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Genre
old school thrash
Parent Genre: metal

Old school thrash music is a subgenre of heavy metal that emerged in the early 1980s. It is characterized by fast and aggressive guitar riffs, pounding drums, and intense vocals. The lyrics often deal with social and political issues, as well as personal struggles. The genre gained popularity with bands like Metallica, Megadeth, and Pantera, who helped define the sound and style of thrash metal. Their music is known for its raw energy, technical proficiency, and uncompromising attitude. Today, old school thrash remains a beloved and influential genre among metal fans around the world.


Top artists of old school thrash genre

Metallica
Megadeth
Pantera
Slayer
Sepultura
Testament
Helloween
Anthrax
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old school thrash music timeline

Explore old school thrash history by listening to songs from every decade. Click on the decade to view songs.

2020s 2010s 2000s 1990s 1980s 1970s 1960s 1950s 1940s 1930s

Similar Genres to old school thrash

Discover more related genres to old school thrash genre. This list is ordered by similarity from left to right.

thrash metal metal speed metal crossover thrash death metal new wave of thrash metal technical thrash hard rock deathrash german metal german thrash metal groove metal thrash core neo-trad metal alternative metal hardcore punk nwothm canadian metal rock power metal
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old school thrash playlist created by Chosic

Enjoy this playlist of popular old school thrash music. We made this playlist using an algorithm created by our team.

Play on spotify

List of old school thrash artists

Here is a list of old school thrash artists on Spotify, ranked based on popularity, who exemplifies the old school thrash genre. You can find out what old school thrash genre sounds like where you can preview artists or sort them the way you want, just click the headers to sort.

#namePopularity instrumentalnessdanceabilityenergyacousticnessHappinesstempofollowers
1
Metallica
83 15 39 88 1 37 126 24807337
2
Megadeth
70 23 39 92 0 35 136 4707093
3
Pantera
69 15 37 87 2 39 117 4411808
4
Slayer
67 21 32 96 0 19 116 3495459
5
Sepultura
59 17 38 92 2 23 123 1674798
6
Testament
59 18 36 87 2 36 120 965156
7
Helloween
58 4 38 85 4 29 133 1107215
8
Anthrax
56 9 37 93 1 31 126 1511928
9
Suicidal Tendencies
54 1 40 88 1 50 115 635180
10
Kreator
54 27 36 95 1 23 119 680479
11
Exodus
50 25 37 97 1 35 129 655749
12
Corrosion Of Conformity
48 15 41 85 1 46 125 273932
13
Overkill
47 36 33 90 0 36 121 518862
14
Iced Earth
47 16 43 91 0 31 133 344988
15
Sodom
47 43 35 94 0 28 128 400832
16
Bathory
46 59 33 80 9 21 124 323310
17
Annihilator
45 16 46 91 4 33 131 348431
18
Gwar
44 12 49 89 2 47 120 210451
19
Venom
43 11 28 83 4 23 114 464799
20
Death Angel
42 19 37 93 3 34 140 331844
21
Metal Church
42 11 43 95 0 33 128 195545
22
Agnostic Front
42 5 33 95 1 29 130 160982
23
Prong
42 16 52 93 0 48 119 152853
24
D.R.I.
41 16 39 86 0 39 118 197240
25
Running Wild
40 17 35 93 0 33 136 156607
26
Celtic Frost
39 58 28 81 1 25 117 212959
27
Ratos De Porão
39 12 31 96 0 27 110 89891
28
Cro-Mags
38 33 32 93 0 21 128 95461
29
Rage
37 1 43 90 1 32 129 101367
30
Heathen
37 10 37 95 0 23 135 70596
31
Nuclear Assault
37 48 28 95 2 21 121 182286
32
Destruction
36 44 32 96 0 33 132 250536
33
Tankard
35 3 42 97 0 38 124 135352
34
Voivod
35 16 29 91 0 22 120 103935
35
Sacred Reich
34 30 40 93 0 43 129 125511
36
Flotsam & Jetsam
34 15 32 90 1 32 141 97539
37
Exhorder
33 15 36 95 0 18 122 63846
38
Sarcófago
33 59 28 89 0 25 121 87742
39
Pestilence
32 31 33 97 0 21 121 95938
40
Onslaught
32 28 40 96 0 29 116 81859
41
Dark Angel
31 22 29 98 0 13 121 138942
42
Razor
31 38 30 98 0 15 121 67193
43
Carnivore
31 51 27 94 0 24 137 47723
44
Whiplash
30 8 31 94 0 33 128 107595
45
Coroner
30 63 27 88 0 36 120 84978
46
Pro-Pain
30 10 48 94 0 47 158 64982
47
Channel Zero
29 6 41 95 0 27 139 13883
48
Forbidden
28 15 30 95 0 14 111 83448
49
Détente
27 0 0 0 0 0 0 4622
50
Demolition Hammer
27 22 33 96 0 46 110 54445
51
Sanctuary
27 5 42 87 0 38 124 64827
52
Tourniquet
26 2 33 95 0 38 139 27994
53
Sadus
26 59 32 93 0 22 130 69698
54
Vio-Lence
25 17 31 96 0 26 117 70540
55
Xentrix
25 5 39 92 0 45 125 22943
56
Cryptic Slaughter
25 46 26 94 0 43 138 37528
57
Leeway
25 0 33 94 0 28 124 17890
58
Holy Moses
24 3 45 92 0 36 121 15034
59
Helstar
24 12 31 86 0 43 121 25222
60
Korzus
24 0 38 98 0 25 120 25777
61
Sacrifice
24 53 24 95 0 19 123 27371
62
Excel
23 10 29 96 1 34 119 17319
63
Laaz Rockit
23 56 27 91 0 27 120 31099
64
Toxik
23 29 30 89 0 16 142 58984
65
Deliverance
23 12 43 82 1 39 115 20154
66
Agent Steel
23 10 18 97 0 14 113 38167
67
Morbid Saint
23 14 27 99 0 7 118 43510
68
Mortal Sin
22 15 31 94 0 33 125 37331
69
Stone
22 0 30 92 0 52 109 5510
70
Vendetta
21 55 33 90 0 33 103 4718
71
Crumbsuckers
21 19 37 83 0 48 121 11844
72
Hallows Eve
20 1 36 88 0 48 121 24584
73
Sabbat
19 23 25 97 0 20 111 16732
74
Powermad
19 18 38 92 0 35 128 6291
75
The Accüsed
18 54 26 94 0 43 153 18960
76
Raw Power
17 13 24 94 1 23 113 8004
77
Protector
17 66 24 99 0 15 132 16159
78
Nasty Savage
16 0 32 92 0 25 125 22760
79
Living Death
16 84 31 89 0 29 154 17407
80
Rigor Mortis
16 1 30 86 0 37 105 25744
81
Messiah
16 86 15 90 3 14 144 6121
82
Vulcano
16 0 27 96 0 13 142 5960
83
Devastation
15 28 28 88 0 34 109 14420
84
Solstice
15 1 45 97 0 30 107 5624
85
Necronomicon
15 18 40 91 0 45 139 5979
86
Opprobrium
14 89 11 98 0 11 170 9802
87
Iron Angel
14 1 31 95 0 21 135 23133
88
Anestesia
14 7 33 92 2 49 163 5315
89
Piledriver
14 30 21 79 0 28 142 8556
90
Wrathchild America
13 3 40 89 0 40 122 5760
91
Mekong Delta
13 63 35 82 0 7 128 11841
92
Attomica
13 64 22 96 0 19 140 19025
93
Uncle Slam
12 3 35 96 1 48 112 8907
94
Wehrmacht
12 57 21 94 0 12 125 9614
95
Anacrusis
12 77 28 96 0 17 136 12160
96
Defiance
12 9 35 87 0 31 110 2510
97
Lawnmower Deth
12 0 44 100 0 29 147 5365
98
Ludichrist
11 0 34 93 0 52 120 7584
99
Watchtower
11 7 33 96 0 47 131 13541
100
Attitude Adjustment
11 0 30 94 1 36 134 7524
101
Sentinel Beast
11 5 25 90 0 52 112 8994
102
Blood Feast
11 38 27 94 0 34 111 18182
103
Warfare
11 84 23 90 0 23 130 5300
104
Meliah Rage
10 75 26 79 0 25 158 4871
105
Fear of God
10 51 46 88 0 21 108 2180
106
Holy Terror
10 54 27 93 0 36 129 10830
107
Wargasm
10 34 31 96 0 35 111 4783
108
Necrodeath
10 32 20 97 0 13 129 8411
109
Blind Illusion
9 5 25 94 0 25 87 6724
110
Hellwitch
9 1 34 96 0 22 112 3492
111
At War
8 11 25 87 0 41 148 6763
112
Intruder
8 0 0 0 0 0 0 7038
113
Viking
8 5 30 76 0 54 95 13141
114
Znöwhite
8 49 24 98 0 20 160 6245
115
Gammacide
8 3 31 99 0 18 112 9585
116
Num Skull
8 1 17 99 0 13 106 10019
117
Invocator
8 0 30 98 0 25 137 6460
118
Dead Brain Cells
7 51 29 96 0 46 119 2223
119
Hobbs' Angel Of Death
7 22 32 93 0 11 119 8179
120
Concrete Sox
7 37 32 98 0 17 110 5878
121
Unseen Terror
7 60 38 97 16 40 105 3351
122
Slammer
6 53 34 84 0 45 78 7426
123
MX
6 0 0 0 0 0 0 6542
124
No Mercy
6 0 25 90 0 39 194 1642
125
Thought Industry
6 2 38 79 0 42 144 1433
126
Dream Death
5 0 0 0 0 0 0 2347
127
Indestroy
5 0 0 0 0 0 0 4814
128
Seventh Angel
5 0 0 0 0 0 0 6207
129
Indestructible Noise Command
4 0 0 0 0 0 0 3151
130
Meanstreak
4 0 0 0 0 0 0 2847
131
Airdash
4 0 0 0 0 0 0 2569
132
Deathwish
4 0 0 0 0 0 0 3516
133
Flames
3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2007
134
Intense Degree
3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1749
135
Angkor Wat
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 875
136
Faith Or Fear
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2042