Aussie Metal Part 2
by u/splodingshroom
G'day all,
Welcome back to the series of primers on Australian metal. Today we come to part two, covering the musical development of heavy music in Australia from the classic pub-rock/hard rock bands you've probably heard of on to the classic early heavy metal bands that you've likely not heard of, through to our classic thrash bands that you've probably heard of. If you haven't already, check out the previous post that gives a bit of an introduction to the topic. Links to the other posts below.
1: An introduction to Australian metal, and the big bands that sound like other bands
2: Developing Australian metal: Origins, traditional bands and Aussie thrash [This Post]
3: Aussie Prog/melodeath/symphonic
5: Aussie war, black/death, black/thrash
6: Orthodox BM, DSBM, Atmoblack/death and LoFi BM
Where the previous post was intended to give people an introduction to a wide variety of bands, this one will be something of a musical-historical narrative, hoping to show how Australian bands developed. It's going to be somewhat simplified, and my focus is more on the bands and their music, rather than stringing together a blow-by-blow of how Australian metal proliferated. As with the previous posts please note I may have intentionally left a big/good band to discuss in a later post. Please don't send me tonnes of messages about leaving out band X.
Some sources that I've used for this:
Metal Down Under - This is a three-part documentary that follows the development of Australian metal in three broad eras: the beginning of Aussie metal out of hard rock, the development of thrash and extreme metal in the late 80s and early 90s, and contemporary scenes in the 2000s and onwards. It's worth a watch if you're interested in the topic, but many of the underground scenes and bands are glossed over in favour of following big names around (though many of them have interesting things to say).
Brian Giffin's Encyclopaedia of Australian Heavy Metal - This has been an invaluable resource for me in my study, it's like a print version of Metal Archives with as much detail packed in as possible. It's good at giving context on certain bands in terms of how they fit with wider movements, but has the big limitation of a book in that it's only accurate up until its publication date (mid 2010s in this case) and as such misses out on some of the most recent developments in Aussie metal.
Ian McFarlane's Encyclopaedia of Australian Rock and Pop - Similar to Giffin's book, but a much broader focus. Nonetheless, it's got a surprisingly large amount of metal bands in there with very accurate information and genre knowledge (McFarlane worked for a subsidiary of Roadrunner back in the day, so he's got some familiarity with the subject matter). It also gives a good idea of how the biggest bands fit into the wider picture of Australian music and was particularly helpful with musical developments in the 70s and 80s. Like Giffin's encyclopaedia, it's limited by print era (the first edition cutting off in the late 90s) but the second edition was published in 2017.
I also used a smattering of academic and journalistic sources. For those after a more academic take on Australian metal, I'd recommend Michelle Phillipov's chapter 'Metal Downunderground' where she gives a broad overview of Australian metal and some of its interactions with wider Australian society. I've just about hit the post limit, so hit me up if you're interested in citations for some of this work. Beyond that, additional information is an amalgamation of my own personal knowledge and things I've gleaned from chatting with various different fans, musicians and journos across the past few years while working on bits and pieces of my research. If anyone finds anything inaccurate, I'd love to know and would be happy to make corrections!
On with the show!
Australian Hard Rock
Australia has a long-standing tradition of pub rock bands. Many of our biggest bands got their start playing in dingy pubs and clubs around the nation, even when they would later go on to greatness. Punk and metal in Australia developed in much the same way, and the early bands in both of these genres influenced each other and were influenced by each other, to the point that the line between hard rock, punk rock and heavy metal is fairly blurry in a number of cases. These pubs became the main sites of scenic activity in the early days of metal bands, and there's still a fair culture of live shows in pubs today, seen in venues like Sydney's The Bald Faced Stag and Hobart's The Brisbane Hotel that regularly host metal gigs for bands big and small.
Aside from pubs, record stores were another big site of scenic activity, as they have been in many burgeoning metal scenes around the world. Stores such as Melbourne's 'Metal for Melbourne' store and its owner Greta Tate were instrumental in the development of Australian metal bands in the 70s and 80s, pushing for bands like Taramis, Taipan and Bengal Tigers to get some recognition. This also led to some Metal for Melbourne gigs between 1981 and 1986 that were especially important for young bands with members under 18 who couldn't get into pubs. Utopia Records in Sydney was likewise important to the early scene in terms of centrality and influence and provided a gateway for many Australian bands to access international acts through tape trading and vice versa (especially for a little band called Slaughter Lord!).
This simultaneous connection to and isolation from the rest of the world characterises a lot of Australian metal. It costs a LOT of money to get all your gear over here, so most of the international acts that made it out here were the really huge ones. The early hard rock bands talk about KISS as a huge influence; the next generation of thrash bands talk about Metallica in their prime as a live influence. Tape trading provided some access to the international underground, but many people speaking of the period from the 70s-late 80s describe feeling fairly cut off from the rest of the world, noting that this meant that Australian metal had to develop on its own somewhat with occasional reference to international forms.
By now, you're hopefully getting a bit of a sense of the melting pot that Australian music scenes are. In a way, this is representative more broadly of Australian culture. The Indigenous cultures and language groups were largely destroyed (though some do still survive) by invading settlers from Britain, meaning that much of our culture is based around that of Britain filtered through the lower-class convicts that made up most of the early population. There have been successive waves of migration to Australia from all over the world through the years, meaning that it's quite hard to identify something unique and original as 'Australian culture'; it's truly pretty multicultural, especially in the major cities such as Sydney and Melbourne. The same is true for our music, described as being 'inflections or permutations on international styles' (Phillipov, 2008). This is largely borne out when you examine Australian hard rock and early metal, and is reasonably accurate for our other styles as well, though some more unique elements begin to emerge in various extreme metal subgenres. That said, Australian bands still play metal bloody well without needing to reinvent the wheel, and so we'll take a musical tour through our hard rock and metal bands. Aussie Hard Rock
Like Aussie metal, Aussie hard rock has something of an innate Australian attitude to it. A bit of rough-around-the-edges rogueish charm, a love of grog (alcohol), a fair go and knockin' off after a hard day's work and goin' down the pub with ya mates aye? Many people consider this 'something magical' about Aussie rock to have been imported almost wholesale into the early days of Aussie metal, and this attitude permeates through from Buffalo to Hobb's Angel of Death through to Blood Duster. Let's look at where it began.
NB: I've left the FFOs out of this section, as they're mainly meant to contextualise metal bands and I was having trouble giving recs that weren't sassy jabs.
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AC/DC
Genre: Hard Rock/Blues Rock
Start with: T.N.T (1975) or Back in Black (1980)
A band that needs no introduction, AC/DC are Australia's most famous band of people who weren't Australian (all of them being Scottish). Angus and Martin Young were the driving guitarists, whilst Bon Scott is pretty much the quintessential Australian rocker, complete with living fast and dying young in 1980. Recruiting Brian Johnsson, the band continued and put out one of the best rock albums of all time with Back in Black, but he lacks the bad boy charm of Scott. Although not a metal band by any stretch of the imagination, they're hugely influential on metal, both Australian and otherwise. The eldest Young brother, George, also deserves special mention, being a key member of another big Aussie band The Easybeats and producing a large part of AC/DC's early work alongside work by The Angles and Rose Tattoo. AC/DC are truly a national icon, to the point where current Prime Minister copped some flak in the press for not being able to name a single AC/DC song last year, something considered 'un-Australian'.
If I liked this Aussie band I might like the following Aussie band(s):
Airbourne: AC/DC 2.0 and unashamed about it, mixing in some elements of The Angels and Rose Tattoo. If you like any of the bands in this section, you'll probably enjoy them.
Jet: Equal parts Lonely Hearts-era Beatles and AC/DC hard rock. Their first album Get Born is pretty great, and the various singles got tonnes of Aussie radio play.
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The Angels
Genre: Hard rock/punk rock
Start with: Face to Face (1975)
Another legendary Aussie act that moved from pubs to colossal international tours and influenced huge amounts of hard rock, punk and metal bands around the world, arguably setting much of the blueprint that would be followed by later bands like Cold Chisel and Midnight Oil. A large part of this band's draw was their live show, with lots of audience interaction. Their punky attitude and rhythm have been cited as particularly influential on the later development of Aussie metal, and they were given some early press by AC/DC.
If I liked this Aussie band I might like the following Aussie band(s):
Midnight Oil: A fairly famous punky-hard rock act known in part for their environmental activism (how CAN we sleep if our beds are burning???). Singer Peter Garrett was later the Australian Federal Minister for the Arts and the Environment, in some connection with his musical activity.
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Cold Chisel
Genre: Hard Rock
Start with: Cold Chisel (1978)
Starting out as a heavy metal-styled band called Orange that played Deep Purple covers, Cold Chisel would become another legendary Aussie rock act. Singer Jimmy Barnes' vocals are iconic, and Ian Moss is regarded as one of Australia's better guitarists, having a distinguished solo career. Interconnected with the bands above (Barnes replaced Bon Scott in the band Fraternity), Cold Chisel are another of the hugely influential pub rock bands.
If I liked this Aussie band I might like the following Aussie band(s):
The Church: Sonically, they're more post-punk and jangly guitars that Chisel's straightforward rock approach, but both bands seem to have a fairly similar fan base.
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Rose Tattoo
Genre: Hard rock/proto-metal
Start with: Rose Tattoo (1978)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Angry_Anderson/31060 (singer for the band, largely based on his work with Saxon).
Perhaps the closest to being 'real metal' of these rock bands, though for my money there's a bit too much of the blues-rock influence still there for them to be a metal band. Regardless, they're hugely influential on Australian metal and hard rock, featuring Peter Wells formerly of Buffalo, Phil Rudd formerly of AC/DC and renowned singer Angry Anderson, who (much later) would do some session vocals for Saxon. Certainly worth checking out if 70s trad is your thing.
The origins of Aussie heavy metal
It's from this musical context (and even from some of these same bands) that the beginnings of Aussie metal come from. There were tonnes of trad bands that popped up around this era, but I'm going to focus on the ones that lasted the longest and had the biggest impact. Of some note is the fact that a large majority of these bands are from Melbourne, with a few bands from Adelaide and Sydney in the mix.
NB: Where I think the best recommendation for Aussie bands is other bands in this section, I've left off the 'If I liked this Aussie band, I might also like the following Aussie band(s)' section.
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Buffalo
Genre: Hard rock/Heavy Metal
FFO: Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple
Start with: Volcanic Rock (1973)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Buffalo/3540367303
Arguably Australia's first heavy metal band that originally formed in 1968 under the name Head. While the first release Dead Forever (1972) straddles the line between Zeppelin-style blues rock and Sabbath-style heavy metal, Volcanic Rock (1973) is a bonafide metal album very much in the vein of early Sabbath, complete with opener 'Sunrise' that sounds very much like a band that has just heard 'Paranoid' and wants to get in on that. That said, there's something quite different about them that can be heard in the chorus of the same song that shows a fair connection to the Aussie pub-rock bands mentioned above. Though they supported Sabbath for a couple of shows in 1973, they never managed to make it very big, held back in part by a lack of radio play (and some controversy over the androgynous penis-wielding figure on the cover of Volcanic Rock). There's a bit of a doomy-proggy sound that can be heard on songs like 'The Prophet' and 'Shylock' that cement the harder, heavy metal edge to the band and has the 'darkness' that's always separated early metal like Sabbath from hard rock like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple for me. Following a line-up change in 1975, they headed in a much more commercial hard rock direction, leaning a bit more heavily into the tropes and double-entendre lyrical style of hard rock that AC/DC were beginning to make famous. Regardless of their later output, it's hard to deny the impact that their early albums had on the development of Aussie metal and rock, and they're worth a listen
If I liked this Aussie band I might like the following Aussie band(s):
Ash: A pretty small band in a similar early-Sabbath style that were active in Melbourne around the same time. The Sabbath-style vocals make the comparison even more obvious, but musically they're a bit more on the hard rock side of things. Only have two singles recorded - Mightnight Witch/Warrant (1971) is the more 'metal' of the two, while Avignon/Sable (1970) is much more poppy. Recordings and a handful of videos can be found on Youtube fairly easily if you're interested.
Tarot: A much more recent band from Hobart, not to be confused with the Finnish band. Similar classic Sabbath-style heavy metal run through the proggy lens of Deep Purple and Rainbow. Sitting fairly closely on the border between hard rock and metal, but their Reflections (2016) is worth a listen.
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Taipan
Genre: Heavy Metal
FFO: Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath
Start with: Breakout (EP 1982)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Taipan/5682
As you'll notice with this next group of bands that formed toward the end of the 1970s, there's a big influence from Judas Priest and the newly-developing NWOBHM. Taipan show a huge connection to early Priest and, for me, are reminiscent of early Maiden minus their punk-ish leanings. The chorus to 'Breakout' could fit pretty neatly underneath the chorus to 'Iron Maiden', and they're both from the same year. Other songs on Breakout demonstrate some Sabbath-style riffing, with 'Tired of you' being quite reminiscent of 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath'. Later albums are very NWOBHM influenced and also demonstrate a much more proggy sound (see 1770 (1985) for an example of this and a straight rip-off of 'Don't Fear the Reaper' in the middle of 'Waiting for the Day') If you take a look at their MA page, you might notice that they formed in 1979, recorded some EPs and demos in the 80s, but their first full-length album was recorded in 2007. This is somewhat common for bands of this era, who made their mark mostly through smaller live shows in pubs and clubs around the bigger cities.
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Bengal Tigers
Genre: Heavy Metal
FFO: Scorpions, Accept, AC/DC
Start with: Metal Fetish (EP 1982) or In the Blood (1998)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Bengal_Tigers/5842
Leaning on the attitude and chords of AC/DC mixed in with some of the more metal stylings and riffing of the developing European metal bands. They're also somewhat more reminiscent of a glammy-Van Halen-esque style of metal/hard rock that sounds very Sunset Strip listening back to it now. After breaking up in 1983, they reformed at the end of the 80s, releasing a few EPs that were much more reminiscent of the passing NWOBHM movement leading up to their first full-length in 1998 that mixed in a bit of thrashy rhythm. Again, they broke up shortly afterwards in 1999, reforming once more in 2014. Depending on whether you're more interested in the glammy-trad style or the thrashy-trad style, pick either the former or latter album suggested above, but both are pretty good. Their main period of being influential on the development of Aussie metal seems to have been in their earlier run from 1979-1983, but they remain pretty widely regarded to this day.
If I liked this Aussie band, I might like the following Aussie band(s):
Axatak: A bit of a darker sound, they're a bit like if Bengal Tigers followed some of the darker NWOBHM bands along the lines of Venom and Mercyful Fate before coming back to the likes of Accept and the Scorpions. Their visual aesthetic looks a bit like KISS and Alice Cooper had a baby that didn't like wearing makeup, which is matched somewhat in elements of their sound.
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Black jack
Genre: Heavy Metal
FFO: Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest
Start with: Five Pieces of eight (1985)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Black_Jack/18613
While not releasing much material, Black Jack are still a classic Aussie metal band, and rival Running Wild for being one of the early bands to mix pirate themes into their metal music. Five Pieces of Eight (1985) is an excellent album, released thanks in part to the efforts of Metal for Melbourne. There's some excellent drumming, especially on the track 'The Wizard' and also some very neo-classical shred on 'Prelude #3', reminiscent of what Yngwie Malmsteen and Van Halen might play combined with much more straightforward bluesy metal. Very much worth checking out.
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S.A.S
Genre: Heavy Metal
FFO: Iron Maiden gallops, NWOBHM
Start with: Warlords (1987)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/S.A.S./5883
A pretty shortlived band, but quite influential and well regarded in the local Melbourne scene while they were around. VERY big Maiden influence in their sound combined with some of the older influences from hard rock and early metal acts that can be heard in some of the riffing. This shows that NWOBHM had very much arrived in Australia by this point, but the older influence of bands like Buffalo and Sabbath had hung around a bit longer in bands of this era that they had elsewhere in the world (consider that this band formed the year Metallica released Ride the Lightning (1984) to get a better idea of how sounds were progressing elsewhere in the world).
If I liked this Aussie band I might like the following Aussie band(s):
Outcast: Iron Maiden worship from a recent band that's done pretty well. Label mates with Tarot above, they've got a pretty solid EP out that can be found through the Heavy Chains Records bandcamp. Worth a listen if you really like Maiden, there's some good songwriting and musicianship on display.
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Boss/BB Steal
Genre: Heavy Metal/Glam
FFO: Judas Priest, Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Twisted Sister
Start with: Step on it (1984)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Boss/10171
A huge sound and attitude, clearly heavily influenced by Judas Priest from the sound to the logo. There's a fair amount of AC/DC attitude and vocal style in their sound as well, alongside a very US-glam sound (and lyrical focus) reminiscent of Motley Crue and Dokken style bands. They had a pretty solid live reputation but found it pretty hard to make much of an impact sales-wise in Australia, though they found a fair amount of success in Germany and Japan. The group later changed its name to BB Steal and followed the commercial hard rock/glam style much more heavily.
If I liked this Aussie band I might like the following Aussie band(s):
Heaven: Another hard rock/heavy metal band that kind of straddle the line between AC/DC and Judas Priest. Somewhat successful in Australia, they eventually moved to America to keep the band going.
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Ion Drive
Genre: Heavy Metal
FFO: Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath
Start with: Witches (demo, 1984)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Ion_Drive/24004
Another band with a huge, well-established live presence in connection with Metal for Melbourne that put out a live EP and 10-track demo in 1984 and recorded their 'debut' EP in 2017. Some solid and atmospheric heavy metal very much in the vein of heavier Sabbath and Iron Maiden (especially vocally!). The Witches (1984) demo has the biggest collection of their material, with the EP mainly being re-recordings of the demo tracks. Regarded by many as one of the most underrated bands of this era of Melbourne heavy metal, the demo is worth checking out if you can find it (with a few scattered tracks around online). They've been recording tracks for a full length this year, so hopefully something interesting is on its way soon!
The Development of Aussie Thrash
Australia has truly produced some of the world's best thrash, and this section is going to cover the big bands in two main groups: Melbourne bands and Sydney bands. In Melbourne, there's a reasonably clear link between the heavy metal discussed above and the development of thrash metal seen in bands like Renegade, Taramis and Nothing Sacred moving through to the more extreme bands like Hobb's Angel of Death. In Sydney (and Canberra), things developed in a somewhat more extreme way, with bands like Slaughter Lord being very evocative of the first wave of Black metal as an inspiration for bands like Bathory, right through until the legendarily extreme Sadistik Exekution that will be covered in a later post. It's with the development of Australian thrash that the characteristic hybridity and extremity of the bands come out: punk makes a very big imprint on the Sydney thrash scene (more so that it does in some other areas), owing to the fact that many of the Western Sydney metal and punk scenes were so small that they were often lumped in together. Slayer was a big influence on Australian metal, and many thrash bands jumped pretty quickly up to a very death-thrash or black-thrash style (seen perhaps most clearly with Armoured Angel and Slaughter Lord) that would contribute to the development of later bands like Destroyer 666. While the Western coast of the country was still somewhat isolated from these developments, Allegiance are a notable Perth band who were very influential in spite of their isolation.
Aussie thrash has much to owe to the worldwide impact of Bay Area thrash; while many of these bands were active from the early 80s, it wasn't until the worldwide success of bands like Metallica and Slayer that many of these bands gained popularity and interest in the form of regular gigs, especially for the bands falling on the more extreme side of the thrash spectrum. This can be seen in the somewhat later dates of many of the early albums for these bands, with full-length records tending to be released around 1987-1988, occasionally preceded by demos and EPs. Sadly for many bands, this was too little too late, and they folded for one reason or another, with Mortal Sin and Armoured Angel being the only real exceptions. However, don't let that suggest to you that these bands aren't high quality and their influence is often far-reaching, both within Australian and across the world.
NB: As with the previous section, I've left out the 'If I liked this Aussie band, I might also like the following Aussie band(s)' section as most of the connections would be to other bands on this list, or to the personal picks section that follows.
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Taramis
Genre: Power/Prog/Thrash
FFO: Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, Fates Warning
Start with: Queen of Thieves (1987)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Taramis/2008
Taramis are something of a link between the Melbourne trad bands covered above and the more clearly thrash bands covered below. Forming in 1983 under the name Prowler, there's a pretty clear Iron Maiden influence in the power/prog side of their music and elements of Mercyful Fate in the vocals and cleaner sections (see the title track of Queen of Thieves and compare it to 'Melissa'). There's still a bit of a proto-thrash edge to some of the other tracks, especially in regards to the harmony and rhythm guitar work. 1991's Stretch of the Imagination has a more thrashy feel to it, feeling like a power/prog version of Megadeth in some ways. There was some crossover of members between Taramis and Nothing Sacred.
-- Nothing Sacred
Genre: Power/Thrash
FFO: Judas Priest, a more chill version of early Metallica
Start with: Let us Prey (1988)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Nothing_Sacred/4458
Another 'missing link' band between the Melbourne trad bands and the developing Thrash bands; if Taramis were a bit too NWOBHM for you, you might enjoy these guys a bit more. Not quite heavy enough to be thrash proper (though there is a young-Hetfield kind of edge to the vocals) but not quite melodic and cheesy enough to be straight power metal. Some sections have that very thrashy Phrygian harmony to them that puts me in mind of early Metallica, but it lacks the speed and aggression that you'd expect from Bay Area thrash. Nothing Sacred were a pretty big influence on the development of Aussie thrash, and were somewhat famous for taking radio play by force when they broke into a station and held the DJ at gunpoint to play their album, leaving when the guitarist started swearing on radio. During the recording of their second album, they decided to take a short hiatus that wound up lasting 23 years, reforming in 2015 with a supposed new album on the way. As mentioned, some members crossed over into Taramis and some members were also involved with Hobbs' Angel of Death later on.
-- Renegade
Genre: Trad/Thrash
FFO: early Metallica, Venom, Mercyful Fate, Slayer
Start with: Total Armageddon (1987)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Renegade/4851
This is starting to sound a bit more like thrash, especially with the mix of higher vocals and harsher growls in the vein of Venom, though there's still a fair connection back to classic trad sounds and NWOBHM. As cheesy as the demon with a can of beer cover looks today, it caused some waves back in the day, and this album is definitely on the darker side of thrash with some of the later tracks being closer to Slayer than they are Metallica. There's a fair amount of punk in their sound, attributed to the influence of Melbourne punk band Depression. Along with the previous to bands, they were regulars at Metal for Melbourne through the 80s, until their gear was stolen at a gig in 1988 leading them to call it quits. Reformed in 2017 as 'Jonny Beer's Renegade'.
-- Tyrus/Hobbs' Angel of Death
Genre: Thrash (proto-death/thrash is argued by many for Hobbs)
FFO: Slayer, Dark Angel, Sodom, Kreator
Start with: Tyrus (Compilation, 2013); Hobbs: Hobbs' Angel of Death (1988)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Tyrus/18760; https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Hobbs%27_Angel_of_Death/3357
No disrespect to Tyrus, but Hobb's is the real gem here. Tyrus were reasonably successful for their short time as a band, especially live, and were similar in vein, if heavier than, Renegade. However, main songwriter Peter Hobbs decided in 1977 that he could do better on his own and formed Hobbs' Angel of Death and set about re-recording much of Tyrus' material plus some new songs, using the former Tyrus and Nothing Sacred members essentially as session musicians. Referring to this new style of music as 'virgin metal' (as it was new and 'unfucked'), the Angel of Death (1977) demo initially wasn't very well received in Australia but was picked up in Germany and was VERY well liked. The influence of Slayer and similarity to the big Teutonic thrash bands is fairly evident when listening to their debut, so this isn't much of a surprise. Although the band dissolved shortly after this, they were very influential on developing the extreme end of thrash and introducing a proto-death/thrash style to Australia, later taken further by bands like Armoured Angel. Hobbs' reformed the band in a variety of incarnations, putting out an album every decade or so; Inheritance (1995) is a good place to go if you want to be reminded that thrash was still alive in the 90s and Heaven Bled (2016) maintains a fair amount of aggression) and have been reasonably active since their most recent reformation in 2002.
-- Mortal Sin
Genre: Thrash
FFO: Early Metallica, Coroner, Testament, Exodus
Start with: Mayhemic Destruction (1986)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Mortal_Sin/709
We move now to Sydney and one of the greatest Australian acts to have made music. If you are into extreme music at all, then you need to hear both Mortal Sin and Slaughter Lord. In the case of Mortal Sin, their debut Mayhemic Destruction (1986) had them pegged by Kerrang! as the next big thing in metal. This was then followed up by the very capable Faces of Despair (1989), another Aussie metal classic. As with Hobbs' and Slaughter Lord, Mortal Sin were responsible for pushing the envelope in terms of more extreme sounds and were hugely influential on a generation of Australian metalheads; one anecdote tells it that Mortal Sin supported Metallica during their Australian tour supporting Master of Puppets and that it was Mortal Sin, NOT Metallica that were the draw-card for most Aussie fans. In spite of this level of success, interpersonal conflict drove the band apart shortly after a European tour in 1990, leaving bassist Andy Eftichou as the only original member left. Not deterred, he collected some new members are released the pretty abysmal Every Dog Has its Day (1991, released elsewhere as Rebellious Youth), eventually attracting a lawsuit from the other original members and ending the band for the time. The original members reformed briefly in 1996, releasing an EP before conflicts drove them apart again. A final reformation in 2004 led to two further albums (that were fairly decent) before they broke up for the final time in 2012.
-- Slaughter Lord
Genre: Thrash/death/black
FFO: Bathory, Possessed, Demolition Hammer, Sacrafago
Start with: Thrash Til Death 86-87 (Compilation, 2000)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Slaughter_Lord/1767
By far the most legendary Australian band to never record an album with an impact and influence much wider than their brief two years of activity and comparatively small discography might suggest. Slaughter Lord were thanked in the liner notes to Bathory's Under the Sign of the Black Mark, covered by At the Gates on Slaughter of the Soul (1995) and had members who went on to play in Mortal Sin, Nazxul and Sadistik Exekution. It's perhaps difficult to overstate the importance of Slaughter Lord to Australian extreme metal and extreme metal in general. If you have any interest in black, death, thrash or extreme metal broadly, I strongly recommend listening to Slaughter Lord, they're fantastic and you can quite clearly hear the influence they had and took from bands like Bathory and Possessed.
-- Armoured Angel
Genre: Thrash/Death
FFO: early era: Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Venom; mid-later era: Bolt Thrower, Ares Kingdom, Arghoslent
Start with: Baptism in Blood (demo, 1985 for the 'pure' thrash side) or Stygmartyr (EP, 1992 - for the death/thrash side) or Angel of the Sixth Order (1999 - for the death metal side)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Armoured_Angel/597
The early demo is really what fits into this part of the conversation. One of the earlier trash bands, forming in 1982, which can be heard in the demo that still retains a BIG NWOBHM influence. As the later albums suggest, they evolved into a much heavier death/thrash style. All eras of the band are pretty solid, though they're definitely better known as a death/thrash band these days than their early thrash origins.
Armoured Angel are also responsible for starting the annual 'Metal for the Brain' festival that ran from 1991-2006, the proceeds of which were sent to a friend of the bands' who had been injured in a fight outside a Canberra nightclub, became quadriplegic and suffered brain damage. This festival was a huge event in the Aussie metal scene, with many of the line-ups for each year reading as a whos-who of established and up-and-coming Australian metal. Organisation of the event was later taken over by fellow Canberra band Alchemist in 1996, though it proved costly as all proceeds were given to charity, meaning the band organising it (usually Alchemist) had to start from scratch each year. This fact, combined with some manufactured controversies with local government, meant that the festival eventually shut down in 2006.
-- Addictive
Genre: Thrash
FFO: Dark Angel, Kreator, 80s-Metallica
Start with: Pity of Man (1989)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Addictive/1635
Something of a sister band to Mortal Sin (with about half of Addictive also being in Mortal Sin) though not quite of the same calibre. Less of a 'punch you in the face with riffs' vibe than Mortal Sin had, Addictive are the Master of Puppets to Mortal Sin's Kill 'Em All. Both Pity of Man (1989) and Kick 'em Hard (1993) are well written and feature some great riffs. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you really enjoyed Mortal Sin's first two albums.
-- Allegiance
Genre: Thrash
FFO: Testament, Black-album Metallica, Vio-Lence
Start with: D.e.s.t.i.t.u.t.i.o.n (1994)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Allegiance/708
Somewhat isolated from both groups of previous thrash bands all the way over in Perth, Allegiance are also a little late to the game, forming in 1990 and putting out their first album in 1994. While there's a certain early-90s groove-y-ness to them, there's still some really well-written thrash in there. Some parts very much feel like a slightly thrashier Black album, while in other parts it feels like the secret side project of Robb Flynn and Phil Demmel when Vio-lence and Machine Head are put aside for a while. Don't be dissuaded by these comparisons, this is still a thrash band fundamentally and is worth your time to check out. Allegiance were especially influential in the Perth scene and had a huge grassroots marketing campaign that pushed them to #1 in the Western Australian ARIA (Australian Record Industry Association) charts. There was also something of a kerfuffle with Rob Halford and his marketing company apparently promising to promote the band but never doing so and the band maintain that he never did anything to help them. Allegiance themselves were keen to support local acts, and were a fair part of getting bands like iNFeCTeD to pull big support slots.
-- My picks for other Aussie thrash
Blathudah
Genre: Thrash
FFO: Exodus, Anthrax
Start with: Spawnography (1995)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Blathudah/4350
A true cult-classic band from Sydney, barely anyone seems to have heard of these guys which is a real shame because they're fantastic. Like a very punky Anthrax, they've got a good mix of groove, speed and thrash. Spawnography is a seriously great release and damn near impossible to find, selling for $120 at its lowest on discogs.
-- 4arm
Genre: Thrash/Groove
FFO: Pantera, Testament, 90s Metallica
Start with: 13 Scars (2005) or Submission for Liberty (2012)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/4Arm/3540307363
4arm are... Kinda meh imo, but they're quite popular and worth mentioning in regards to Aussie thrash. They're kind of like a thrashier Aussie Pantera in their early work, and the later work has a bit less groove going on, whilst the new vocalist sounds less like Phil Anselmo and more like he's James Hetfield doing a poor Tom Araya impression. If Groove/Thrash is your thing, you'll probably like them, and they're a logical conclusion to the kind of music Allegiance were making a decade earlier, but I find them somewhat generic.
-- Psychonaut
Genre: Thrash? (elements of trad and hard rock as well)
FFO: Slayer, Motorhead, Exodus, 80s Bay Area
Start with: Shock 'Em Dead (2012)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Psychonaut/20484
Psychonaut have something of a schizophrenic sound. There's a myriad of styles in the mix here, but rather than being 'progressive' it comes off as a bit confused. Some songs feature very punky rhythms under thrashy, early-Metallica style vocals (see 'Darklord Rise!') while others give off something of a hard rock vibe with odd Dethklok-esque vocals over the top (see 'Wolfman'). This isn't necessarily bad, and the band show a fair amount of promise in their styles, but they'd be better off picking one and sticking to it IMO. The thrashy stuff they've done is definitely worth a look though.
-- Desecrator
Genre: Thrash
FFO: Metallica, Testament, Sacred Reich
Start with: Live Til Death (Live, 2011) or To The Gallows (2017)
MA: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Desecrator/3540324406
A more recent Melbourne thrash band that play fairly straightforward thrash very much in the vein of the classic 80s Bay Area sound. Some solid riffs across their releases and a pretty solid live presence. If you enjoyed some of the classic Aussie thrash bands that were on the less extreme side, these guys are worth a look too.
That's all for this post, apologies for the length (it's juuust under the character limit). Looking back, we've covered a fair amount of ground from hard rock classics through to intense black/thrash/death mixes (NB: some of the noteworthy black/thrash/death mixes will be covered in more detail in the post for that style). Next time, we'll discuss some of our big progressive bands and some of our melodic death metal bands you should have a listen to alongside a smattering of symphonic bands.