SNFU

SNFU - ...And No One Else Wanted To Play

SNFU - If You Swear, You'll Catch No Fish

SNFU - Better Than A Stick In The Eye

SNFU - The Last Of The Big Time Suspenders

SNFU - Something Green And Leafy This Way Comes

SNFU - The One Voted Most Likely To Succeed

SNFU - Fuck You Up Like A Bad Accident

SNFU - Let's Get It Right The First Time

SNFU - Ping Pong EP

SNFU - In The Meantime And In Between Time

SNFU (Society's No Fucking Use) are not just one of Canada's best punk bands, they are one of the best punk bands of all time. They have done time on BYO Records, Cargo Records, Epitaph Records and currently are releasing shit on their own label (Rake Records). For the bulk of their history the three constants have been lead singer Mr. Chi Pig (A total madman who is a punk rock legend) and the Belke brothers, Marc and Brent, whose guitar work ranks among the best of 1980's and 90's punk rock. All their albums totally slay and you'd be a fool to not grab at least one of these, seriously don't fuck around here (you really can't go wrong with any era of this band, I'm particularly fond of their 90's Epitaph output). Mr. Chi Pig is a total meth head now (a shell of the man he used to be) who is toothless and suffers from schizophrenia. He was homeless for a while, but seems to be doing better now and can still put on one hell of a show.

Cryptic Slaughter

Cryptic Slaughter - Convicted

Cryptic Slaughter - Money Talks

Cryptic Slaughter - Stream Of Consciousness

Cryptic Slaughter - Speak Your Peace

Politically charged, super-fast and pissed off hardcore/thrash from Santa Monica, CA. These kids (they were still in high school when Convicted was released) were one of the first bands signed to Death Records, and subsequently one of the most popular. They played super fast crossover that somehow managed to be both incredibly technical and a little bit sloppy at the same time. From 1986-88 they released three full length albums. The first three albums all have the same line-up and totally rule, but Speak Your Peace was recorded with a new line-up after the band broke in 1988 (guitarist Les Evans moved to Portland and resurrected the band) and as a result it is their least rad album. A couple of years ago Relapse Records reissued Convicted and Money Talks with some bonus tracks and those reissues are still available so go out and get them.

D.R.I. - Crossover

D.R.I. - Crossover

The perfect combination of hardcore and thrash (the genre term "crossover" was coined from the album's title). Some say Dealing With It! is the better album and on certain days I would agree with them, but this album really is fucking killer and one of their best. This was released on Death Records in 1987 and like most of their releases it is the shit.

Excel

Excel - Split Image

Excel - The Joke's On You

Great Venice Beach thrash on par with their friends in Suicidal Tendencies (Mike Muir signed them to his Suicidal Records imprint). Randy Burns (Suicidal Tendencies, Megadeth, Possessed) produced both of these albums and they both wail. Guitarist Adam Siegel went on to play in the Suicidal Tendencies funk side-project Infectious Grooves. Dave Mustaine claims that Metallica stole the riff for "Enter Sandman" from the song "Tapping Into The Emotional Void" off of The Joke's On You LP (there are similarities, but I don't think there is much merit in his claim). If you dig Suicidal Tendencies, Exodus and Sacred Reich then you'll love Excel.

Beyond Possession - ...Is Beyond Possession

Beyond Possession - ...Is Beyond Possession

Canadian thrash band from Calgary. These guys fucking slay big time. This album is so fucking fast and heavy it will scare the wrinkles off your balls. Jeff Hanneman and James Hetfield were both huge fans of these guys. This came out on the Metal Blade subsidiary Death Records in 1986 and it is definitely a classic. This thing is fucking hardcore, thrash and skate-rock all rolled into one. Crank this shit and go out and slay a bowl (like on a skateboard, not dropping a deuce). This is their only full length release (they recorded demos in 1989 but broke up shortly after).

Corrosion Of Conformity

Corrosion Of Conformity - Animosity

Corrosion Of Conformity - Technocracy EP

Raleigh, North Carolina crossover thrash legends who created an absolutely huge sound for being just three dudes: Mike Dean on vocals/bass, Reed Mullin on drums and Woody Weatherman on guitar. Metal Blade head honcho Brian Slagel signed them to Death Records in 1985 at the urging of Slayers' Jeff Hanneman who had passed along their demo tape. They went to L.A. and recorded five new songs with Bill Metoyer. Those five songs would make up the A side of Animosity, while the demo that got them signed became side B (there is a very noticeable difference in sound quality between the two sides on Animosity). The artwork for Animosity was also done by the legendary Pushead. For the Technocracy EP they added vocalist Simon Bob Sinister who at the time was the vocalist for The Ugly Americans, another great Death Records band (the version of Technocracy here is the re-release with three demos that have Mike Dean singing). After these two releases they went groove metal/hard rock (they still fucking ruled) but could never match the speed and intensity of these two releases.

Sepultura

Sepultura - Beneath The Remains

Sepultura - Arise

Sepultura are perhaps the greatest thing to have ever come out of Brazil (besides Pele and butt implants, natch). They had two rad albums before these and two after, but these two albums are their only truly essential releases. Sepultura seamlessly blend hardcore, death metal and thrash into one pissed-off assault on your eardrums. The band will always be loved and remembered because of these two albums and their radicalness. Max Cavalera has the perfect voice for heavy music, so in your face and aggressive, and on top of that guitarist Andreas Kisser just fucking shreds all over the place. Legendary Florida death metal producer Scott Burns recorded both of these albums (although only Arise was done at his Florida studio, Morrisound) and unlike a lot of his work the drums here don't sound like someone banging away at a typewriter in the least.

Dr. Know

Dr. Know - This Island Earth

Dr. Know - Wreckage In Flesh

After having released several albums and EPs on Mystic Records, Dr. Know signed to the Metal Blade subsidiary Death Records in 1986 and released their debut for the label (This Island Earth) later that year. This Island Earth is more hardcore than metal, but by the time the follow-up Wreckage In Flesh was released in 1988 they were a full-on thrash metal band. I love it when punk and hardcore bands go metal. Metal Blade's house engineer/producer Bill Metoyer even did the recording of Wreckage In Flesh. These are by no means classic releases, just rad mid-80's punk/metal albums from one of the best 80's labels, Death/Metal Blade who's roster at the time was un-fuck-withable (Cryptic Slaughter, C.O.C., D.R.I., The Mentors, Ugly Americans and Beyond Possession).

Gang Green - You Got It!

Gang Green - You Got It!

Gang Green were a Boston hardcore band who went thrash on this release. Along with SSD, DYS and The F.U.'s they were part of the first wave of hardcore in Boston during the early 80's. This is their debut for Roadrunner Records after having released albums on Taang! Records. You Got It! came out in 1987 and it featured future Mighty Mighty Bosstones bass player Joe Gittleman. Lots of songs about partying, drinking beer and getting totally rad. Their two favourite lyrical subjects were Budweisers and skateboarding.

Sacred Reich

Sacred Reich - Ignorance

Sacred Reich - Surf Nicaragua

Sacred Reich - The American Way

Sacred Reich - Independent

Sacred Reich hailed from Phoenix, AZ and were around from 1985-2000. They were signed to Metal Blade Records who released these four albums (although Surf Nicaragua is actually an EP and Independent was co-released with Hollywood Records). Their debut album Ignorance is my favourite even though the follow-up, The American Way, is widely regarded as their best. Bill Metoyer (Slayer, C.O.C. and almost every Metal Blade act) produced the hell out of Ignorance and The American Way and they both totally shred. Like most thrash acts of the time their lyrics were about politics and social unrest. Well above average thrash metal. The video for American Way was also featured in the film Encino Man, which I believe was some kind of documentary about urban cavemen.

Atrophy

Atrophy - Socialized Hate

Atrophy - Violent by Nature

Thrash metal from Tucson, AZ. Both of these fine slabs-o-thrash were released by Roadrunner Records in the late 80's/early 90's. The band called it quits after founding guitarist (and main songwriter) Chris Lykins left to attend med-school. Quality thrash metal with all the hallmarks of the genre: Blazing solos, double-kick drumming and generic lyrics about social unrest (with the obligatory party song thrown in). This may not be on a Megadeth level of awesomeness, but it is definitely on par with anything Exodus or Testament put out. Like most old albums on Roadrunner these are long out of print.

Wasted Youth - Black Daze

Wasted Youth - Black Daze

Wasted Youth started out as a hardcore punk band in the early 80's (their singer is even on the cover of the book American Hardcore). However, on this release they went full on thrash metal. Bassist Dave Kushner went on to play guitar in Velvet Revolver and Drummer Joey Castillo went on to play with Danzig and Queens Of The Stone Age. The guitar work on this is fucking incredible, lead guitarist Rick Seccombe just shreds all over this thing with one face-melting solo after another. The musicianship overall is pretty rad and its a real shame these guys never took off. The artwork was done by Michael Seiff who also created cover art for Suicidal Tendencies, No Mercy, Excel and Beowülf.

Dr. Know

Dr. Know - The Best Of...

Dr. Know is best remembered as the band that child-actor Brandon Cruz (The Courtship Of Eddies Father, the Jello-less Dead Kennedy's reunion) fronted for a minute. The thing about Mystic Records best of's is that they aren't really the best songs, but all the songs the band released while on Mystic. That being said here is everything Dr. Know recorded for Mystic. After their tenure on Mystic Dr. Know went full-on thrash and signed to Metal Blade Records (I can post some of those albums too if anyone is interested). Classic nardcore that is crude, rude, fast and furious.