When we were young, we once saw an advertisement for a concert featuring Slayer, Venom and Exodus at the disco club Studio 54 in New York City. At the time we thought this was the heaviest, most insane metal bill ever conceived. Of course, that was 1985, and since then band after band have redefined the very definition of heavy, Since then, we've seen Possessed rip it up with Dark Angel, and we've watched Napalm Death, Carcass and Morbid Angel tear it up together on an Earache showcase, not to mention Deicide sharing a bill with, Obituary, Malevolent Creation and Cannibal Corpse. Read more...

Here's Rick Ernst, director of "Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal," writing about the moment he first discovered thrash metal. His insightful and entertaining movie, which started taking form more than two decades after that personal epiphany, comes out on DVD on September 16.

Some will say thrash metal was born with Metallica's Kill 'Em All. Others will say Exodus was playing thrash metal before them. And many metal fans will tell you that Motorhead and Venom started it all.

While strong arguments can be made for all, ultimately, there was no "Big Bang" moment for thrash metal -- no definitive "moment in time" when genre was born. However, there is that personal moment where all of us as individual fans discovered thrash metal.

For me, it was a mixed cassette that was handed to me by a friend in high school. The tape was a third or fourth generation dub, hardly digital quality, but it had a huge impact on my life. Upon first listen, the thrashing sounds of Possessed, Nuclear Assault, Overkill and many others seemed like a cruel joke – a bastardization of the beloved heavy metal I knew back in 1984. Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Accept and others were my standard, and thrash metal had just turned my metal world on its head. The first few listens were for amusement. I mean, were Nuclear Assault for real when they sang "Hang the Pope?" (Turns out they were joking – to an extent. It was a metaphor. They didn't want to hang anyone – they’re actually very nice guys.) By the second round of listens, I could see there were a "few" good songs on the tape.

About three weeks later, I was buying every thrash album I could afford. I was addicted to the speed, the power, the musicianship and the middle-finger salute to the mainstream that thrash metal provided. It’s funny looking back on that summer of 1984. I basically discovered thrash metal through a cassette tape that I mainly listened to on a boom box in my friend's backyard. How could I have known back then that 24 summer’s later, I'd be releasing a movie on thrash metal on DVD.

In any event, that’s how I discovered thrash. Click "more" to check out this sneak peak of "Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal" to see how it was "born" in the eyes of the bands who lived through that very special time. Read more...

"Gravedigger's Tune," "Fratricide," "Ghost Dance," "To the Cemetery," "The Song of Burial," "Cemetery at Dawn," "Call from the Dead."

Are these the names of tracks by some evil black metal band?

No, they all are works by an Austrian Romantic-era classical music composer, Franz Peter Schubert.
People may think that classical music is elegant and graceful. Well, some is, but obviously some is not! Read more...