Top Ten Thrash Metal Ballads of All Time
The list title is a bit misleading. Technically none of these songs are thrash metal songs. They are mostly softer rock ballads (or "Power ballads" as people call it) made by established "thrash metal" bands. By definition, it is impossible for a ballad to be a thrash metal song, because balladry & thrash metal are two entirely different things.
Also, some of these songs are nowhere near to becoming a ballad (Eg: Slayer - Spill The Blood) while some others have a very strong thrash influenced transitions that cover the majority of the song to the point it can barely be called a "ballad" (Eg: Metallica - One).
Is this even a ballad? The heavier part dominates the majority of the song, while the softer balladish part only lasts for the beginning 2 minutes.
Testament could"ve probably succeded much more as a band writing solely power ballads and maybe a couple of atmospheric tracks like The Ritual title track. Their best songs are all ballads, and some of their most popular as well. The band members, apart from the rhythm section, aren't that big fans of metal themselves. While the solos are A tier in every early song of theirs, their thrash metal tunes are all quite formulaic and not heavy or complex enough to be taken seriously by either group of metalheads, and they always bandwagonned on the most mainstream derivation of thrash metal in their career (groove metal in the mid-90s, black album-type arena rock in the early 90s, metalcore influences in 2008). On the other hand, all of their first four ballads are contenders for a list of best ballads by thrash metal bands.
