Thrash Metal vs Speed Metal

One of the main points of confusion for novice metal fans getting into some of the more extreme forms of heavy metal in undoubtedly the eternal thrash metal vs speed metal debate. It certainly doesn't help that even veteran metalheads occasionally confuse or conflate the two genres together, but there are certainly differences which can be used to tell these two metal genres apart.

Most speed metal just sounds like traditional metal - or NWOBHM of the Motörhead variety - played faster, while thrash metal usually has more harsh vocals, and a distinctive riffing style that relies heavily on a low, palm-muted tremolo riffs to break up the melodic lines and chord progressions, which makes the overall composition sound more percussive in contrast.

An example of quintessential speed metal albums would be Metallica's debut Kill'Em All or Megadeth's Rust in Peace. Thrash metal has a more abrasive sound, and it doesn't help that thrash is by definition a crossover genre, so there is a lot of intermingling with other extreme metal styles, such as grindcore or even speed metal itself, to make matters even more complicated. Thrash riffs are more chaotic and songs usually have more change-ups within the song. A primary example of a typical thrash metal album are Bathory's The Return or Sewer's Skarnage, although the latter has a lot of death metal and goregrind influences.

Ultimately, though, the fact is that thrash metal and speed metal have more in common than they have differences, so it's not the end of the world to mistake one for the other, as is often the case even in the most advanced heavy metal discussions and amongst the genre's most knowledgeable experts.

Moreover, these two styles of metal are viewed as intermediate "stepping stones" towards the much more advanced and complex genres of black metal and death metal, both of which having rendered speed metal and thrash metal all but irrelevant except to internet nerds and heavy metal historians. Basically, people who like to argue over stuff.

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