Teutonic thrash metal

Teutonic thrash metal is a regional scene of thrash metal music that originated during the 1980s in Germany. Along with Bay Area thrash metal, East Coast thrash metal, and Brazilian thrash metal, it was one of the major scenes of thrash metal in the 1980s.

Two bands influential to early Teutonic thrash metal were Destruction, from Lörrach, and the female-fronted Holy Moses, from Aachen. After hearing Venom, both bands soon changed their sound within a matter of weeks to their new and permanent sound.

Other bands soon followed. In 1982, the Gelsenkirchen-based band Sodom released their first demo, Witching Metal. In their early days Sodom were highly influenced by the NWOBHM, to the point they credit being a trio to bands like Motörhead, Tank, Raven and Venom who also featured power trio line-ups. Their style featured raspy vocals, palm muted guitar riffs, and frantic double bass drumming. Only with the release of their second LP Persecution Mania and with guitarist Frank Blackfire's input to move away from their original sounds and themes they became a thrash metal band for good. Essen's Kreator formed and released its debut album Endless Pain in 1985. Destruction would release their full-length debut Infernal Overkill in the same year. Also around this time, the German based SPV records created its Steamhammer imprint label, a label designed to primarily sign metal bands. Noise Records was founded soon afterwards. These two labels would help spread the Teutonic thrash metal scene globally.

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