TESTAMENT’s ALEX SKOLNICK Explains Why Thrash Metal Bands In The ’80s Had A Distinctive Sound

In a current interview with LaughingMonkeyMusic, Testament’s Alex Skolnick mirrored on the distinctiveness of the unique US thrash metallic sound and why many modern metallic bands are inclined to sound alike.

Skolnick attributed the individuality of early thrash metallic guitarists to the restricted gear choices accessible on the time. This shortage pushed musicians to develop distinctive taking part in kinds. In distinction, he noticed that trendy bands usually depend on related tools, leading to a extra homogenous sound.

This mainstream success of Metallica additionally highlighted the variety inside the US thrash metallic scene. Every band had its personal distinct traits, regardless that they shared the identical style. Skolnick mirrored “every band was affected by a number of issues”, noting how thrash vocalists like his bandmate Chuck Billy, Metallica‘s James Hetfield, and Megadeth‘s Dave Mustaine every had distinctive vocal kinds.

“The tone was very onerous to get at the moment… There is a constructive aspect and a damaging aspect to it. On the damaging aspect, it was way more tough. You needed to work a lot tougher. Many of the amps had been designed for ’70s rock. They seemed like they might be good for Lynyrd Skynyrd. After which, quick ahead numerous years, and that tone will get widespread. And there are even multi-million-selling albums which have had this tone. Properly, amp producers had no selection however to make amps that would sound crunchy. Now, it is simple,” Skolnick defined.

He elaborated on how this lack of drugs range fostered individuality amongst musicians: “The constructive aspect was that you just had been pressured to be particular person, and other people did not sound the identical. Now, you’ve much more teams that sound very related, and you could possibly inform, ‘Oh, they’re utilizing this very same plugin…’ I might level to about half a dozen extremely popular teams that promote plenty of tickets… and it sounds so related.”

Skolnick concluded by emphasizing the worth of the difficult situations underneath which thrash metallic developed: “I feel it helped having emerged through the time the place you actually needed to be a scavenger, and compile a bunch of mismatched gear and amps and pedals, and by some means attempt to make it sound like that.”