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Unearthing The Metal Underground: The Thrash Influenced Metal Scene

I’m going to let you all in on my dirty little metal secret: I don’t dig thrash. At all. Yeah, I know, how can it happen, right? Megadeth, Metallica, Testament, Anthrax, these are the bands that made metal in the ‘80s and ‘90s and brought an otherwise niche genre into the mainstream spot light. Despite their name recognition and commercial success, I just find I can’t sit through a whole thrash album without wishing something different was playing.

In this week’s edition of “Unearthing the Underground,” I’ll be going over bands that start with a base of thrash metal, or have a big thrash metal influence, but add in a variety of different styles. The thrash influenced bands this time around all either have big name members or have released several albums, but haven’t received a big following outside the underground yet.

DuskMachine

First off is Germany’s Duskmachine, which is essentially a thrash metal band, but also incorporates power metal, progressive metal, and some groove metal elements. Some of the band’s influences are undoubtedly brought in by members Russell Bergquist (ex-Annihilator) and Randy Black (Primal Fear, ex-Annihilator). Duskmachine last released an album in 2005, and split with former vocalist Mirko Prietzsch back in July. The band has yet to formally announce a replacement, and the last update from the group stated a new album would be mixed this coming October.

You can check out a series of DuskMachine songs via the band’s MySpace page, or listen to the songs “The Final Fall” and “The Maker’s Death” in the video clips that follow.

The Konsortium

In stark contrast to DuskMachine, The Konsortium mixes thrash with Norwegian black metal. As an added bonus for black metal fans, the group also features guitarist Teloch (Nidingr, ex-1349, ex-Gorgoroth). The Konsortium has signed to Agonia Records, but so far has only released a demo in 2008 and a split album with Satanochio earlier this year. Considering that the band has yet to put out a true full-length, it’s difficult to say how much thrash will continue to influence The Konsortium’s sound in the future.

You can hear the songs “Decomposers” and “Slangenes Born” at this location or check out “Gasmask Prince” in the clip below.

Soldiers of Scrape

As a final look at a band influenced by thrash but not stuck in one genre definition, we’ll take a look at a Detroit’s Soldiers of Scrape, which was formerly known as Bowlscrapper. The band uses thrashy guitars, but also has a big groove metal sound that brings to mind bands like Pantera, along with a little hardcore for good measure.

The band’s latest album “New Age Of Piracy” is set for release this year, and Soldiers of Scrape will also be playing a few shows in the Detroit area at the end of October. Sample songs are available for streaming here, and the band’s video for “Do It Yourself” can be viewed below.

Certainly there are more quality thrash based metal bands to be found. If you'd like to recommend some other good underground bands, please feel free to discuss them in the comments below. Check back every Monday as we dive into a different scene or genre to unearth more underground metal bands.

Ty Arthur is a freelance writer who writes for both entertainment and technical instruction sites. An avid fan of many different forms of metal, he has been involved in reviewing music for several years and is currently a contributing editor for Metalunderground.com