Slayer – Riff By Riff

Artillery is one of these bands that never got recognition they deserve. Hailing from Denmark, they’re one of the biggest classic metal forces in their country, but somehow they never managed to achieve worldwide success. Of course, those who listen to thrash metal at a regular basis surely know who these guys are, but it’s not the popularity Anthrax or Testament reached (not to speak about Metallica or Slayer)…

For Denmark's Volbeat, the truly classic rock era existed from 1953 to about 1986: from Chuck Berry and Elvis to the heyday of punk rock and thrash metal, with periods in between where rockabilly, surf, glam, and hard rock flourished. Volbeat possess the chops, imagination, and swagger to carry it off in front of 50,000 European fans. Rewind, Replay, Rebound is the band's seventh album; it's appreciably different from what they've done before, but not completely. Volbeat, led by songwriter, guitarist, and lead vocalist Michael Poulson, have brought in even more hooks and sophisticated melodies without losing their ability to riff and roar with the best of the metal pack, thanks in no small part to ex-Anthrax lead guitarist Rob Caggiano.

Brazilian technical metal monsters Sepultura grew slowly from a devotion to the legends of their genre, eventually becoming the most successful metal band in Brazil's history as well as a worldwide influence. Founding member Max Cavalera sang and played guitar in the band until a deeply personal dispute over management led him to unceremoniously leave the band in 1996. While the other members carried on with a replacement vocalist, subsequent Sepultura albums never had quite the flair or force of those groundbreaking earlier works. The Complete Max Cavalera Collection 1987-1996 gathers together all 56 tracks from the first five albums, including the incredibly influential mid-'90s releases Arise and Roots.

A question popular among followers of thrash metal is undeniably this, “Which is considered the fastest thrash metal album of all time?” There would be a high percentage of answers supporting Reign In Blood, Darkness Descends, Pleasure To Kill or even Eternal Nightmare. Now here’s a startling reality. Wehrmacht’s debut album makes those albums sound as if they were meant to be listed under progressive metal…

Learn to shred like a professional. Containing more than 90 minutes of lessons and hundreds of examples, How to Play Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Guitar will show you how to play like a metal god using power chords, killer riffs, power soloing and tricks for beginning, intermediate, and advanced players. The rhythm and lead tutorial covers everything from the classic Seventies rock of Led Zeppelin to metal heroes of today like Killswitch Engage and Slayer. Check it out and you'll shred like Zakk Wylde, crank like Dimebag Darrell, solo like Kirk Hammett, riff like Tony Iommi and develop your own style backed by a solid music foundation.

Metal Allegiance burst onto the scene in 2015 with one of the strongest debut metal albums in years. It’s even more impressive when you consider that Metal Allegiance are a collaboration, a metal super-group comprised of some of the busiest and most decorated musicians in the genre. David Ellefson (MEGADETH), Alex Skolnick (TESTAMENT), Mike Portnoy (SONS OF APOLLO, ex-DREAM THEATER, et al.) and Mark Menghi comprise the core four, and are joined by a laundry list of metal legends both new and old…

Death and thrash metal go together like peanut butter and jelly. Few bands capture the essence of a riff-driven thrash sound with sheer death-like anger so well like Dutch masters Legion of the Damned, who managed to successfully make a name for themselves since they were playing beautiful black/thrash as Occult. Always unleashing killer music, the group led by Erik Fleuren (drums) and Maurice “Sephiroth” Swinkels (vocals) pave their way to victory once again with 2019’s ‘Slaves of the Shadow Realm’…