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OK, let's start a "bay area thrash" topic then. Not my favourite thrash area, too much crap too be found there, BUT there are of course some exceptions. For me these exceptions are:

FORBIDDEN: The first LP has one of my alltime favourite tracks: Forbidden Evil, the rest of the album is half great/half bad. The second LP is great and I give it a spin more than once in a while.

TESTAMENT: The first one, the rest is average to crap IMO.

EXODUS: see Testament.

Well, lovers and haters of this genre, what are your opinions?

Ulysses Siren - Above The Ashes compilation is one of my favorites of the bay area scene.
Exodus,Vio-lence,Forbidden,Defiance,Heathen

As for Testament they have always seemed to get more hatred than I realized,I don't care what anyone says they will always be one of my favorites of the bay area scene.

But I must say I've always prefered the L.A. bands Dark Angel,Evildead,Lääz Rockit.

I totally worshipped 'VIO-LENCE-Eternal Nightmare' LP for soooo long! I still spin it every now & then.

POSSESSED was probably the best ever Bay Area thrash band - easily!

Followed closely by SADUS! 'Illusions' is an incredible debut, the drumming is totally insane! Godly stuff!

'DEATH ANGEL-Ultra Violence' was great too!

'FORBIDDEN-Twisted Into Form' was great at the time too.

I'll have to repeat that:

The Sentinel wrote:Not my favourite thrash area, too much crap too be found there, BUT there are of course some exceptions. For me these exceptions are:

EXODUS - first 3, however ONLY "Bonded by blood" was a 10/10 record. Their reunion albums are completely unlistenable.

HEATHEN - Breaking the silence. There are some classic Bay area elements in their music, but they also added their own unique ideas. The title track & Goblin's blade are headbanging hymns.

TESTAMENT - Only "The Legacy"- i'll second Sten's opinion. Great guitars & their most memorable songs. Do or Die slashes!

DEATH ANGEL - I like almost all their albums. The debut is an ultimate classic imo. The title track is divine.

The first FORBIDDEN is ok, not terrifically outstanding, but a good one. The rest = hard time for me.

Most of the other thrash bands are overrated or/and criminally overhyped: Vio-lence, Blind illusion, Laaz rockit etc etc

ION BRITTON wrote:Most of the other thrash bands are overrated or/and criminally overhyped: Vio-lence, Blind illusion, Laaz rockit etc etc

I have to disagree about Vio-lence.
They were, & still are, totally original!!!!!!!! No-one in thrash metal has ever had a vocal style like Sean Killian!
Yes, some people may cringe at the vocals, but at least they were original (apart from maybe Holy Terror or Voivod?!) & EVERY riff in EVERY song is totally classic, original & memorable... can't say that about many other bands of the same era... pity they had to go and spoil everything with the mediocre nu-metal of MH & the rest...

I would say Blind Illusion were nothing special, & LAAZ ROCKIT were very 'hit & miss' but "No Stranger To Danger" is a brilliant album!

Korgüll wrote:

ION BRITTON wrote:Most of the other thrash bands are overrated or/and criminally overhyped: Vio-lence, Blind illusion, Laaz rockit etc etc

I have to disagree about Vio-lence.
They were, & still are, totally original!!!!!!!! No-one in thrash metal has ever had a vocal style like Sean Killian!
Yes, some people may cringe at the vocals, but at least they were original (apart from maybe Holy Terror or Voivod?!) & EVERY riff in EVERY song is totally classic, original & memorable... can't say that about many other bands of the same era... pity they had to go and spoil everything with the mediocre nu-metal of MH & the rest...

I couldn't get into their music no matter how hard i tried. Didn't have much problem with the vocals (which were influenced by HC and weren't in the typical brutal/harsh style of metal), i just couldn't find something brilliant in their songs.

No Thoughts on Ulysses Siren - Above The Ashes compilation?

FenderMedium wrote:No Thoughts on Ulysses Siren - Above The Ashes compilation?

Yep, I've got it & it's great!
Great riffs...
...havent listened to it in a long while, but might take Eternal Nightmare off & put it on now!!!!!!!

So do we define "Bay Area Thrash" as Thrash bands from the Bay Area, or that chugga-chugga-chugga-EXODUS/TESTAMENT/ANTHRAX-sound in general? To be honest I'm not that good at keeping track of where this or that band came from..

Anyways..

TESTAMENT - "The Legacy" is a great Metal record. Loads of solid riffing and excellent songwriting there for sure. It's their later stuff that bored me.

EXODUS - I'm probably the only Metal fan on the planet who doesn't worship "Bonded by Blood". Sure, I like a handful of songs from this one and "Pleasures of the Flesh" but that particular style of Metal just don't move me ya know..

DEATH ANGEL - Me listening to "The Ultra-Violence":
I liked the weirdness of "Frolic.." when it came out, but as far as progressive Metal goes I don't think it has aged very well. I'd still rather listen to that one and "Act III" than the debut.

VIO-LENCE - Good music I guess, but the weird vocals ruin it for me. So shoot me.

FORBIDDEN - Haven't listen to them for ages. I remember liking the debut, maybe found it a bit unoriginal at the time. Need to get back to this one..

DaN wrote:I'd still rather listen to that one and "Act III" than the debut.

'Seemingly Endless Time' is a corker of an opening track on any album!

DaN wrote:VIO-LENCE - Good music I guess, but the weird vocals ruin it for me. So shoot me.

You're dead!

I like the Vio-lence debut too and the coverart is of course topnotch, REPKA rules!!

HEATHEN "breaking the silence" is a classic IMO.

Am I the only one who thinks the BLIND ILLUSION LP is a RIPPER?

And yes, POSSESSED rules them all !!!

Absolutely adore the scene!!!!!

Metallica - not originally from BA, yet still the best! - All of their 4 albums were miles before any other band then!

Death Angel - more "meh" than something else, their first LP was good, but I still prefer many other bands than DA. Actually, I prefer their 2nd LP even more ...

Blind Illusion - A bit overrated, but still great tech thrash!

Forbidden - Twisted into Form is AMAZING!!!! Top 3 of all time!! The first LP is great as well, thrash metal done to perfection!

Exodus - BBB of course, everything else was good but not 10/10

Heathen - a band which can't do no wrong - I prefer the Victims album! New album is going to be out soon!

Laaz Rockit - yeah, a bit overrated - My favorite is Know Your Enemy, while their later, thrashy stuff isn't that good.

Epidemic - solid!

Ulysses Siren - very cool band, but nothing outstanding!

Vio-Lence - I guess they are the "love 'em or hate 'em" band, due to Sean's vocals. Fortunately, I belong to love 'em group Great band and 3 great albums!!

Possessed - good? - yes, the best from BA? - hell no!

Sadus - I never really got into this band I need to give their more spins to their stuff.

Testament - GODS!!!!! I love The Legacy, but it was nothing compared to The New Order! I like everything up to The Ritual, and for the rest, it's decent enough!

And more, but I'm not that familiar with exact city-origins of underground US thrash bands ...

Certainly I prefer the Rhur hrash scene, but I cant deny that bandas like Possessed and Death Angel are totally over the top. I never liked Forbidden nor Violence, excpeting some tracks.

I like the 1rst wave (EXODUS debut, old-SLAYER, HIRAX), the 2nd wave was too technical and except a few bands (VIO-LENCE, FORBIDDEN, ...), it turns into boring demonstrating shit.

POSSESSED and SADUS are great, but I don't consider them as typical Bay Area thrash bands.

TESTAMENT is maybe the only band I prefer new material to the old one.

First I have to admit that in Slovenia and rest of Yuga we were very pro Bay Area and very pro Ruhr scene. Pretty "mainstream" actually. So my post could be quite similar to sovdat's one.

Forbidden: both first albums are still absolute milestones for me.

Testament: first three albums I was completely sold to. I love tech so I adored Practice What You Preach too.

Possessed: both LP's. Words cannot describe em.

Death Angel: The Ultra and Act III. Act III. has blown my mind.

Heathen I didn't like at the time. My synapses had been constantly telling me they were a little too easy. Today I like them a lot.

Blind Illusion never really got me. Have to give them another spin.

Ulysses Siren CD is gathering dust somewhere. Haven't spin it yet. CANNOT FIND TIME FOR EVERYTHING, GODDAMMIT!!!!!

Sadus: Illusions is great. Others much less so.

Violence I find somehow repetitive and ... well, ... boring musically (it does not hold my attention) while vocals are sth special.

Defiance: debut is great. the rest ... hmmm, yawn.

Exodus: BBB and parts of POTF and III could actually bang my head to. FD has completely turned me off at time being (in the same vein as Overkill - Under The Influence) Production or riffs?

Metallica: first four, first four, first four ....

But if I'd have to consider Apocalypse' debut as Bay Area thrash, than I declare it the best Bay Area thrash album ever recorded.

So considered as a scene has some absolute musts and some pretty drowsy stuff. Every band treated separately ...