On their second full-length Beijing, China thrashers Ancestor continue the thread of their die-hard Teutonic (read: German) classic thrash worship. There are a ton of great bands to pimp here that I’ve already reviewed or put in my Top 50 for this year so don’t think I forgot: Sepulcher, Maligner, Rapture, Psykopath, Hellish, Vomitor, Atrofia, Chemicaust, Oxygen Destroyer, Cemetery Lust, Sabateur, Sacral Rage, Shakma, Dungeonhammer, Deathwards, Revocation, Cultural Warfare, Aura Noir, Axegressor, Invocation Spells, Foul Body Autopsy, Speedclaw, Black Fast, Infrared, Porcelain Helmet, Skeletonwitch, Volition, Crisix, Corpsehammer, Goat Worship, Hammr, Communion, Radux, Degrave, Deathhammer, Nemesis, Dark Hound, Bonehunter, Defiatory, Voight Kampff, Sahon, Malichor, Sense of Fear, Affliktor, Orgullo Nativo, Centauro, Ultra-Violence, Hallux, and tons of other 2018 thrash metal albums I missed. So, here are some bands that stood out to me as I dug through thrash metal’s innards throughout 2018. Thanks to streaming sites like Bandcamp, Spotify and Soundcloud you’ve got instant access to hundreds of independent thrash metal band discographies the world over and hey! I’ve picked through them for you all year long, scouring those sites and a few databases that catalog most every release ( Discogs/RateYourMusic).
![heavy metal albums 2018 heavy metal albums 2018](https://consequence.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/best-metal-albums-so-far-2018.png)
From my experience these albums were overlooked, underrepresented, and/or passed by quickly by media outlets.
![heavy metal albums 2018 heavy metal albums 2018](https://i1.wp.com/metalwani.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Wasteland.jpg)
I’ve compiled this list not as a “best of” for the wide blanket of thrash metal in 2018 but rather to illustrate what thrash metal is/was in 2018 and where I think it was most interesting yet overlooked. I do my best to find compelling and powerful albums stacked with riffs and memorable songs here, but a few of these will just be weirdos for the sake of showing the out-of-the-box thinkers and hidden gems of underground thrash metal today. Because the sub-genre contains many variants (black, death, prog, tech, crossover etc.) I will be fairly inclusive here but if any release leans further towards black metal or death metal they’ll likely end up on those respective lists. Nonetheless every year I hunger for releases that tribute and append the history of classic thrash metal and thus I scour the internet for it. Some exhaustion followed the completion of my study of technical thrash metal and the realization that retro thrash was an overstuffed and insight-devoid venture.
![heavy metal albums 2018 heavy metal albums 2018](https://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2018/07/2018.jpg)
My obsession with thrash tapered off as I began to catch up with modern releases and the slew of retro garbage period of the early 2000’s. My entire teens and twenties were spent obsessively listening to every demo, EP, album and VHS from the history of thrash metal that I could find. I don’t want to suggest I am a thrash metal ‘expert’ but I am a weathered fanatic of the genre. There is simply too much music to bother with and few DIY bands understand the collective value of both artistic presentation (commissioned artwork) and even fewer understand the value of a good PR person when getting started. You might’ve missed many releases this year because thrash has been graced with more and more fully independent musicians choosing to go it alone in relying on social media recognition within digital distribution platforms. Thrash metal itself has let its reigns slack in 2018 while the glorious power of death metal steals the mindshare and best talent within extreme metal. Between the quiet post-melodramatic respite of Vektor to the weirdly persisting groove metal movement around the world the traditions of thrash metal have been tested.