15 Of The Greatest Old-School Melodic Thrash Albums in Existence!

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Annihilator – Never, Neverland (1990) [Canada]

With Annihilator’s technical prowess still in place – and the introduction of new vocalist Coburn Pharr bringing ever more melody – Never, Neverland is arguably the quintessential Annihilator album and Jeff Waters’ greatest achievement.

With a clean, crisp sound and a more focused approach, the likes of “The Fun Palace”, “Road to Ruin” and “I Am In Command” were a shredders dream but came smothered in melodic muscle and an almost absurd theatricality. Catchy, memorable and overflowing with riffs, Annihilator may have audibly softened when compared to their rougher debut, Alison In Hell, but they were far from becoming the mainstream-baiting ‘sell-outs’ that released 1993’s Set The World On Fire (not a bad album in our book, but weak in comparison to Never, Neverland).  

Instead, the more frantic, technically audacious rifferama’s of “Sixes and Sevens” and “Phantasmagoria”were tempered by the infectious melodies found on “Stonewall” and Annihilator’s first, and probably most triumphant, thrash ballad “Never, Neverland” itself.

Annihilator would never be this good again.

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Death Angel – Act III (1990) [USA]

Act III was quite the departure from the raucous thrash of 1987 debut The Ultra-Violence and the more experimental nature of 1988’s Frolic Through The Park with Death Angel maturing at a rate of knots and delivering one of the finest melodic thrash albums ever recorded in the process.

The acoustic nature of “Veil of Deception” and ultra-thrash-ballad “A Room With a View” offered diversity but the likes of “Stop”, Disturbing The Peace” and “Ex-Tc” proved that Death Angel could still thrash with the best of ’em. This was the kind of album that really should have rivalled the commerciality of Metallica’s The Black Album and Megadeth’s Countdown To Extinction and sent Death Angel stratospheric……but fate would have other ideas

In 1991 – while on tour in support of Act III – the band suffered a serious bus crash in which drummer Andy Galeon was critically injured. Understandably, the band did not bounce back. Well, not until 14 years later when they released The Art Of Dying – one of the finest comeback albums in thrash history!

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Sanctuary – Into The Mirror Black (1990) [USA]

Seattle’s finest thrashers launched themselves onto the scene with their Dave Mustaine produced debut, Refuge Denied (1988), and while having the immutable Warrell Dane (Nevermore) as your frontman was always going to be Sanctuary‘s ultimate selling point, that’s not to say that the band were reliant solely on the great man’s siren-like wail for exposure. Instead, they settled on releasing a sophomore album that took everything that was great about their debut, increased the technicality, and fair released one of the finest power/thrash albums ever penned. 

Into The Mirror Black took the best bits of Bay Area thrash, 80s traditional metal – and the kind of power metal us Europeans had been developing for a few years – and fashioned one hell of a technically-infused progressive masterpiece out of it!

“Future Tense” and “Taste Revenge” packed one hell of a melodic / power / thrash wallop while the more dark and epic approach taken with “Eden Lies Obscured” showcased a band maturing at an alarming rate.

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Testament – The Ritual (1992) [USA]

Testament’s last gasp attempt at cracking the mainstream was the equal of anything being released by Metallica, Megadeth etc at the time. With Chuck Billy once again proving his versatility as a vocalist, Alex Skolnick laying down his claim as the finest guitarist of his generation and the band, as a whole, proving they could deliver mature thrash that didn’t skimp on power and grit, The Ritual really should have been the album to force The Big 4 to become The Big 5.

Why it failed to do so is one of life’s cruellest twists of fate because The Ritual had everything. Highly melodic and filled with sublime song writing, the aggression of old may have been subdued but Testament’s overwhelming talent remained – just give “Return to Serenity” a spin and try denying that it’s one of the finest thrash ballads ever penned. 

You can’t. Because it is.

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Xentrix – Kin (1992) [UK]

This should have been the big one for the UK’s brightest thrash hopes.

Kin should have been Xentrix‘s Black Album, their Countdown To Extinction, their Ritual.….their genre-defining, mainstream-baiting, sure-fire hit release.

It wasn’t. But it should have been!

“No More Time” may have been a little too maudlin for its own good (although you couldn’t argue with the sentiment) but there was still plenty of crunch and mature thrashing to be found on the likes of “A Friend To You” and the chugging nirvana of “Release”

Everything abut Kin was grander, more opulent and designed for mass consumption but you cannot – should not – ridicule Xentrix for wanting a million selling record under their belt….and in a parallel universe, Kin was that album.