A Top 100 Thrash Metal Albums List by Rexorcist
Likes: 1
Genre: Thrash Metal
This list is based on my personal genre tree
* Thrash Metal
** Black Thrash Metal
** Crossover Thrash
** Prog Thrash Metal
** Tech Thrash Metal
NOT COUNTED BUT POSSIBLY FEATURED: Thrashcore
100 / USA
TM, Heavy Metal
As well as being my number one, this is the album I return to the most for its heavily metallic sound, excellent lyrics, magnificent power and ferocious jams.
100 / USA
TM, Heavy Metal
We get every side of the classic era on this album with perfect studio production. Many of these songs are as good as their counterparts, and thanks to the fact that each of the five albums don't sound like each other, there's more variety in the delivery.
100 / USA
TM, US Power Metal, Power Metal, Heavy Metal
This is one of those albums that I thing embodies metal as a whole, and many of Iced Earth's best tunes are here as well. Despite having so many ranges of metal on both the greater and smaller levels of focus, it's incredibly consistent.
100 / USA
TM
South of Heaven shows the mightly Slayer taking their thrash, hardcore and death influences into new territory as they're focusing more on writing a METAL album rather than just another showcase of speed and blasts.
100 / Switzerland
Tech TM
In a half-hour, Coroner's insanity, complexity and unpredictability work together to do everything the band was capable of at that point. They really sound like monsters.
100 / USA
TM, Heavy Metal
Although the metallic production of Ride the Lightning is gone, Master of Puppets has better lyrics and an overall range of catchier rhythms. Plus, that dark presence is still at full force.
100 / USA
Tech TM, Groove Metal
Machine Head takes the groove-thrash sound to a darker level, one that's poetic in its evil and perfectly balances groovy simplicity and metallic complexity.
99 / USA
TM, Speed Metal
Only tainted by the simplicity of Hangar 18's weak first half, this album is everything an energetic thrash album needs to be. Its metallic presence and Mustaine's personality are a perfect combo on this wild album full of jammers.
99 / USA
Tech TM
Everything that made Vektor's first two albums so good is at greater force now with more darkness, more progression and more menace.
98 / USA
TM
Seasons in the Abyss finds Slayer balancing out the elements of the varied previous album with a stronger focus on different kinds of thrash, only made inferior to Seasons via weaker percussion power.
98 / USA
Tech TM
Nearly reaching the heights of Terminal Redux but not quite there, Vektor cemented themselves as moden thrash geniuses with their supersonic space sound and incredible technical skills.
97 / USA
TM
Testament doesn't really stand out from the crowd much, but The Legacy is further proof that the band is made of excellent songwriters who know how to write different types of thrash songs and show their fans a good time.
97 / USA
TM
Although the scars are starting to show, this more technical album shows that the darkness of past effort still has new life willing to fight. Through the prog efforts, And Justice For All takes Metallica to worlds that they unfortunately never returned to.
97 / Denmark
TM
Very cool, very wild and boasting powerful metal spirit.
97 / Brazil
TM
A very aptly-named album, Sepultura always had a knack for variety and showmanship, and this album shows off their best skills while keeping things unpredictable, loud and even creepy at times.
97 / Switzerland
Tech TM, TM
A little overlong, but loaded with a bunch of excellent performances that maintain the spirit of No More Color while keeping things a little more tame.
97 / USA
TM, Speed Metal
Peace Sells improves on the strengths of the debut with better songwriting. It's darker and meaner than before.
96.5 / USA
TM
A very cool album with some excellent solos and a very badass attitude.
96 / USA
TM, Speed Metal
Even though its more simplistic than the later albums of their heyday, Metallica proves they have a lot of ability to write and perform great jams at peak performance.
96 / USA
TM
This album seems to take a few cues from Master of Puppets, but Testament still writes their own songs with the own strong persona and obvious talents.
96 / USA
TM
Unadulterated thrash energy with the powers of darkenss on their side, they might be rehashing the same idea for 28 minutes, but the riffs are fresh and the punk attitude is terrifying.
96 / Brazil
TM
Likely their darkest and most terrifying album, Sepultura'a thrash and death hybrid is not only technically impressive, but seriously scary.
96 / Sweden
Traditional Black Metal, Black TM
Bathory's take on black thrash hybrid is musically perfect in its atmosphere and nearly in its delivery. This is basically a raw evil opera.
95 / Switzerland
TM
This album is raw metal evil. Its presence is akin to Venom might with more fixation on the nocturnal side, making this album way better than the usual Venom.
95 / USA
TM, Groove Metal
On their first try, Machine Head wrote and delivered much cooler, more serious and more technical groove metal than the norm, even more than Pantera.
95 / Switzerland
Tech TM
Coroner were always a great band, but this is where they became brilliant. By giving further into their own personalities and showing better writing than on their debut RIP, Punishment for Decadence is an aggressive and maniacal piece of work that will never be fully outshined by Mental Cortex or No More Color.
95 / USA
TM
Testament are almost as good live as they are in the studio. This is an excellent collection of their best works with good production and a lot of energy.
95 / USA
TM
A double album full of thrashers might be a little long, but Slayer poured their hearts and souls into this live release which serves as a compliment to their legacy.
95 / Canada
Tech TM, Prog TM
While their punk attitude puts them through the occasional repetitive riff, Voivod also shows off an avant-garde side which keeps the album weird, entertaining and unpredictable.
95 / Germany
TM
Kreator's love of violence has finally turned to brilliance in this violent but surprising collection of some of the most menacing and brutal thrash out there.
95 / USA
TM
While the songwriting is weaker than that of Horroscope and other classic thrash albums, Overkill make up for it by excess energy and personality that's fun to thrash and even sing to.
95 / USA
Tech Thrash
It might be a rehash of the previous album, but the strengths are still displayed without breaking tradition or sound by any means. Outer Isolation is worthy sequel that continues a raging journey into outer space at supersonic paces.
95 / USA
Crossover Thrash, TM
This metal /punk hybrid album has all of the best traits of both genres working together in a youthful and attitudinal skater album with all of the fun, little bits of the skater dorkiness and a lot of cool riffs.
95 / USA
TM, Heavy Metal
Testament continues their hot streak with one more album that might be suffering from familiatiry, but still has a lot of raw riff and writing ability belting it all out at max volume and expert delivery.
95 / Canada
Tech TM, TM
Voivod is like a predecessor to Vektor in multiple ways, especially the sci-fi vibes. But the punk attitude and diversity is what separates them from Vektor, and they live it up with a lot of impressive technicality.
95 / USA
Groove Metal, TM
Pantera knows attitude better than anyone. Every song on this album, while following a familiar pace throughout, is a total banger that makes you wanna punch your walls into Swiss cheese.
95 / Germany
TM
Extreme Aggression is a title Kreator can live up to betteer than any band. Just because it isn't as heavy as Pleasure to Kill doesn't mean these guys can't rock out harder than most if not all other thrash bands. Their absurd heaviness is matched by greater writing to make this a real thrash gem instead of just a bunch of heavy thrashing.
95 / USA
TM
These songs are more well written and diverse than I would've considered before hearing this album. Almost as good as The Years of Decay, Overkill relies on personality again to match their instrumental abilities, and we get one more raw headbanger album by one of the best headbanger bands in the metal scene.
95 / Brazil
Crossover Thrash
Thanks to a short runtime for each song and the album itself, every short track shows the band being able to do and deliver exactly what they want without drawing anything out. This gives the album the energy and personality you'd expect from a good Bad Religion album.
95 / USA
Power Metal, Heavy Metal, TM, PU Power Metal
A very cool story, an excellent sense of nocturnal vibes and some of their best riding make this Iced Earth album another essential for a metal collection.
95 / USA
TM
This is the kind of thrash album that can do a lot of different things: rock out loud, creep you out, get a little quirky and keep you on your toes.
94 / Brazil
TM
Because of its familiar style in comparison to the previous album, Beneath the Remains, this album can't help but be compared to it unfavorably. But much of the same raw thrash talent is still there with a bunch of new songs and cool tricks.
94 / USA
TM
Hell Awaits marks the point where Slayer gave up the speed metal on the debut, marking the band's evolution from a very catchy speed band to a serious band where the t-shirt matters because the songs are there for you to thrash with, not to rock to.
94 / Germany
TM
Terrible Certainty has less heaviness but more writing ability, making this one of the more complex albums by one of the world's heaviest bands, songwriting that isn't always great but has some genius every now and then.
93 / USA
TM, Speed Metal
Megadeth's debut proves that the band always had the talent to be one of the greatest of all time with a bunch of very cool songs with some good speed metal energy and a riotous foreground.
93.5 / USA
TM
These versions aren't as good as the studio versions, but the overall collection still gives us a lot of their hits played wonderfully.
92.5 / Australia
Prog TM
Even though the writing isn't quite brilliant, the delivery and variety offer a lot of fun to be bad. This album's difficult to classify thanks to its unique sound and delivery.
92.5 / USA
TM, Tech TM, Christian Metal
This Christian band improves on their sound from the debut with more complexity, marking them as a signature metal band for Christians.
92 / Switzerland
TM
Even though Celtic Frost didn't have the best recording quality, their creepy atmosphere and clever blend of thrash, black and death still seep out in heavy doses.
92 / USA
TM
It might be more generic than the other classic Overkill albums, but there are a lot of fun tunes here. Overkill's personality saves the day again.
92 / USA
TM, Speed Metal
92 / USA
Groove Metal, TM
92 / USA
Crossover Thrash, New York Hardcore
92 / Germany
TM, Speed Metal
91 / USA
Crossover Thrash
91 / USA
Crossover Thrash
91 / USA
Black Metal, TM
91 / USA
Crossover Thrash
91 / Canada
TM, Tech TM
91 / Netherlands
Death Metal, TM
90 / USA
Groove Metal, TM
90 / USA
TM, Heavy Metal
90 / USA
TM, Heavy Metal, Christian Metal
90 / Denmark
TM, Tech TM
87 / Denmark
TM, Tech TM
87 / Germany
TM, Speed Metal
86 / USA
Prog TM, Tech TM
86 / USA
Crossover Thrash
85 / USA
TM, Crossover Thrash
85 / Brazil
TM, Groove Metal, Tech TM
91 / Brazil
Groove Metal, TM
84.5 / USA
TM
84 / USA
Tech TM, Prog TM
82 / Brazil
Crossover Thrash
82 / USA
TM
82 / USA
TM
82 / USA
Tech TM, Neoclassical Metal
81 / USA
Melodic Metalcore, TM
80 / USA
TM, US Power Metal
79 / Sweden
Traditional Black Metal, TM
76.5 / USA
TM, Groove Metal
76 / Germany
TM, Speed Metal
76 / USA
Crossover Thrash, Skate Punk