despite this fact, they managed to create a manacing and savage debut in 1991, right before bringing forth this album which is clearly the better of the two. The beautifully dark and classy atmosphere is another great separator, which separates this album from the all the other German bands. The riffs are very well done and support a very heavy structure aswel as a blasphemous sound of their own. For thrashers who look for obsure gems from well-known countries, this is a good album to look for.
Highlights:
What I Confess
Coloured Eyes
Nice To Beat You
Just like Assorted Heap, Archaic Torse were latecomers to the German scene, having release their only album in 1992. But if you expected hear something different than all the other German thrashers, then this album is not your thing. AT perfect the German formula, with a barrage of monstous riffs with beautiful heaviness and crunchiness also showing glimpses of technicalty at times. With a rich and full production and death/thrash vocals, AT would have gained much more publicity if they had released this album earlier.
Highlights:
Message To No One
Beyond The Great Divide
Snuff
#5 Necromonicon-Screams
Although Necromonicon released three albums before this one, which was released in 1994, this is the best album for me. Firstly I would like to point out that the year is 1994-thrash is literally dead yet Necromonicon released a surprisingly decent album. In fact is nothing short of brilliant considering the year. The production is the best that the band ever had and the riffs are simple but are well-done and reflect the heydays of thrash without any problems. The vocal delivery has also improved, since it is suppoted by the production. To make a long story short, everytime I listen to this record, I am simply baffled.
Highlights:
Final Course
Second Birth
#4 Destruction-Eternal Devastation
Destruction along with Sodom and Kreator formed the Teutonic Trio, the bands which made Germany big. And there are obvious reasons for this. One noticeable difference from the debut is the production of course, albeit it is still not the main spotlight. Destruction have a very distinctive sound, with Schimer's nasty vocal delivery and the crisp and razor sharp guitar tone. The riffs get technical at times, which is really entertaining, aswel as the traditional savage and barbaric thrash attack. Overall, Eternal Destruction is a crucial milestone for Destruction and the German thrash scene.
Highlights:
Curse The Gods
Eternal Ban
Life Without Sense
Sodom's fifth album Tapping The Vein could have easily fitted here, but I couldn't just throw such a classic like this away. Sodom, in this album take The Vietnam War as a lyrical concept, which is something to like about the album before even listening. The production is crisp clear and much better compared to Persecution Mania, which was also a notable effort. This album shows alot of your typical thrash riffs played very intely. Tracks like the title track have an abundance of storming riffs and drums, which just sound great. Tom Angelripper's German accent is absolutely killer, but not as good as his guttural singing-which may tend to go towards a death-ish attitude. Sodom clearly show their technical skill on this album, and get rif of all the black metal influence which was present in their previous albums.
Highlights:
Baptism Of Fire
Agent Orange
Magic Dragon
After their mostly well received early thrash attack Raging Steel, Deathrow took the tiny glimpses of technicalty on the album into a machine of rapid expendriture. DI left me in utter bewildermnt the second I heard it. For such an obscure band, Deathrow rose absolutely tremendously in their musical skill and created this wonder of an album. Many people may consider Toxix or Mekong Delta as the best technical thrash band, but those people don't know of the riffs in DI. Fast, very catchy and incredibly technical. In fact if it wasn't for some of the riffs which represented thrash, I might have mistaken this album for some sort of early progressive metal album.
Highlights:
Triocton
Narcotic
Machinery
Events In The Concealment
I'm pretty sure many people weren't suprised when they saw this album at number 1, but it's unavoidable not to put it there. Pleasure To Kill is simply what the whole German scene is about. Millie's savage vocal attack, the pounding drums and the rancorous barrage of riffs so fast that sometimes seem uncomprehensible. The only flaw here is the production which the year is to blame. It is indeed early, but PTK is such a masterpiece that it influences so many other bands to come, so maybe the year was a great advantage. All in all PTK only lacks production and maybe a little more focus on the riffs, but those are just minor flaws, which are easily outnumbered by the good factors of the album which are speed, aggression and power.
Highlights:
Carrion
Under The Guillotine
The Pestilence
Ripping Corpse
And this is just a glimpse of the mighty German scene...
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