Worship Metal’s 6 Most Anticipated Old-School Thrash Albums Of 2021!
Old-school thrashers keepin' the scene alive in 2021!
In 2021, thrash metal’s big-hitters are returning in their droves and there’s reformations and comebacks a-plenty!
Here’s 6 forthcoming thrash albums from old-school thrash bands that are making our thrashy thighs the most moist…..
Atrophy
Arizonan thrashers Atrophy are officially back!
Yes, those thrash happy bastards responsible for the cult late 80’s / early 90’s albums Socialized Hate and Violent By Nature, have been back performing of late but it’s new material fans crave and new material seemed like something we would never get to hear…..until now!
‘Comeback’ single “R.I.P Tide” was unleashed back on Boxing Day 2020 and fans will be pleased to hear that it was everything you’d want from an Atrophy track. Catchy as fuck, aggressive, and with vocal hooks that’ll drag you under like a vicious undertow, the most important thing is that Atrophy still sound exactly as you remember them….just 30 years later.
A few years ago, Atrophy had this to say: “We are not signed to any label, and have no contracts telling us what we can and can’t do. We have the freedom to write whatever we want, which basically means that you should expect a thrash album”.
Let’s ‘ave it then!
Coroner
We’ve been waiting a long, long time for a new album from Swiss technical thrash pioneers Coroner and 2021 could see new material come to light…..or, it might not! We have been waiting an awfully long time, after all!!
The band that gave us such all time classics as R.I.P (1987), Punishment for Decadence (1988) and No More Color (1989) haven’t released an album since the industrialised groove of 1993’s Grin and fans have been left chomping at the bit in anticipation of new material. In fact, not so long ago Coroner themselves stated; “What you’ve been waiting to hear! Coroner is going to record a NEW album this year. Keep checking back for updates!”
Well, “this year” referred to 2020 and yet nothing materialised.
So, here’s hoping 2021 is home to less COVID, more Coroner!
Dark Angel
How can you not be cock-a-fuckin’-hoop about the very thought of a new album from Dark Angel; one of thrash metal’s greatest ever bands and the creators of all-time classics Darkness Descends, Leave Scars and Time Does Not Heal.
Bearing in mind that we’ve already waited a bum-numbing 29(!) years for a new album to emerge, a little more patience should be easy to come by and that might come in useful. We’re not promising that you will get to hear new material this year but either way, just the very fact that we will be getting a new Dark Angel album at some point, is reason enough to rejoice!
Just to reiterate that fact, in a February 2019 interview with Agoraphobic News, Gene Hoglan stated that Dark Angel has “5 or 6 songs on the go” and that their new album will be released “by the end of this year or by 2020”.
Well, it’s 2021….and we’re still waiting with bated breath!
Defiance
Recently reunited Bay Area thrashers Defiance not only released a 2 CD set titled Checkmate: The Demo Collection, on November 27th 2020 via Vic Records (containing all of the band’s demos released between 1986 & 1994) but Steev Esquivel and the boys also recently revealed on Facebook that they have been writing their first album since 2009’s The Prophecy, with plans to enter the studio in early 2021 to begin recording it.
Product of Society (1989) and Beyond Recognition (1992) are stone-cold classics so here’s hoping for an album to rival those two seminal bay area albums!
Exodus
In comparison to most of the bands on this list, Exodus have been relatively active on the album front….although it has been 7 long years since our ears were graced by 2014’s mighty Blood In, Blood Out.
However, the route to releasing what will be Exodus’ 11th album has been a strangled one! It was way back in June 2016 when frontman Steve “Zetro” Souza said that the band’s next studio album could be released in late 2017. This then shifted to a March 2018 release with drummer Tom Hunting stating that the band had several songs written, with the rest of them in the works. In January 2018 Gary Holt confirmed that the band was still writing songs for the next studio album and Zetro said that fans would have to wait until at least the end of 2019 for a new studio album, mainly due to Holt’s involvement in Slayer’s farewell tour.
Finally, Holt confirmed that the band would start recording Persona Non Grata in September 2020 for a 2021 release and it has since been confirmed that the release date has been set for June 2021.
A long time coming but it’s sure to be well worth the wait!
Vio-Lence
We’ll keep this one simple.
We all want a new album from Vio-Lence, the band who gave us one of the finest albums in thrash; the uncompromising Eternal Nightmare.
Frontman Sean Killian wants a new Vio-lence album.
But are we getting one?
The band are officially back together and have also roped in thrash legend and former Overkill guitarist Bobby Gustafson but word on an actual new album is inconclusive. It appears it’s down to the ever-busy Phil Demmel to sit the fuck down and pen the apocalyptic thrash tunes we all know this band still has in them!
There are just so much talent out there it’s not even funny! Old school, new school, it’s just ALL kick-ass y’all out there!!! Keep up pushing it out there! ,????
I’ll be in a wheelchair and still banging my head! Horns up brothers and sisters out there ??
Thrash will never die. Thrash Till Death. 53 & still Thrashing in 2021. Can’t wait for the new EXODUS album.