SLAYER! What else need be said? Here are the kings of thrash with the opening track of their 1996 watershed release Reign In Blood.

Watch Slayer perform “Angel of Death” here below.

When Oakland’s Machine Head burst onto the scene in 1994, their debut album Burn My Eyes helped breathe life back into a floundering thrash metal scene. Along with Pantera, Machine Head would carry the torch of metal through much of the ’90s.

After a two album diversion into nu metal territory around the turn of the millennium and several lineup changes, Machine Head would return to their original course and go on to be one of the biggest bands, not only in thrash, but metal overall. Machine Head are set to release their eighth studio album Bloodstone & Diamonds on November 10th via Nuclear Blast Records and, based on the advance tracks, it may be one of the best albums of the year.

Here with the opening track of Burn My Eyes is Machine Head with the official video for “Davidian.” It is a song that Machine Head leader Robb Flynn wrote about a violent confrontation with an Oakland street gang, framed against the events that had just unfolded in Waco with David Koresh and his Branch Davidian compound.

Watch the official video for “Davidian” here below.

Nearly 30 years after their arrival on the world’s stage, Germany’s Kreator remain one of the most influential and innovative thrash bands in the world. Their recent headlining set at the world’s largest metal festival Wacken Open Air was one of the greatest performances the festival has ever seen.

Here from their 2001 masterpiece Violent Revolution are the mighty Kreator with the official video for the title track of the album.

With the anthemic call-to-arms opening track of their fifth album, 1993’s Chaos A.D., here is Sepultura.

Watch the official video for “Refuse/Resist” here below.

Hailing from Brazil and led by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera, the band broke new ground and paved the way for many bands that would follow in their footsteps. AllMusic declared Chaos A.D. one of the best heavy metal albums of all time, calling it “a remarkable achievement not only in its concentrated power and originality, but also in the degree to which Sepultura eclipsed their idols in offering a vision of heavy metal’s future.” To me, the same could be said of each and every one of the first six albums that the band issued.

With the title track of their fourth album, Souls of Black, (1990) here’s Oakland, CA thrash legends Testament.

Watch the video for “Souls of Black” here below.

Testament is still active after 30 years and ten studio albums. In fact, the band has produced some of it’s most criticality acclaimed and commercially successful music during the thrash revival of the past few years. I highly recommend checking out The Formation of Damnation (2008) or Dark Roots of Earth (2012), both of which present a master class in the genre.