'Get Thrashed' Director Says Thrash Is 'Back, And Bigger And Better'

D.X. Ferris of the Cleveland Scene recently conducted an interview with Rick Ernst, "Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal", the much-anticipated documentary profiling the thrash metal scene of the early Eighties and its impact on the music scene.

"Thrash was the perfect mix," explains Ernst. "Guys could growl a little bit, but they could sing. And it was a mix of heavy, brutal riffing, but also these beautiful guitar solos and double-bass drums."

Although the music peaked artistically in 1990, it exploded commercially with 1990's Clash of the Titans tour. SLAYER, ANTHRAX, and MEGADETH — all supporting new albums — shared the bill, rotating as headliners.

"Clash of the Titans was the end," recalls Ernst. "I remember seeing it at Madison Square Garden, and I couldn't believe that we were there with 20,000 people, watching these bands that we had grown up seeing in small clubs. At the end of that tour, things changed musically."

Influenced by thrash's speed and naked aggression, metal splintered into death metal, grunge, nü metal, rap metal, black metal, stoner rock, and dozens of other micro-genres over the 1990s. Thrash was suddenly as uncool as tight acid-washed jeans.

"If you look at 1997 to 2002, there was a lot of nü metal, and a lot of those rap-metal bands like KORN were afraid to say that their influences were SLAYER," says Ernst. "You look at anyone playing heavy guitar in any genre, whether it's LAMB OF GOD or NICKELBACK — I guarantee you they were listening to MEGADETH or ANTHRAX at some point."

Read the entire article at www.clevescene.com.