Top 10 Best Thrash Metal Songs

Ok Thrash era started with just a bunch of people messing with heavy palm muted riffs & intense drumming and the pioneers (Mustaine, Lars & Hetfield) later divided into two powerful bands and reigned supremacy in their tenure (Mid 80s and early 90s). This song will come to the Top of the List for its skillful songwriting, intricate sledgehammer riffs and for the variety of arpeggios-lightning fast guitar solo by Mustaine in the outro. This song wins hands down because it has all ingredients of exploiting thrash metal to its finest. Master of Puppets, The One, Enter Sandman & Blackened by Metallica, In My Darkest Hour, Tornado of Souls & Hanger 18 by Megadeth, Angel of Death, Raining Blood, Seasons in Abyss, Dead Skin Mask, Catatonic, Disciple & Mandatory Suicide by Slayer are other finest.

Best THRASH METAL song on the list, all those Metallica fans with their HEAVY METAL and HARD ROCK do not realise that this is not a measure of heaviness, rather... Thrashiness... Mm thrashy.

Rant aside this is a masterpiece of thrash metal. It truly deserves it's number one spot. Mustaine and Friedman bust another great one here. That opening riff man! Simply awe inspiring!

Another great performance from David Ellefson on the bass.
Nick Menza obviously playing the vital role of drummer and does a fantastic job, but it is really the guitars that make this song the greatest, from the main riffs to Marty's acoustic part to the solos it is incredible.

It is truly a staple of thrash metal for the ages and is rightfully number one on this list!

Holy Wars is the true definition of Thrash metal. The Riffs are so amazing and complex, much harder to play than Master of Puppets, MOP is hard only if you have a poor downpicking technique. There is ridiculously too much fanboys. Marty Friedmans solos are better than anything Kirk Hammett done in his life. He is a superior guitarist in every single way except abusing the Wah pedal. Every GOOD guitarist knows that. Good guitarist as in knowing technique/theory and basicly advanced players. Kirk Hammett only uses Pentatonic/chromatic scales. Marty uses hundreds of scales Kirk will never hear of. Period

Can't get much better than Holy Wars. With that said, Metallica is my second favorite band and I can say as a thrash fan that there is WAY too much Metallica on here. And where is The New Order by Testament?!?! If the order of this list where up to me, it would go:
1.Holy Wars...
2.Master of Puppets
3.The New Order
4.Angel of Death
5.Anything off of peace sells.
6.Blackened
7.Thrasher
8.Critical Mass
9.Rattlehead
10.The Toxic Waltz
Raining Blood is great, but I think it is quite overrated.

First of all Metallica is thrash metal. They have sang other music but usually sing thrash. Megadeth just couldn't grasp that you have to change sometimes. Let me also say that I love Megadeth but Metallica is better for 1 reason: structure. Megadeth only has a couple well-structured songs and those are their hits. Their songs sound a lot like their wasn't much thought put into them. Metallica has solos of all types and sound like it took a long time to make. Metallica utilizes all instruments and mixes them perfectly. All set aside Megadeth and Metallica are both great but Metallica has better songs.

First of all, Megadeth is trash in comparison to Metallica's EARLY albums. Remember first of all that Megadeth wouldn't exist without Metallica so that counts for something. And also, listen to Metallica's first four albums and come back and say they aren't thrash if Battery or Whiplash aren't thrash I don't know what is. Secondly, I do admit holy wars is awesome but puppets has its entire album to back it up. And at least Megadeth doesn't take what 6 years to "create" a new album. Dystopia is also WAAAY better than Death Magnetic. Megadeth just has like 2/3s of rust in peace to back holy wars. I do admit that Metallica's later prog metal albums reeked but I mean, Megadeth went soft for a couple albums too. I'm not saying Megadeth is bad or that Metallica is god, but face the facts that Metallica first of all, can hold a lineup. Second of all, they can change their sound successfully *cough cough Risk*. And also, Metallica's been around way longer and knows how to get an audience.

Megadeth is heavier than Metallica? Ha! There is absolutely nothing heavy about Dave Mustaine's whiny vocals, and by the way Megafans, Megadeth has released more hard rock albums (by your definition, sell out albums) than Metallica. Countdown to Extinction, Youthanasia, Cryptic Writtings, Risk (the worst album by a "thrash metal band" ever), The World Needs a Hero, Super Collider. Mustaine even admitted that Risk was supposed to break Megadeth into the alt rock scene so they could sell more copies. Hear that, Megafans? Dave Mustaine himself admitted to selling out.

Holy wars is good, I actually really love that song, but seriously master of puppets totally blows holy wars out of the water. It is better with lyrics, vocals, and has one if the coolest guitar solos I have ever heard. It is so much more complicated and pleasing to listen too. Really has to be the best one here. But I have to admit Kill em All and ride the lightning are probably more thrash sounding, but this has to be the best. Hetfield and Hammet really did amazing on guitar too.

Oh well, I love Metallica and Megadeth, but I think that (on the big 4 at least) there isn't any metal band who have leave so influence on the metal world. And Raining Blood is the perfect example to this. Even if I love Metallica (for me, their better song is One), they are very overrated, and Megadeth are too pretentious (even if Holy Wars would be my second chance). Sorry for my bad English.

This is the song that gave rise to what would become the extreme heavy metal genres. Say all you want about Metallica but few bands have had the same influence on heavy metal as Slayer and this song! Without Slayer there would be no death metal, grind core or anything else of the like.

Trapped in purgatory! Well officially this song has the strongest metal intro of all time. Evil. Dark. It's like listening to the band of Satan himself playing. That's saying something. This is real metal to my eyes and I think it should be number one.

From probably the best intro ever into the very definition of what a thrash metal song should be, Raining Blood might be the best Thrash Metal song ever even if it is not my personal #1. Credit where credit is due.

Geez half of this list is Metallica! Certainly "Master of Puppets" gets a high spot, but not the entire list! I've gotta give it to "Angel of Death" just 'cause this was the possibly heaviest and most violent song of its time, not to mention the huge influence it had on death metal. Also kinda disappointed to see Exodus - "Piranha" not getting much love either.

As far as thrash metal is concerned Angel Of Death is way better than Holy Wars and Master Of Puppets. Angel Of Death is the greatest thrash metal song ever made. It is probably the heaviest and fastest Metal song ever. Stop voting for Metallica and Megadeth just because they are more mainstream.

Brutal, Fast, Aggresive, Dark. Everything that defines Thrash Metal is in this song. Outstanding vocals, amazing drum work, has one of the greatest (And in my opinion, the greatest) twin-guitar solos ever. I really advise people who haven't heard this song to check it out. Won't be wasting your time.

And I love Holy Wars but this song is by far the best. I've seen both performers play these songs live and Angel of death wins hands down. It must be played with a killer system loud and lots of bass to fully appreciate it! Best intro AHHhh!

So epic... It is just that the creativity that went into the song with the war themes and the epic chorus as made the song have an emotional punch that is hard to ignore, and whenever I listen to it, it is difficult to think about anything else. The song is that original and impressive for that effect to occur

It may take a while to get going, but once it does it succeeds at being incredibly awesome. A slow burning first half descends into absolute thrashy, intense & visceral metal at the end with great solos to cap it off. Add to that a dark subject matter, and you have a great song on all counts.

One combines the calmness and the storm in an amazing, seven-minutes-long-that-should-be-over-twenty-minutes-long song. You listen to the intro it bores you, but as it develops, it shows to be greater than ninety percent of the bands that only uses guitar. When it enters the heavy part, it's simply the pure headbanging time. When it enters the solo, your brain becomes liquid and you cannot handle that amazing first part. Perhaps one of the five best tapping solos in History, not only of Thrash, but maybe, very maybe, of Metal.

A fantastically written song with a bitter sentiment throughout which then concludes in what sounds like a ultimate thrash metal storm with the alternate picking and the fast double bass drumming. There is no song quite as powerful as this in my opinion

Metallica has too many great songs to name but the top spot for this list should go to none other than Megadeth. Absolutely spectacular guitar work by Dave and Marty. The combined effect of the pounding drums, perfect bass, crunchy guitar tone and Dave's tormented vocals screams THRASH!

To top it all... Tornado of Souls has perhaps THE best guitar solo ever composed in metal history. Just listening to each track on the Rust in Peace album confirms that Marty Friedman is nothing short of a Guitar God m/

After this song I started to listen Megadeth till now, and I have to say its such amazing song and for sure deserves for number one in my opinion it's even better than holy wars but is just less known. by the way I'm wonder where is hangar 18 in that ranking.

10? Do you really think that Creeping Death, Rise the Lightning, Baterry, One and Master of Puppets is better than TORNADO OF SOULS? Best riff ever, best vocals ever and that solo! Words can't explain how great that solo is! Just listen to the masterpiece by Megadeth! I like Tornado even more than Holy Wars! "They don't suck. The're not as good as we are, but they don't suck! " Dave Mustaine about Metallica.

When you actually take the time to listen to this song you realize listen to exactly what you want to see in good Thrash metal, Agressive, fast paced well played guitar rifts, and just a kick ass beat! Just an amazing song, I'm kinda sad its only #15

I think Metal Militia should be number one, but I didn't think this through until I already voted. Also, Last Caress isn't even their song, it's a misfits song. So it's not even thrash.

This song is so fast and literally beats the heck out of you. Hetfield's growl makes it that much better. My ideal thrash metal song.

The acoustic intro that transitions into the distorted electric... Pure bliss. Better than master of puppets.

This is the fastest after last caress but I like it more than it.

Everything badass about this song but why #10? Does people know anything about thrash metal?

One of the best songs from arguably the best Thrash Metal album of all time.

It has insane solos... without tapping and very very hard to play
This song made me big fan of megadeth.

This song is good but can it be called a thrash metal song?

This was Megadeth's first epic on a Global scale. One of the favorites to play/sing on concerts, an amazing anthem on par with Metallica's best work.

This song is plain classic, should be higher. The order of the big four is: 1. Megadeth 2. Metallica 3. Slayer and 4. Anthrax

Lyrics and the vocals on the first part are messing stupid.

Not even a thrash song

Excellent lyrics, riffs and solo on this masterpiece. And by the way, any Megafan who says Megadeth is heavier than Metallica is wrong. Listen to the opening riff of Fight Fire with Fire and just try and tell me that its not the heaviest opening riff ever.

The song that got me into thrash! And lmfao at that idiot that said Metallica is hardly thrash! At least Metallica used to be thrash, Anthrax is the puniest, most PATHETIC excuse for a thrash band ever!

This is too high. Great song, but it's not even the best song on this album. For Whom The Bell Tolls, Trapped Under Ice, and Fight Fire With Fire are better in my opinion

Great riffs, great lyrics, great solo... Just great. Maybe we would have more of this if cliff and dave were still here

Oh yes. This has to be the most invigorating metal song ever made. Who needs coffee when you have Caught in a Mosh?

Caught in a mosh should at least be in the top 5, now which one of these words don't you understand?

The lyrics are badass along with the drums and this is the best let your anger out song EVER!

The best song from the probably most underrated band of all time.

Ceratinly if Thrash is a measuring stick, this deserves a top 10 spot.

Annoying bunch of phony posers.

This song kicks ass!

Thrash Too? Why just not change the topic to Best Metallica songs..

Dark, heavy, aggressive, scary, dark, all those good words that define this song. Angel of Death, Holy Wars, Master of Puppets all combine to make this!

Testament is so frickin' underrated! They should definitely be in the big 4 instead of Metallica. This is one of the best thrash metal songs ever recorded, everything about it is amazing!

Solo rivals Tornado of Souls and Ride the Lightning. Amazing guitar harmony. Reminds me of Iron Maiden harmonies. Except it's thrash.

Easy top 10, instead that's full of good track as opposed to great ones. No Overkill, Testament, Exodus or Kreator in the top 10.

Very under rated song. Awesome chorus and great guitar. One of testament's best. This deserves a top 10 spot

Metallica is the best and god of metal... Every list contain more than 10 songs of Metallica.. Metallica is the best band and ride the lightning is the best album. All songs are perfect... This song is great also covered by Bullet For My Valentine... But Metallica is metallica

Well... Second most popular song on Metallica's concert - that speaks for itself. The riff of a popular chant "die, by my hand" is taken from Kirk Hammett's time in Exodus. Personally, I would put it in #1 position...

This just may be the awesomest song to see preformed live. Just see the cunning stunts video. James Hetfield DOMINATES the stage every time he's on it and Kirk's solo and out to give me chills. Jason was also awesome live, super intense!

Please, One it is not thrash: it is a power-ballad! Creeping death is of course the best thrash, but there are some songs better than that. But it is the "thrashest"!

I agree, this song is of its face, but they have performed it live, on dvd, but its just because they're old and tired that it can't be performed the way it's recorded. None of their songs since 'Binge and Purge' have been performed in the manner they were recorded.

Underrated as hell. More people need to hear this song and get to at least the top 3.

By far, the hardest thrash songs on ever.

Dave Mustaine almost quit after hearing the drum work and lyrics in this song

Not necessarily thrash, but still fantastic. The heavily distorted bassline, gruff vocals and intensity are great as are the lyrics which are very punchy and sometimes quite subtle.

James can't sing and Lars can't drum. They are so boring and repetitive. Do not give these posers anymore of your money.

Great baseline, nice pace, heavy, a classic metal song and the first I leaned when I started bass.

One of the songs that brings me to metal, and years later to bass guitar.

The best in my opinion, next to Master of Puppets and Holy Wars. The fact that it was written before them makes this song more significant in a way, and leads me to believe that it is the greatest thrash metal song. What is more thrash metal than Metallica with Cliff Burton on this tack and Dave Mustaine having wrote it.

This song is written by Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield according to genius.

Funny cause james wrote this song...

Just nice and old metal.

Best thrash metal album ever. Everybody thinks that in the first 10 should be the earliest thrash albums, but this is the most complete one. Hallowed point, War ensemble, Dead skin mask. Who can write such songs? Only slayer.

Seasons in the Abyss this low!? Top 10 material right here! Slayer's best song in my opinion!

Such an underrated song

As happy as I am with anthrax making the top ten, I think this song is much more deserving than caught in a mosh.

This is the coolest Anthrax's song with Joey Belladonna!

An underrated song. I especially like the bridge just before the awesome solo.

This song is not #1 only because it is new. Objectively it should be #1, no question

Simply incredible... right up there with the very best of Metallica

Yeah, big four of thrash now is something like Testament (Still doing great albums), Kreator (Their new stuff is easily as good as their 80's stuff), Megadeth (Hit and miss nowadays, but Endgame and Dystopia were epic; Endgame may be the best thrash album of the 21st century), and Slayer (still doing albums).

Umm, really? No Testament in your top ten? Listen to Seven Days of May! The solo is one of the best ever, the lyrics are poignant...come on, man!

There are way too many Metallica songs in the top 10. I know Testament were late for the thrash metal scene