The Best Album by 11 Legendary Thrash Metal Bands

Here is the best album by 11 legendary thrash metal bands.

Aside from a dip in popularity in the ’90s, thrash has held strong as one of metal’s most popular styles for more than 40 years.

Fortunately, many of the genre’s earliest acts are still here, still touring and still putting out relevant music. While that new music may not top the works that have existed and been praised for decades, it’s important that these artists still have so much left to say.

New music will always be an entry point for new generations of fans as well, who will then comb exhausting back catalogs in search of the most essential records.

READ MORE: Best Thrash Album of Each Year Since 1983

Here, we’re highlighting the very best efforts by some of thrash’s biggest names. Some of the picks were simple. We’re not going to crown a Metallica album that isn’t named Master of Puppets — there’s bold and there’s just plain foolish.

Others, however, if you asked us again tomorrow, maybe the answer would be different. When you’re dealing with greatness and near-perfection, there’s cases to be made for either LP in question. But, right now, here’s how it stands!

Keep scrolling to see our album choices. Feel free to disagree — that’s all part of the fun.