Copyright (c) 2007-2024 THE THRASH METAL GUIDE 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
T.A.N.K. (FRANCE)
Based on "Dissatisfaction", this outfit serve metalcore-ish post-thrash with echoes of Chimaira and God Forbid. Things aren't completely stale and "Unleash The Craving" is a nice dramatic thrasher with gorgeous melodic leads, some of the finest to grace these ears recently. Highlights of the kind aren't very easy to encounter later on, but the leads remain on an impossibly high level: this guy deserves a medal for his pyrotechnics. The singer isn't as impressive, though, his intelligible guttural death metal tone providing the requisite assistance without sounding very obtrusive.
Tank EP, 2007 Official Site T.A.R. (SWEDEN)
Based on the full-length: this act surprises with a crunchy take on the modern/classic power/thrash metal idea with a strong doomy twist. As such the guys provide a slower and more direct alternative to their compatriots Memento Mori, Hexenhaus, and Pathos, and in this vein they come as a doomier, and less interesting, Morgana Lefay. Still, the only major complaint would be the ultra-heaviness of the riffs which at times bring the approach close to Pantera (the more dynamic "Kiss of Death"), or "sail" into doom/semi-balladic waters (the nostalgic "If"). Needless to say, at least half of the other material is openly doom; good stuff as a whole lacking quite a bit in the speed department, but making up with its consistent heavy riffage. The singer isn't bad providing an attached hoarse clean timbre reminiscent of Charles Rytkonen (Morgana Lefay). The band were previously known under the name Vulture King, when they released two demos in the early-90's, and later continued their career as Point of Existence with one EP and a full-length released recently.
Fear of Life Full-length, 1997 Official Site T.A.Z. (POLAND)
These "alcoholics" (T.A.Z. stands for "The Alcoholic Zone") play laid-back modern post-thrash in mid-pace with a couple of alternative moments; soft stuff as a whole also recalling Helmet and Biohazard at times.
Schemata of Decomposition Full-length, 2009 Official Site T.B. EIGHTEEN (RUSSIA)
Thrash/crossover mixing wild frenetic numbers, even spiced with grinding breaks, with softer less intense ones which are the dominant side. Still, there are a lot of sharp riffs to be heard as well as a couple of catchy punk-ish tunes.
Moi Gorod-Territoria Boia Full-Length, 2009 T.C.F. (HOLLAND)
This band (aka Thrash Core Fanatics) offers (based on the EP) very fast blitzkrieg thrash/crossover, highly energetic and enjoyable stuff packed in 5 songs within the 1-2min range, topped by gruff semi-death metal vocals.
Core '88 Demo, 2008 My Space T.F.N. (USA)
Raw semi-amateurish thrash, quite fast and intense, which is more on the crossover side with some of the cuts being pure hardcore. The sound quality is awful, but the guys hardly need a better one, just having fun including the singer who shouts merrily the whole time. Later the band changed their name to Social Decay and started playing more sensible music, still on the crossover side, but more proficient.
Political Death Demo, 1986 Demo Download T.H.C. (USA)
Based on the "Christian Brainwash" demo, these folks (the abbreviation stands for Thrashing Hectic Circle) pull out intense dynamic thrash/crossover which explodes around in the form of short bursting tracks topped by rough proto-death vocals. The sound quality is pretty muddy, and the guys just bash with vigour without any pretensions at high-class musicianship.
Killing for Peace Demo, 1986 T.M.A. (CZECH)
Soft uneventful post-thrash, groovy and monotonous, with the best moments being the ballads and the semi-ballads as well as the several more doom-fixated passages.
Kde jsou Full-length, 1995 TxCxAx (BELARUS)
Violent bashing thrashcore with grinding moments; this is the thrashy analogue to early Napalm Death with more comprehensive vocals staying in the hardcore, shouty trajectories. The guys never slow down except for a while on the last 2 songs among which "Detestation" is a cool all-instrumental cut with shades of death metal.
Abhorrence Demo, 2011 TABAHI (PAKISTAN)
The debut: classic thrash purveyors from Karachi who march forward with edgy abrasive guitars and brutal death metal vocals which don't quite suit the mellower musical approach, but deepen the morose atmosphere created by the dark rhythm-section which may recall the British veterans Deathwish although more relaxed speed metal-based passages are not "strangers" to their style, either. The album opens with the more brooding slower cuts before "Fatwa" starts thrashing with more speed and edge with more elaborate decisions heard on "Art of War". Later on the more aggressive delivery is left behind despite the more ambitious song-titles ("Thrashbandi", "Mosh Mosh Mosh"). This is decently-executed old school stuff in various tempos which lacks something in the production department (the guitars fuzz quite a bit), but such flaws can easily be smoothed out on subsequent releases.
Tabahi Full-Length, 2014 Official Site TABLETOPS (USA)
Based on the "No Size over 5" EP, this band play unimaginative 90's post-thrash which is mere abrasive noise for a large portion of the time, merging Biohazard ("The Monster's Back") with more relaxed thrashcore ala Madball ("Night of the Creeps"), the quarrelsome shouty singer accommodating all stylistic shifts.
No Size over 5 EP, 1999 Official Site TABULA RASA (UKRAINE)
This is the work of just one musician who specializes in relatively heavy modern post-thrash which occasionally leaves the instilled mid-paced ("Vsluh", the energetic crossover-ish "Neoselekcia"), the darker doom-laden chugs on "Pohoron" served with a sniff of technicality, the leveled mean-ish semi-clean vocals not shedding too much emotion, including on the decent cover of Black Sabbath's "Children of the Grave" at the end, which is sung in Russian as well.
Tabula Rasa Full-length, 1997 TACTICS (USA)
This is a band featuring Steve Gaines: a famous vocal guru who sang for Abattoir and Bloodlust in the 80's, and Dreams Of Damnation and Anger As Art (he is the mainman here) in more recent times. Based on the demo, Tactics are perhaps his least worthy venture: the music has its fast parts, but most of the time it is mid-paced with power metal tendencies, strangely recalling 90's Flotsam & Jetsam.
Playing To Win Demo, 1987 TAETRE (SWEDEN)
Based on "Divine Misanthropic Madness", this band pulls out cool old school thrash/death metal recalling No Return's "Machinery" in the way that it mixes Bay-Area riffs with more brutal death metal ones. The tempo is always up, and the several slower sections are meaty, accompanied by more technical riffs (the interesting heavy stomper "No Love"). Seldom does the music take more brutal dimensions ("Destroy the Dreamvoid", "Virus") but it never stretches into a whole song. "Reclaiming the Spirit" hits the technical department with fast clever riffs and fine melodic hooks.
The Art Full-length, 1997 Official Site TAF (FRANCE)
Based on the full-length: look no further than mid-90's Sepultura: heavy groovy, industrialized thrash which doesn't forget to bite with more speed and sharpness: "Unseen Enemy", "Never Surrender" (which even blasts out for a while), but such moments are a rarity, and the majority of the songs are in mid-pace also recalling GZR (the debut) on the more epic-sounding slower moments ("Mother Planer Earth").
Give and Take EP, 2004 Official Site TAI PAN (GERMANY)
This band is the continuation of the early underground speed/proto-thrashers Backwater who decided on a name change, for better luck probably, in the mid-90's. The style is still in the classic thrash mould, but is not an exact Backwater-soundalike. It's actually way better than the Venom-esque stuff the guys were exercising under their previous moniker, being heavier and more aggressive and complex, closer to the Bay Area scene, Forbidden and Death Angel in particular. In other words, expect clever semi-progressive thrashisms that may also call to mind Onslaught's "In Search Of Sanity" as well on the more melodic orientations, among practitioners from the technical/progressive thrash wave (Pyracanda, also the obscure 80's formation Sudden Darkness) that was still operational in the band's homeland at the time. It looked like a good beginning of a new career, but this formation also fell apart soon after although the guys gave themselves another chance later under the name X-Ray, producing a trite unimaginative modern post-thrash fixated album ("Dehumanized") in 1996. The band are back as Backwater in the new millennium with a comeback effort ("Take Extreme Forms") released in 2013.
Slow Death Full-length, 1995 TAILOR'S WAVE (ITALY)
Based on "Alchymja", this Italian trio serve old school power/thrash with heavy smashing riffs and pretty cool semi-dramatic clean vocals. Ten-ton hammers like "Transhumanism" take turns with fast-paced rippers like "Rising Star", and although it's mostly mid-tempo hymns ("Runaway", the frolic punky "Straitjacket")that fill in the second half, it's hard to cloud the urgent vehemence of "To March", the fastest cut here.
Embroider Full-length, 2021 Official Site TAINE (ROMANIA)
Based on the compilation: this very unknown, but worthy Romanian act plays first-class technical thrash/death metal along the lines of late period Death, but with more melodic guitar lines. The songs are complex, elaborate, but not very long pieces, with fabulous guitar work, mostly mid-tempo, quite jumpy as well spiced with more aggressive outbursts which are totally logical without sounding odd. Few are the bands who can make short 4-min compositions sound so compelling and complex ("Pierdut", or the short, less than 2-min technical masterpiece "Avoid The Pain"). There are the obligatory takes on drier, technical thrash ala Coroner and Deathrow ("Ce Esti Tu ?") although the Romanians' sense of melody comes up again. "Lie" is a fine example of how gothic thrash can sound technical and sharp (but, again, pay attention to the breath-taking melodies). "Invisible Absolute" is a great tribute to the masters of the genre: Cynic, Atheist, Coroner, etc., an overwhelming opus with an imposing orchestral outro. Some more straight thrashing as a final touch with "No Personality" which is still quite technical smelling Death in both the vocal and the guitar department. This is a treasure, consisting of only seven tracks, a surprisingly small number for a Compilation album.
Cealalta Parte Full-length, 1999 Official Site TAINTED (NEW ZEALAND)
Based on "Carved and Created", these guys play atmospheric death/thrash metal with epic touches at times resembling Amon Amarth but often is the music more melodic with doom/gothic overtones. "Entrenched" is the odd outbreak, much faster, an approach repeated on "Bound By My Own" near the end which is a cool energetic thrasher with black metal hyper-blasts unnecessarily included.
The Awakening Full-length, 2006 My Space TAINTED INK (USA)
This is modern thrashcore which emphasizes on the heavy elephantine side of the genre, the seismic rhythms on “Buried in the Death of Me” and “Demenshia” carving burrows into the listener’s psyche with ease, the shouty hardcore vocals another exacerbator amply provided. A couple of livelier riffs on “PWYSTM” bring the pogo into the spotlight for a bit, but by-and-large this is squashing mid-tempo stuff.
Tainted Ink EP 2022 Official Site TAIPAN (RUSSIA, USA)
The debut: this international gang provide heavy, but also melodic modern thrash which offers at times some more technical respite
("Keep Living"), but generally the approach is straight-forward the music led by a gruff deathly throat which is accompanied by
an angelic female presence on the cool "soft" ballad "There Will Come Soft Rains" (yes, indeed).
Straight from the Underground Full-Length, 2015 Official Site TAKACS (USA)
This band play corrosive old school thrash/crossover which comprises vivid energetic cuts ("Dystopia", the hardcore immediacy "Violent Swings"), the very shouty rending vocalist supporting the abrasive cause with all the panache he can summon. "Defiance in the Eye" is a cool bashing thrasher, and "Nest" is an unpretentious punky frolicker.
"Symbiosis" is a more dynamic effort although the staple for the band gimmicks are all here making this new opus another fairly predictable affair way before the end. Bjorn Strid from Soilwork guests on a couple of tracks, but even his short involvement can't help elevate this bland album to the higher echelons.
"Ideals Will Remain" is a more energetic recording the band thrashing with more gusto, and although the noisy abrasive production may be an irritation to some, there's little to complain on assured shredders like "Shadow Hill" and "Survivance". The second half is more deeply immersed in atmosphere, the culmination in this trend reached on the closing semi-balladic saga "The Essence".
The Burden of Will Full-length, 2010
Dissatisfaction Full-length, 2012
Symbiosis Full-Length, 2015
Ideals Will Remain Full-length, 2020
Tar and Feathers For the Millennium EP, 1998
"Where Madness Reigns" would not surprise those who have heard the preceding EP although all the tracks are brand new, and yet the style remains the same: fast uncompromising thrash/crossover this time played more on the core side with spontaneous pogo causers like "An Eye for an Eye" present, and short compulsive outbursts like "I Like Ike", and the ridiculously speedy "Punch in the Face". The vocals are more tolerable now, in the cleaner shouty department, and deliver with their forceful commanding performance.
Speed or Bleed EP, 2009
Where Madness Reigns Full-length, 2011
Christian Brainwash Demo, 1987
"Thrash for Justice" thrashes for justice with venomous panache, the band mixing vigorous speedsters ("Run For Your Life") with short melo-thrashers ("Politricks") and immediate rippers ("Kingpin"), the really brief "Obsidian" embracing marginally more intricate ways of execution as opposed to the overt jokey crossover lustre of the closing "F.U.N.".
Thrash for Justice Full-length, 2023
When She Sits Around the House...She Really Sits Around the House EP, 1999
Got Tabletops? EP, 2001
The Master Plan Full-length, 1987
Out of Emotional Disorder Full-length, 1998
Divine Misanthropic Madness Full-length, 2002
Polluted Full-length, 2008
Alchymja Full-length 2022
The EP: a return of the technical/progressive thrash/death metal legends with an appropriately-titled effort; the title-track begins in a melodic progressive death metal manner, and it's on "Existence" that the shadow of Death appears as well as the cutting mazey riff-patterns. "Love & Hate" is a great creepy all-instrumental technicaller with labyrinthine decisions and beautiful lyrical passages near the end. "The Devil Inside" is a doom-laden complexer with jumpy serpentine riffs, and "The Genius Way" is a vigorous shredder with more melodic progressive "decorations" which disappear for its acoustic version that wraps on the EP. The guys haven't made any drastic changes to their attractive style preserving the atmospheric complexity from their early exploits, and should hit the scene again with a longer opus soon.
Decade Of Metal Compilation/Best, 2004
Resurrection EP, 2013
"Into Temptation": the modern melodic thrash/death metal saga carries on the band not straying too much from their staple epic mid-tempo march, and a rousing hymn after rousing hymn come in quick succession to please the listener's soul; the latter may lose attention, though, since the delivery never falters from the well-paved pattern the sole exception being the intense dramatic "Wastrel" near the end.
Carved and Created Full-length, 2008
Into Temptation Full-Length, 2015
Puppeteer Full-Length, 2023
"The Nine Battlegrounds": from "underground" to "battlegrounds", the band looking for their most fitting face which seems to be found in the modern thrash camp again as the approach has been hardened now with more frequent death metal participation (the vigorous "Hades" and "Medusa"). Heavier more atmospheric propositions like "Eat the Innocent" add more lustre to the proceedings which threaten to go into less charter, black metal-ish waters with the less disciplined, more bombastically-executed "Pestilence".
The Nine Battlegrounds Full-length, 2018