How 80s German thrash bands pushed metal to new extremes

1986 is widely remembered as the year thrash metal broke, with Slayer, Megadeth and Metallica altering the shape of rock. At the same time, a clutch of teenagers 5,500 miles away were carving their own path. Kreator, Sodom, Destruction and Tankard — the “big four” of German thrash — were faster and meaner than many American peers, helping to set a new benchmark for brutality and unwittingly influencing the next generation of death- and black-metal musicians.

"It was always more rough and violent," says Destruction vocalist and bassist Marcel "Schmier" Schirmer. "We never tried to be the best musicians – we tried to write songs that punched hard." The bands’ origins were rooted in industrial towns and rejected careers.

Germany

kreator, sodom, destruction, tankard, german thrash, thrash metal, 1986, big four, death metal, black metal