The history of the best thrash bands
METALLICA:
This great band was born in october '81 created by L.Ulrich and J.Hetfield, after few changes of line-up the first stabile line-up was: J.Hetfield, L.Ulrich,D.Mustaine and R.McGovney. After few gigs the band found and added C.Burton replacing McGovney which was a great move. Mustaine didnt really care about the band and music, he was gettin drunk and takin drugs all the time: on rehersals, jams even on gigs! So he was kicked out and K.Hammet came, the founder of Exodus. This line up lasted for 3-4 years. After releasin their demos and signing up the contract with MegaForce Metallica released their debut in '83 "Kill'em all". That was a great album and one of the most influential of the decade, trash has been born!
After promotin the album they got a tour in Europe and there they recorded their second album in Denmark: "Ride the lightning" released in '84.
Musically a level higher than the previous one, after this one Metallica broke up with MegaForce and signed up with a major label: Elektra, the possibilities for the band now are unlimited!
After having tours here and there in '85 they go back in the studio with 8 new tracks and in the beggining of '86 "Master of Puppets" has been released. Also recorded in Denmark, this was the breakthrough for the band in its international popularity. It's another great album that rappresented as high level as "Ride...". In the middle of promoting the third album in Denmark Burton died in a road accident, after a month of mourning Metallica has a new bassist: from Flotsam and Jetsam, J.Newstad.
they continued the tour, realesed an EP of covers and entered the One on One studio to record their fourth album: ...And justice for all. Released in '88 had made even greater success than "Puppetz", musically i find this one as their best album ever and also the best trash album in all history! A huge tour followed and after it Metallica finally took few months of vacation, being well rested they entered again the studio in october '90 to release their best solding album: "Metallica". After 9 months of working on the production it has been released in august '91, this album musically is few steps backwards than all the previous works, a still enjoyable but somewhat commercial album, with few songs written only for the purpose of commercialism. Alot of old fans turn their backs on thye "new" Metallica but the number of new fans was alot bigger and over 10 milions copies sold out in 1-2 years!
Then Metallica had their biggest tour ever lasted for 2 years and saw hundreds of gigs. They took a big break from releasin any albums, finally they entered the studio in '95 with...27 new tracks written mostly on the tour! They decided to split them in 2 albums and so, finished the recording, the album "Load" was released in '96. What can i say...rock, Metallica stopped playing metal, now they have sold out completely(or just got tired of trash?) and musically it is a piece of crap. The following album is better: "Reload" released at the end of '97 was heavier and even that it was still rock it's less sold out and there are few decent riffs with good drumming. In '98 Metallica released a cover album: "Garage Inc." consiting in two albums: one from old recordings and the other recorded in '98. The old memories came back to all the fans, especially from the old one and it was a good showing of Metallica's influences.
In '99 Metallica had an original performance in San Francisco with...an orchestra! An album live from that gig has been released: "S & M", these are all Metallica old and new songs with the accompaniment of the orchestra. There are also two totally new songs written just for the performance with the orchestra. In '00 Metallica had some gigs here and there but mostly took their vacation. In february '01 Newstad left the band due to personal and healthy reasons, now Metallica is looking for a new bassist. The plans for the future are to record a new album(J.Hetfield said it's going to be very heavy), they should enter the studio in short time and plan to release it at the end of this year.
We are waiting impatiently!

SLAYER:
Slayer started basically when D.Lombardo and K.King met as young boys having the same insane hobby: metal. They decided to recruit also a punk-lover J.Hanneman and an imigrant from Chile T.Araya, this line up lasted for 10 years! First they got the attention of the founder of MetalBlade Brian Slagel who let them record one track for the Metal Massacre compilation after that the guys got the contract and entered the studio to release their debut: "Show no mercy" in '83. This was the heaviest and most evil album around, along with Metallica's "Kill'em all" was the most influential for all the thrash scene which was soon hitting the stages around the world.
After a small tour(also in Europe) Slayer decided to release an EP with three new tracks they have written: "Haunting the chapel" in '84. Another killing tour followed and having 7 new tracks Slayer got in the studio to release their second LP: "Hell awaits", this album(released in '85) was darker and stronger than all the previous works!
Thanks to this intense and satanic piece of music Slayer made a breakthrough and has been recognized by metalheads around the United States and not only. The cooperation with MetalBlade wasnt the best and Slayer wanted to change the company, a rap and pop producer R.Rubin saw the possibilities hidden in this young band and decided to write with them a contract, the boys agreed. All the underground scene thought that Slayer sold out when signing with some pop producer, but the band quickly entered the studio and recored the heaviest, fastest and most intense effort spawned by them EVER: "Reign in blood" in '86. The album made a great success and Slayer became an international, very known band, the album was one of the best they ever have recorded also in the musicianship meaning and had a big percentage of credit in creating the death metal scene that was about to hit in few years the planet, this was actually the record that inspired all these brutal bands who started their more intense music in '89.
A devastating tour followed, but something happened in the band: Lombardo(considerated the fastest drummer on earth in those days) left the band and T.Scaglione replaced him for a very short period of time, then Rubin convinced over the phone Lombardo to come back back and the band was ready for their fourth record.
"South of heaven" released in '88 could be seen either a sell-out or the tirin of the guyz in playin the same unrelenting, brutal, intense and fast stuff so they started to experiment with the music, weakening it. Few songs are decent but the album is far too weak for those times(trash in its peak) and the record hasnt made the same huge success as "Reign". In '90 Slayer released "Seasons in the abyss", the album was a great come back to the days before "South", yet added alot of new elements so it was kind of a good mix of old and new. Musically it is a really good album fast but still interesting and rich.
A big tour followed and the album in the stores made a bigger success than "Reign": over 1 million copies sold! In '91 a Live album has been released: "A decade of aggresion", it was a good look in the 10 years and five records of terrorizing the globe from Slayer. In '92 Lombardo left the band again, this time definately, the guys started to look for a new drummer and after different tests P.Bostaph from Forbidden joined them. A really great drummer, whit whom after four years of waiting the fans finally got the sixth record from the almighty Slayer: "Divine intervention"('94), a great come back to the '86 times, fast, heavy and merciless trash with great riffs. It was a good statement from Slayer when all the other trash bands around were releasing sell-out or experimient albums, but Slayer seemed to say with this record: "We're stayin aggresive trashers", of course a big, and well received by the fans,tour followed and Slayer recorded a cover album in '96: "Undisputed attitude", it was basically a mix of different punk songs the guys were listening to before starting the band, i enjoy it as just a fast anarchy machine, with enjoyable music. There were also 2 old side-project punk songs by Hanneman and one new(a great slow killer) "Gemini" written by King and Araya. Once again the fans had to wait another four years for a LongPlay and they received it in "Diaboulus in musica"('98). Everything here is great: production, vocals, guitars,atmosphere and especially drumming, but there is that something missing, that "Slayer" link to their previous efforts and this was also a little industrial influenced album, less trashy(they also got bored?). Since then no new album released, but in Jan. '01 Slayer entered the studio to release their 8th record, 14 new tracks(!) and as stated by King(it's gonna be between Reign and South with few new surprises) a come back to the roots, date: agaust 2001(confirmed).
I hope it is gonna be a come back to the peak of pure trash of the '80!!!

MEGADETH:
D.Mustaine after being kicked out of Metallica decided to make his own band, he had a neighbour with same interests(D.Effelson) which got in as the bassist. In the first gigs of Megadeth('83) the second guitarist was...K.King from Slayer, he left soon after to rejoin his old band. Finally the line-up has been established in: D.Mustaine, D.Effelson, C.Poland and G.Samuelson, they got the contract from an independent label: Combat and recorded their debut between '84-'85: "Killing is my buisness...and buisness is good", the rcord itself isnt the greatest,u can here the lack of ideas, it seems like releasing the album in a rush, anyway they have arrived and well received by the fans.
Capitol records saw a source of money in Megadeth and gave them a contract for 9 records, the guys agreed immediately. With a bigger budget and a good producer(R.Burns) they entered to record considerated by many their best work: "Peace sells...but who's buying", well...comparing to their debut it's like two different bands, here the music is just great!!! For me this is one of the two best albums they ever released(along with "Rust in peace"), great trash with a high degree of musicianship (especially the intros). A big tour followed thanks to which they started to be one of the most popular trash bands, the tour ended in Hawaii where Mustaine thanked for the cooperation to Poland and Samuelson, he had two new members ready: J.Young and C.Behler. With these new guys they released their third record: "So far so good...so what?"('88), the music was a bit worse than on "Peace", but it was still a good portion of old trash. The line-up changed again: two newcomers kicked replaced by M.Friedman and N.Menza(german) and with them the fourth record has come to light: "Rust in peace"...the production weaker(the only minus), musically...their best! Great riffs, alot of them wit beatiful solos make this album the greatest of Megadeth! The biggest Megadeth tour so far followed: The Clash of Titans with such bands as Slayer and Testament (there were some argues between Slayer and the band) and fascinated(Dave) by the success of "Metallica" they recorded their sell-out album: "Countdown to extintion", the production was very good, the riffs also quite trashy but the whole record...simple, too simple, it lacks of ideas found on "Rust" and its simplicity fits of course the fans of new metal(in large number) who give great sale figures. '94- sixth album "Youthansia" here starts the experiment with their music, production more polished, songs still simple and trying to make some good hits for selling it better. For another record we had to wait three years, in the middle in '95 they released a cover album "Hidden treasures". The 7th album was called "Cryptic Writings" and Megadeth went further with the experiment they started on "Youthanasia", the record got weaker and of course the record sold out better. After this record Menza left the band, officialy due to health problems, unofficially becuase of lack of agreements with Mustaine, he has been replaced by J.DiGrasso. With him they released their 8th record: "Risk" in '99, the album that saw Megadeth breaking up definatly with metal, this is rock, with few sweet songs supposed to be "hits". Thats why the album had a big success in USA(over 1 million copies sold in few months), but after this record Friedman left the band, he said he doesnt want to play metal anymore, but the rumors say he got tired of Mustaine's commercial vision of Megadeth. In his place recently A.Pitrelli joined and with him they recorded the last album for Capitol Records: "Capitol Punishment" in '00 which has all the best known deth's songs and two new ones(by the way a great come back with those, really heavy). In the middle of May 2001 their 9th effort has been released: "The world needs a hero". It is a great come-back to the roots, but...not totally, there a couple of sweet songs(shit) and there is still alot of the late '90 touch in the album(minus), it is a good beginning though for Megadeth to be back in the thrash line!!!