'''Thrash metal''' is possibly the most popular subgenre of metal among metalheads. Basically, it's a fusion of HardcorePunk and the music of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM; you know, Music/IronMaiden). In slightly more detail, thrash metal, also known as "thrash", features very fast guitar playing, often with a signature "chugging" sound, and very fast drumming. Seriously, the drumming is impossibly fast... unless you're an actual thrash metal drummer, in which case, it's not.

Thrash metal began in the early eighties and was popularized mainly by the "Big Four" (Music/{{Metallica}}, Music/{{Megadeth}}, Music/{{Slayer}} and Music/{{Anthrax}}) as well as the three main bands of the Teutonic thrash metal scene in Germany (Sodom, Kreator, Destruction). Nowadays it's a bit old-fashioned, but still sufficiently popular that it has seen a "revival" of sorts in the 2000s (see the "New Blood" section). In June of 2010, the Big Four of thrash metal played together on one stage for the first time ever in a historic concert tour in Europe.

Fellow metal genres DeathMetal, GrooveMetal and arguably BlackMetal evolved directly from thrash. Thrash metal evolved from SpeedMetal, and was instrumental in the creation of PowerMetal

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Bands typically described as thrash metal include:

'''Old Guard'''
[[index]]
American West Coast
* Dark Angel
* Death Angel
* Exodus
* Forbidden
* Heathen
* Hirax
* Lääz Rockit
* Music/{{Megadeth}}
* Music/{{Metallica}}
* Sadus
* Music/{{Slayer}}
* Music/{{Testament}}
* Tourniquet (also ProgressiveMetal and ChristianMetal)
* Torture
* Vio-lence

American East Coast
* Music/{{Anthrax}}
* Carnivore
* D.R.I (later)
* Demolition Hammer
* Hallows Eve
* IcedEarth (later became PowerMetal)
* M.O.D
* Nuclear Assault
* Music/{{Overkill}}
* S.O.D
* Toxik (also ProgressiveMetal)
* Whiplash
* Watchtower (also ProgressiveMetal)

Misc. American
* Exhorder (Mixed with GrooveMetal)

Teutonic (German)
* AngelDust (later became PowerMetal)
* Assassin
* Assorted Heap
* Destruction
* Despair
* Exumer
* Holy Moses
* Kreator
* Living Death
* Mekong Delta
* Paradox, beginning with ''Heresy'' (formerly SpeedMetal)
* Protector
* SDI
* Sodom
* {{Tankard}}
* Vendetta
* Violent Force

Brazilian
* Attomica
* Dorsal Atlantica
* Executer
* Explicit Hate
* Holocausto
* Korzus
* The Mist
* Mutilator
* MX
* Sarcófago (Mixed with BlackMetal and DeathMetal)
* {{Sepultura}} before ''Chaos AD'' (later became GrooveMetal; they became thrash again starting with ''Dante XXI'')
* {{Soulfly}}, beginning with ''Dark Ages''
* Torture Squad
* Vulcano (also BlackMetal)

Canadian
* Annihilator (fused with SpeedMetal and ProgressiveMetal; later material mixed with GrooveMetal as well)
* Anvil (YMMV, has more in common with Music/HeavyMetal with PowerMetal touches)
* Infernäl Mäjesty
* Razor
* Sacrifice
* Voivod (also ProgressiveMetal)

Misc.
* Aspid (Russian)
* Coroner (Swiss)
* Hexenhaus (Swedish)
* HobbsAngelOfDeath (Australian)
* Mandator (Dutch)
* Mortal Sin (Australian)
* Onslaught (British)
* Sabbat (British)
* Music/{{Venom}} (British)

'''New Blood'''
* Abigail
* Austrian Death Machine
* Avenger of Blood
* Barbatos
* BodyCount
* Bonded By Blood
* Dekapitator (sort of, they got their start in the late nineties)
* Demiricous
* Diamond Plate
* {{Evile}}
* Fueled By Fire
* GamaBomb
* Havok
* Hexen
* LichKing
* Mantic Ritual
* Mastery
* Merciless Death
* Municipal Waste
* Nervosa
* Profanator
* Razormaze
* Suicidal Angels
* Susperia
* Tantara
* Toxic Holocaust
* Vektor
* Warbringer
* Wastelander
[[/index]]

!!Tropes common in this genre are:
* DarkerAndEdgier: Compared to its direct progenitor SpeedMetal.
** Within thrash metal, the Teutonic scene is the DarkerAndEdgier counterpart to the US scene.
* {{Gorn}}: Not used as much as death metal, but still occasionally used, most famously by Slayer.
* HarshVocals: occasionally employed, doing it to much leads to confusion with DeathMetal.
* MetalScream: Often more of the operatic or snarling variety.
* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Generally ranges from 8-10 (ten being more rare).
* RatedMForManly: Just try to deny it, whether you're a fan of the genre or not.
** This is evidenced by the joke "What has 2,000 legs and 2 breasts? The audience at a thrash metal concert."
* TheScrappy: Became this in its original era due to the massive popularity of the genre leading to record companies signing anything even remotely thrashy, which in turn resulted in the formation of tons of incredibly derivative and samey acts that still got snatched up; in short, thrash had started to mirror glam, its sworn enemy. This repeated itself with the "thrash revival" by way of tons of bland, unoriginal acts getting snatched up just by virtue of playing thrash and earning the ire of the metal community once more.