Music genre originating in Germany
Teutonic thrash metal
is a regional scene of
thrash metal
music that originated within
German
-speaking countries during the 1980s, and its title is a reference to
the Germanic tribe
.
[1]
Along with
Bay Area thrash metal
,
East Coast thrash metal
, and
Brazilian thrash metal
, this was one of the major scenes of thrash metal in the 1980s, and it was developed and popularized by four German bands ?
Destruction
,
Kreator
,
Sodom
and
Tankard
? that have been referred to as "The Big Four of Teutonic Thrash".
[1]
[2]
[3]
The label of "Big Four" has often been rejected, emerging from the belief that the influence and popularity of
Tankard
was far less than that of the other 3, leading to the alternate title, "the Teutonic Trio".
[4]
[5]
History
[
edit
]
Two bands influential to early Teutonic thrash metal were
Destruction
(from
Lorrach
) and
Holy Moses
(from
Aachen
). After hearing
Venom
, both bands soon changed their sound within a matter of weeks to their new and permanent sound.
Other bands soon followed. In 1982, the
Gelsenkirchen
-based band
Sodom
released their first demo,
Witching Metal
. In their early days Sodom were highly influenced by the
NWOBHM
, to the point they credited being a trio to bands like
Motorhead
,
Tank
,
Raven
and Venom who also featured
power trio
line-ups. Their style featured raspy vocals,
palm muted
guitar
riffs
, and frantic
double bass drumming
. Only with the release of their second LP
Persecution Mania
and with guitarist
Frank Blackfire
's input to move away from their original sounds and themes they became a thrash metal band for good.
Essen
's
Kreator
formed and released its debut album
Endless Pain
in 1985. Destruction would release their full-length debut
Infernal Overkill
in the same year. Also around this time, the German-based
SPV
records created its
Steamhammer
imprint label, a label designed to primarily sign metal bands.
Noise Records
was founded soon afterwards. These two labels would help spread the Teutonic thrash metal scene globally.
Teutonic thrash metal would not only come from Germany, but also from Austria, Czech Republic and Switzerland. The biggest band to come outside of Germany that were part of the scene was
Coroner
, a highly technical and
progressive
thrash metal band from Switzerland, that was noted for having dark lyrics and accomplished guitar work on the part of Tommy Vetterli, who would later join Kreator.
Many bands soon split up or changed their sound, resulting in further backlash against the scene. Kreator went in to make their music more melodic with
gothic
and
industrial
influences, while Sodom would attempt a
death
/thrash style for
one album
and then briefly move into a more
hardcore punk
influenced sound. Destruction would instead face a period of instability which saw them split with frontman
Schmier
, releasing a thrash album without him (
Cracked Brain
) then attempting to go
radio
-friendly and less "thrashy" with the poorly received
The Least Successful Human Cannonball
. Meanwhile, Schmier would start Headhunter, achieving some success with a slew of three power-thrash albums similar in sound to some of the offerings of
Rage
.
References
[
edit
]
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- Roberto "Rob" Fioretti
- Jorg "Tritze" Trzebiatowski
- Frank "Blackfire" Gosdzik
- Andreas Herz
- Joe Cangelosi
- Tommy Vetterli
- Christian "Speesy" Giesler
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Studio albums
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EPs
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Compilations & live albums
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Related articles
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