Written by Ellrohir on 02.10.2010 at 10:09

I doubt there ever will be "new big four" consisting of bands that popular as "original" big four...i count myself as metalhead, but not thrash metal lover and therefore even i dont know any of those bands "new" mentioned here so far...what about "general public" then? now everyone knows at least Metallica...

That was the point of this article (I guess. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.), to view the alternatives of a 'what if' question.

Vektor is a band that could easily in the next years (if they continue to be that good) be on top of the thrash scene. but i really dont believe that they'll ever be VERY commercial as they write complex music. And to be COMMERCIAL means to be EASY TO DIGEST. And these guys are not. But thats for good imo...

The Big 4 were bands that made Thrash known to people.
We know what thrash is. And let's face it, there's never gonna be another Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer or Anthrax.

Lol If there was a new "big 4" of thrash, for me they'd be older bands, rather than new bands. Heathen, Forbidden, Testament, Exodus, Overkill... they're all showing the young uns' how it should be done!

How the hell are those bands the next big four of thrash? More like Arch Enemy, Lamb Of God, The Haunted and Toxic Holocaust...which was already on there....and who cares about bands that are showing newer bands how its done? There is such a thing as fading away politely and letting the newer generation of musicians take over the scene and respecting that...

Written by Guest on 25.10.2010 at 08:50

How the hell are those bands the next big four of thrash? More like Arch Enemy, Lamb Of God, The Haunted and Toxic Holocaust...which was already on there....and who cares about bands that are showing newer bands how its done? There is such a thing as fading away politely and letting the newer generation of musicians take over the scene and respecting that...

What? For a start, Lamb Of God and Arch Enemy aren't thrash. The Haunted have made some great thrash in the past, but its been quite a while since they put out a great album. Hope the new one is a return to form for them. Toxic Holocaust have some decent songs here and there, but I wouldnt put them in the same league as the bands I just mentioned.

And why the hell should those old bands "fade away politely" if they're still making awesome music? That's a dumb attitude to have...

@Angelic Storm: Lamb Of God are death metal and thrash metal while Arch Enemy are melodic death metal and thrash metal...and you were talking about having older bands that have been around as long as the Big Four of Thrash to replace the Big Four of Thrash as being the new ones instead of having newer bands take over...I didn't mean fading away because you're right, they still make awesome music...maybe to say instead letting newer bands herald in a new era while older bands are still going in the background more so...then can keep showing younger bands "how its done" but they had their time and I stick by that...anyway, its 3AM here and I cannot type anything that make sense anymore so will have to come back to this another time when I can think clearer...

Written by Guest on 25.10.2010 at 09:43

@Angelic Storm: Lamb Of God are death metal and thrash metal while Arch Enemy are melodic death metal and thrash metal...and you were talking about having older bands that have been around as long as the Big Four of Thrash to replace the Big Four of Thrash as being the new ones instead of having newer bands take over...I didn't mean fading away because you're right, they still make awesome music...maybe to say instead letting newer bands herald in a new era while older bands are still going in the background more so...then can keep showing younger bands "how its done" but they had their time and I stick by that...

Hmm... Arch Enemy are in no way, thrash metal. They are pure melodic death of the sort that Mike Amott helped to create with Carcass. As for Lamb Of God, I guess you could say they have some thrash elements in their sound, but not really enough to make them a thrash band...

Well, there are 2 reasons I made that statement about why those older bands should be at the forefront of thrash now. Back in the day, they were very underappreciated, and not many people had heard of them. It would just be them getting their dues if they were to be recognised as the great bands they were, and still are. And secondly, I find the old guns of thrash consistently release better albums than the so-called new blood. You mentioned The Haunted, who IMO are an exception. Their first 2 albums are among my all time fave thrash releases, and I cant say that about any other modern thrash band. "One Kill Wonder" was also a great album, and I really liked "Revolver" too, although it was a bit patchy. xD If there were a slew of young thrash bands making thrash of the quality of the best of the older bands' material, then I would agree with you. But aside from The Haunted, Ive yet to find a more modern thrash band that's really grabbed my attention. (And by the throat! )

Suicidal Angels
Gamma bomb
Facínora
Municipal Waste

Don't forget that the big 4 is ALL albout those bands that had an album that sold 1 million copies. Though Testament sold more albums than Anthrax in the overall - Anthrax reached 1.3 million or so copies with Sound of the white noise - while no Testament album ever crossed that bar. That's why the Big 4 are what they are. Only because thrash was commercial back then. If you need to pick anything that can resemble the attitude of the music industry towards metal - no old-school band can be picked, and no thrash metal band that was formed in the late 90's or in the 2000's ever came to 10% of that commerical success. Metalcore and new-school metal (the groove oriented kind) could be picked as a successor - but that won't cut as "The new big 4 of thrash" - cuz there will be no (or barely no) thrash metal in that.

If I should pick the 4 more successful bands in one album, even though I really dislike some of them, those bands will be :
1) Avenged Sevenfold
2) Bullet For My Valentine
3) Trivium
4) Lamb Of God
and having Killswitch Engage really not that far behind them. Though KSE is much more musical than the first 2 (awful) picks - no one album of them ever crossed the 500,000 which is Platinuim album, If I remember correctly, unlike the other bands here (though I'm not 100% certain if Lamb Of God should be there, but they are WAY more successful outside the U.S. and Europe compared to KSE, so this is more of a hunch).

If I should pick 4 thrash metal bands of nowadays - commerical wise ofcouse - I would pick :

1. Municipal Waste (Crossover band, IMO, but I'm severely outnumbered here)
2. Evile
3. Toxic Holocaust
4. Gama Bomb

Note the similiraties in much of the early attitude of those bands to certain bands in the big 4. While Evile are clearly Metallica-wannabes, with some Megadeth and Testament in them, Toxic Holocaust rings the very early Slayer attitude in Show no mercy and Hell awaits. Municipal Waste and Gama Bomb share the Anthrax goofiness, so I guess that could split between them two.

Written by Angelic Storm on 25.10.2010 at 09:31

And why the hell should those old bands "fade away politely" if they're still making awesome music? That's a dumb attitude to have...

Imo, most of the bands (and I mean a crushing majority here) who started in the 80s should have called a quit many years ago. And the reason I'm saying this is simple: I don't think any of them is making awesome music anymore. If I compare the recent stuff to the old, my thought is usually "OMG, why haven't they quit earlier"?

But I admit I'm one of those who believe metal is in dire need for a 'renaissance', a renewal, and that the old bands should have left the place long ago. I think that, by sticking to the scene long after their creativity has gone, they're an obstacle to metal evolution and quality because they're a hindrance to new bands by the fact their name draws attention to them instead of younger bands, no matter the actual quality of the music.

Perhaps, after 25-30 years of hearing the same names mentioned, I'm getting sick of it all. In fact, I think we could say that I don't like metal in the general sense of the word, since I lost interest for any kind of 'standard metal' (bands people have in mind when thinking about metal).
Or, if we can put it differently: apart from a few exceptions, I have no interest for metal, outside of Black Metal nowadays. I would describe my feeling this way: I don't like metal, only Black Metal.

P.S. It doesn't mean BM is better than other genres. It only means I got tired of all other metal genres and don't care for them these days, apart from a few bands here and there.

Municipal Waste
Evile
Warbringer
Bonded By Blood

Written by Angelic Storm on 24.10.2010 at 07:36

Lol If there was a new "big 4" of thrash, for me they'd be older bands, rather than new bands. Heathen, Forbidden, Testament, Exodus, Overkill... they're all showing the young uns' how it should be done!

Hell Yeah

Testament, Exodus, Forbidden, Death Angel



EDIT: Swapped out Heathen for Death Angel

I won't give you my nowadays big 4, but I have to say that Anthrax is an overrated band... they should not have been part of the big 4.

Written by bandido on 15.12.2010 at 17:13

I won't give you my nowadays big 4, but I have to say that Anthrax is an overrated band... they should not have been part of the big 4.

Sigh, once again... they are part of the big 4 because they were amongst the BIGGEST 4 thrash bands at the time. the name says it all... BIG 4 of Thrash.
Not a single band came and comes to these four when it comes to the sheer numbers of albums sold or even how many people came to their shows.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 15.12.2010 at 18:52

Written by bandido on 15.12.2010 at 17:13

I won't give you my nowadays big 4, but I have to say that Anthrax is an overrated band... they should not have been part of the big 4.

Sigh, once again... they are part of the big 4 because they were amongst the BIGGEST 4 thrash bands at the time. the name says it all... BIG 4 of Thrash.
Not a single band came and comes to these four when it comes to the sheer numbers of albums sold or even how many people came to their shows.

i think i am going to add +2 drinks for each time someone posts that Anthrax is overrated and should not be part of the Big Four of Thrash.



that's how big they were.

I'd say that the huge-mainstream-success days of real thrash are over and the term "new big four" really wouldn't mean much. I mean really, how many people outside of the metal community have heard bands like Warbringer, Vektor and Municipal Waste? The big four were called that because they became commercially huge, and I don´t really see such a thing happening again with real thrash bands. It never said anything about quality (hint: the big four weren't really the best anyway, far from it, and quality is a largely subjective term and does not have to be related to album sales), and in today's (real) thrash scene there really aren't any bands that are so many leagues ahead commercially in relation to the others for such a term to be useful for anything.

Think about it, if the title was referring to quality, everyone would have their own big four. In fact, if that was the case, I'd propagate for the big four including such bands as Overkill, Exciter and Exodus rather than Metallica and co.

Written by ForeverDarkWoods on 15.12.2010 at 20:41

It never said anything about quality (hint: the big four weren't really the best anyway, far from it, and quality is a largely subjective term and does not have to be related to album sales)

Agreed. Among the Big Four, the only band I would include among the best is Slayer (and only their old stuff). I never liked the 3 others much and I think there are/were better bands than them.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 15.12.2010 at 18:52

Written by bandido on 15.12.2010 at 17:13

I won't give you my nowadays big 4, but I have to say that Anthrax is an overrated band... they should not have been part of the big 4.

Sigh, once again... they are part of the big 4 because they were amongst the BIGGEST 4 thrash bands at the time. the name says it all... BIG 4 of Thrash.
Not a single band came and comes to these four when it comes to the sheer numbers of albums sold or even how many people came to their shows.

I totally agree! And I agree with everyone here who says they're probably not the best 4. All I'm saying is : if there had been a contest and people voted for their 4 favorites, probably Metallica, Megadeth or Slayer would've won anyways, but NOT Anthrax! Yeah they sold millions as well, but if the selection had been done differently or based in other criteria, Anthrax would've finished 8th or 9th... And I do like Anthrax

Well I know the original big four came about because they were the highest selling thrash metal bands of their day, so I guss if you want a new big four just take the four highest selling bands of the 00s and there you go.

My personal top 4 thrash bands right now though would be Municipal Waste, Bonded By Blood....... I don't know who else. *shrugs*

I like the big four the way they are right now but i think the new big four would by avenged sevenfold,stone sour, mastodon and hard to say.... maybe cancer bats

Written by CFCVinn on 05.01.2011 at 02:23

I like the big four the way they are right now but i think the new big four would by avenged sevenfold,stone sour, mastodon and hard to say.... maybe cancer bats

oneproblem though not all of the bands you mentioned play thrash. The name of the big four was actually "the big four of thrash" otherwise Iron Maiden would have been in there instead of any of four besides Metallica.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 05.01.2011 at 02:26

Written by CFCVinn on 05.01.2011 at 02:23

I like the big four the way they are right now but i think the new big four would by avenged sevenfold,stone sour, mastodon and hard to say.... maybe cancer bats

oneproblem though not all of the bands you mentioned play thrash. The name of the big four was actually "the big four of thrash" otherwise Iron Maiden would have been in there instead of any of four besides Metallica.

oh really i thought the big four were any type of metal, so i wouldnt be able to say cuzz i listen to heavy metal mostly, but some thrash

Written by CFCVinn on 05.01.2011 at 02:30

oh really i thought the big four were any type of metal, so i wouldnt be able to say cuzz i listen to heavy metal mostly, but some thrash

I don't wanna sound mean or anything but the title of this thread is "The 'New' Big Four Of Thrash?" And as you can read the word "Thrash" is in there quite clearly
But of course no harm done.

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 05.01.2011 at 02:32

Written by CFCVinn on 05.01.2011 at 02:30

oh really i thought the big four were any type of metal, so i wouldnt be able to say cuzz i listen to heavy metal mostly, but some thrash

I don't wanna sound mean or anything but the title of this thread is "The 'New' Big Four Of Thrash?" And as you can read the word "Thrash" is in there quite clearly
But of course no harm done.

i just quickly skimmed it make that bareely i just read the title "the big four" and put a post

Evile, Warbringer, Municipal Waste, and Bonded By Blood. I've heard a little of Havok and what I've heard was really impressive, but if I heard more I could possible replace them with BBB.

Havok, Warbringer, Bonded by Blood, Lazarus A.D. 'Nuff said

I don't think there are four newer thrash bands that meet the criteria the Big Four have met. Why does there even have to be a "new big four?" Just keep making music and if a group of bands get some title slapped on them later, great. If not, who cares? That's what originally happened anyway. People thrashed for the sake of thrashing...people made metal for the sake of making metal.

Havok really impressed me with their latest album. Vektor is another band who're quite unique and have a great future ahead of them. These two bands are my suggestions for being two of the next "Big Four" in the near future.

I'd say Gama Bomb, Warbringer, Evile and Lazarus A.D.
I REALLY liked Bonded by Bloods debut, but the follow up not so much, and given their recent major line-up changes their next album is going to be a make or break moment. The 4 I mentioned above though are either getting better or at least consistent (Though I prefer Eviles debut to their follow up). But as far as the new wave of Thrash goes, these guys are definitely the most well known over here in the U.K.