Groove Thrash
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Groove thrash slows thrash's frenzy into a mid-tempo, syncopated stomp built on bouncy half-time riffs, heavy palm-muted chugs locked to the kick drum, and pinch harmonics, while keeping thrash's aggression and crunch. Tempos sit around 90-150 BPM with frequent breakdowns and bluesy bends; vocals are a barked, gravelly mid-range shout rather than a growl or a falsetto. Production is thick, scooped and modern with a tight clicky kick and a fat downtuned guitar tone. The feel is muscular, swaggering and groove-forward, trading constant speed for rhythmic punch and headbanging momentum.
History
Groove thrash emerged as the Bay Area and Florida thrash template ran out of steam around 1990. New Orleans' Exhorder ('Slaughter in the Vatican', 1990) pioneered the lurching, syncopated riff style, and Texas' Pantera codified it commercially on 'Cowboys from Hell' (1990) and the genre-defining 'Vulgar Display of Power' (1992), turning chug-and-groove into the dominant 1990s metal sound. Oakland's Machine Head ('Burn My Eyes', 1994), Sepultura's pivot on 'Chaos A.D.' (1993) and 'Roots' (1996), and Anthrax's John Bush era extended it. The style overlaps with what is also called groove metal and post-thrash, bridging thrash's decline and the nu-metal and metalcore waves that followed, and it remains a touring staple.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Metallum (Metal Archives) band/album entries
- AllMusic groove metal genre overview
- Louder (loudersound.com) Pantera and Machine Head features