As we here in the States take today to spend time with loved ones and give thanks for all of our blessings, we here at Geeks of Doom want to take a moment to give thanks for metal’s greatest blessing: Mr. Lemmy Kilmister and his merry band of miscreants, Motorhead. While not technically a thrash band in the modern sense of the word, there can be no mistake that Lemmy’s propensity for amphetamines led him to almost singlehandedly create the genre of speed metal, which in turn birthed thrash. It is difficult to imagine what the landscape of modern metal would look like if not for the institution that is Motorhead.

So enjoy your thanksgiving, don’t eat TOO much, and crank up some Motorhead loud enough so that even your deaf Aunt Irene can enjoy.

Since we looked at Helix for this week’s Massive Metal Monday, I thought we would keep with the Canadian theme for Thrashback Thursday.

Exciter was one of the very first speed metal bands in the world and played a pivotal role in the establishment of the thrash genre. Formed in 1978 in Ottawa, Canada, the band has endured for over 35 years with only a small, but very rabid cult following.

Listen to Exciter here below.

Long Live the Loud was the third album by Exciter and was released in 1985. Here with “Beyond the Gates of Doom,” the fifth track from that classic album, are the fathers of Canadian thrash, Exciter.

Much to the delight of metal fans everywhere, British thrash titans Sylosis has just announced the release date for their fourth album Dormant Heart. The announcement was accompanied by the debut of the official video for the album’s first single “Mercy.”

Watch the video here below.

Here with the opening track of their 1988 masterpiece debut album Rigor Mortis is Dallas/Ft. Worth’s legendary thrash unit Rigor Mortis.

Watch Rigor Mortis perform “Welcome to Your Funeral” live here below.

I chose this track this week for two reasons: first, it showcases the brilliant guitar work of Mike Scaccia (who was also in Ministry), and, second, because Rigor Mortis is set to release their first album in 25 years on October 7, 2014. The album, Slaves to the Grave, will be a bittersweet moment for fans as it will also be the band’s final album. Mike Scaccia passed away from a heart attack while performing onstage December 23, 2012. He was 47 years old. The band has decided not to continue without him.

With all the talk in the last few years of the “˜Big 4′ of thrash metal and their all-conquering tour, it might be easy to forget where it all began. The U.S. heavyweights of the genre have reigned almost uninterrupted for nearly 30 years. But it might not have been that way had it not been for a metal sub-genre created in the UK.

British director Josh Callis-Smith has spent the last few years speaking to everyone involved in the UK thrash scene, from pivotal musicians to young upstarts, collating them for his documentary, A History Of A Time To Come – The Story Of UK Thrash. As a member of the band Pitiful Reign at the turn of the century, he was perfectly placed for the “˜second wave’ of British thrash that we are seeing now.

I caught up with Josh to ask him about his film, the current UK thrash scene, and how British band Venom was pivotal to the entire genre.

Geeks of Doom: What was it about UK thrash that drew you to make a film about it?

Josh Callis-Smith: It’s interesting really because I had a friend that used to roadie for Re-Animator and I remember when I first started getting into metal I went round [to his house] and I was like, Check this out – [Metallica album] Master of Puppets! He was like, You like Master of Puppets? Check this out! and he gave me Deny Reality [EP] by Re-Animator and Moshkinstein by Acid Reign. That got me interested in UK thrash bands; that’s where it came from. [Some time later] I was trying to research these bands and not being able to find much about them made me think, Why don’t I just go out and talk to them, actually find out what happened? That was the idea where the film came from.