Thrash metal is generally characterized by a fast pace,
a staccato, chunky guitar riffing style, and aggressive vocals.
Metallica's
Kill 'Em All,
released in 1983, is arguably the first true thrash album,
with healthy thrash scenes sprouting in the USA
(particularly the San Francisco area), Germany, and
elsewhere by the late eighties.
By the early nineties the genre was a bit oversaturated,
and in later years fewer bands played the style,
but it's still a viable style today, with veteran bands
such as
Overkill,
Testament, and
Destruction,
among others, still producing quality thrash albums,
while bands such as
The Haunted
have spurned a new generation of thrash in the new millennium.
Amusingly, thrash is often misspelled as "trash" by European writers.
