thrash metal

Record #976: High on Fire – Snakes for the Divine (2010)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

For all of the variety within metal and its various subgenres, perhaps no two camps are further apart than doom and thrash. Doom metal is slow and plodding, its tempo held back by the immense mass of its heaviness. Thrash, on the other hand, is brutally fast, like a motorcycle strapped with machine guns.

And at the center of this dichotomy is Matt Pike. After rising to prominence in the legendary stoner doom band Sleep, he formed the thrash project High on Fire. And while there’s still plenty of stoner metal crossover here, the tempo is a good eight times faster than anything Sleep ever did. Snakes for the Divine is a riffy, smokey record that stands up to even the thrashiest of thrash classics.

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Record #978: Metallica – Master of Puppets (1986)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Alright, this one might demand some explanation.

I have a general dislike of Metallica. I have not been quiet about this opinion. I have said often and loudly that they are one of the most overrated bands ever. People often will retort, “the first four records though,” to which I usually respond, “first three, and even then.”

And yeah, there were plenty of better metal bands around the time that deserved the success Metallica got (Iron Maiden, Slayer, Death, to name a few).

But overrated doesn’t necessarily mean bad.

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Record #874: Mastodon – Leviathan (2004)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

To say that my relationship with metal has been complicated is a bit of an understatement. Even though heavy bands like Zao led me to care about music in the first place, I abandoned metal and hardcore in college. It wasn’t until Deafheaven released Sunbather that I started to dip my toes back in, before diving headlong into bands like Alcest, Isis, Lantlos, and Baroness.

What started as a love of music that subverts metal archetypes grew into a more sincere appreciation for the genre as a whole. Even still, I’ve found it difficult to swallow most of the more mainstream acts.

There is one massive exception to this though, and that is Mastodon, who has consistently proven themselves to be one of the most important metal bands of the last two decades. Their second album, Leviathan, was practically a coup, storming the gates of heavy metal and erecting their own flag over the fortress. It’s a massive tour-de-force, combining the fury of old school thrash with the cerebral acrobatics of prog metal and an almost cinematic sense of composition—all while singing about Moby Dick. 

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