Grapp - good to hear Dave say that.
I love this new album. Really great record from to top to bottom.
I've spun it 3 times now and stand by my early assessment. Great from beginning to end - especially on headphones - with no parts or songs that I feel like fast forwarding or skipping. This continues a trend for me of bands very late in their career putting out excellent albums. Kansas, DT, Metallica, Deth, Maiden, Priest, just to name a few.
Flotsam & Jetsam, Armored Saint, Saxon, Accept, Testament as well.
Flotsam obliterates every single Megadeth album and most people have no idea who they are. Such a shame
Can't say I agree with this literally, but I am in agreement with the general spirit of them being criminally underrated, overlooked, and comparatively unknown, and it sucks because they have put out some great music. For me personally, my Big Four of thrash would be Metallica, Megadeth, Flotsam, and Testament.
That's damn solid. I'm fine with Anthrax getting cut for either Flotsam or Testament.
Made a long post this morning that somehow didn't post, so I'll try to duplicate it. Anyway, for me, those are pretty much the only thrash bands I never got into much. If I had to make a thrash big four desert island list, it would look something like this:
-Metallica: This is hard, but I think I'd have to go with Ride the Lightning. Puppets might be feel like the "best," most solid album to me. But Ride is one that I can reach for and enjoy from start to finish more often. It's been a favorite of mine for a long, long time. The black album is really close and really enjoyable to me as well. But Ride is probably my favorite.
-Megadeth: I'm in kind of a similar dilemma with them. Rust is probably the one I can get the most enjoyment out of from start to finish more frequently. I probably ultimately think Countdown and Youthanasia might be better albums overall, but I'll probably choose Rust if I have to go with just one.
-Flotsam: TAC is going to be triggered by this, but my choice for them is Drift, hands down, and it's not even close. Love this album.
-Testament: This is an interesting band for me. I like them as a band, and I like some individual songs a lot. But I don't care for many entire albums of theirs as a whole, with a few exceptions. The main one is The Ritual. That's my easy choice.
And that being said, my "big four" are basically the
only thrash I need. Anthrax has a few songs I enjoy. And while I can't remember specifics, the few Death Angel songs I heard a long time ago were pretty good.