PART XXIII.
THE RE-AWAKENING.
THE NEW ERA.
(1998-2004)
THE RE-AWAKENING
.jfif)
THRASH OF THE TITANS
The true turning point of the era came with the Thrash of the Titans benefit concerts that was held in August 11th, 2001, organized to support Chuck Billy of Testament and Chuck Schuldiner of Death as they battled cancer. What was intended as a charity event became the most important gathering of thrash musicians since the 1980s, or perhaps ever. Bands that had been broken up for years reunited onstage, classic lineups re‑formed, and the entire Bay Area scene came back to life for one night. The energy around the event reminded everyone; fans, musicians and the industry that thrash metal still had a heartbeat. It wasn’t just a nostalgic reunion; it was the spark that convinced many dormant bands to return, record again and reclaim their place in the genre. Thrash of the Titans is widely seen as the moment the revival truly began.
In Europe, Italy’s Hyades kept the flame burning with demos and finally their debut Abuse Your Illusions in 2004, proving that the revival wasn’t limited to the U.S. Sweden's Hypnosia released Extreme Hatred (2000), an album that was compared to the early works of Kreator. In the north of Sweden there was also Guillotine and black/thrashers Bewitched. Germany's Witchburner had a similar black/thrash style.
Even younger acts like Fueled by Fire, Havok and Gama Bomb were forming and releasing demotapes in this window, laying the groundwork for the explosion that would follow a few years later. A handful of bands, scattered across continents, rediscovering the speed, the riffs, the attitude and the fun that had been missing for a decade. By 2004, thrash metal wasn’t “back” yet, but the fuse had been lit, and these bands were the ones holding the match.
TESTAMENT - THE GATHERING
When The Gathering landed in 1999, its impact went far beyond Testament’s own discography. The album was powered by a rare all‑star lineup, Chuck Billy, Eric Peterson, James Murphy, Steve DiGiorgio, and Gene Hoglan. A supercharged combination of technical mastery, songwriting precision, and rhythmic brutality. Their collective chemistry pushed Testament into a heavier, more aggressive hybrid of thrash and death metal at a time when most classic bands were softening or drifting. This record became a quiet blueprint for the 2000s thrash revival: tighter musicianship, darker production, and a willingness to evolve without abandoning the genre’s core. In hindsight, The Gathering didn’t just keep Testament relevant. It showed an entire generation what modern thrash could be.
In the late nineties thrash metal was still considered a dead genre, but the first real signs of a re‑awakening began to appear. Not only thrash but traditional heavy metal as a whole started to regain momentum. The rise of the internet suddenly made underground music easier to discover, and fans could finally hear new bands without having to buy every album blindly. A crucial shift for a genre that no longer had support from radio or television. At the same time, the old giants began returning to their thrones: Ozzy Osbourne briefly re-joined Black Sabbath in 1997, Bruce Dickinson rejoined Iron Maiden in 1999, and Rob Halford returned to Judas Priest in 2003, signalling that classic metal was far from finished.
Massive events like the Woodstock anniversary festivals in 1994 and 1999 put Metallica and Megadeth in front of millions of viewers worldwide, reminding the mainstream that thrash still existed. But the true turning point was the Thrash of the Titans benefit concerts for Chuck Billy (Testament) and Chuck Schuldiner (Death), both battling cancer. It became the most important gathering of thrash musicians since the 1980s and sparked a wave of reunions. Bands that reformed specifically for Thrash of the Titans included Exodus, Vio‑lence, Forbidden, Heathen, Death Angel, Legacy (pre‑Testament), Sadus, and Anthrax’s classic lineup, among others. The event reignited an entire scene and marked the moment when thrash metal began its slow climb back from the grave.
Massive events like the Woodstock anniversary festivals in 1994 and 1999 put Metallica and Megadeth in front of millions of viewers worldwide, reminding the mainstream that thrash still existed. But the true turning point was the Thrash of the Titans benefit concerts for Chuck Billy (Testament) and Chuck Schuldiner (Death), both battling cancer. It became the most important gathering of thrash musicians since the 1980s and sparked a wave of reunions. Bands that reformed specifically for Thrash of the Titans included Exodus, Vio‑lence, Forbidden, Heathen, Death Angel, Legacy (pre‑Testament), Sadus, and Anthrax’s classic lineup, among others. The event reignited an entire scene and marked the moment when thrash metal began its slow climb back from the grave.
WOODSTOCK '99
Woodstock ’99 drew more than 200,000 people and was broadcast worldwide, meaning millions of viewers ended up seeing at least some part of it. Even though Woodstock is usually associated with peace‑and‑love hippie culture, the 1999 edition was far heavier, louder and more chaotic than its predecessors. Metallica and Megadeth both performed, putting thrash‑related music in front of an enormous mainstream audience at a time when the genre was still considered dead. Their presence didn’t revive thrash on its own, but it reminded a whole generation of lapsed fans that the old guard was still alive and capable of commanding massive crowds. In an era when metal had almost vanished from television, Woodstock ’99 became one of the few moments where thrash briefly returned to the global spotlight.
Megadeth - Live at Woodstock '99
Megadeth - Live at Woodstock '99
The true turning point of the era came with the Thrash of the Titans benefit concerts that was held in August 11th, 2001, organized to support Chuck Billy of Testament and Chuck Schuldiner of Death as they battled cancer. What was intended as a charity event became the most important gathering of thrash musicians since the 1980s, or perhaps ever. Bands that had been broken up for years reunited onstage, classic lineups re‑formed, and the entire Bay Area scene came back to life for one night. The energy around the event reminded everyone; fans, musicians and the industry that thrash metal still had a heartbeat. It wasn’t just a nostalgic reunion; it was the spark that convinced many dormant bands to return, record again and reclaim their place in the genre. Thrash of the Titans is widely seen as the moment the revival truly began.
Exodus: the big one; Paul Baloff returned and the band officially came back to life.
Vio‑lence: reunited with their classic lineup after years of inactivity.
Forbidden: came back after being gone since the mid‑90s.
Heathen: reunited specifically for the show.
Death Angel: their first performance since 1991; this reunion directly led to their full comeback.
Legacy (pre‑Testament): the early Testament lineup reunited for the event.
Sadus: returned to the stage after years of silence.
Anthrax (classic lineup): reunited for a special set tied to the event.
THE MODERN THRASH METAL SCENE
By the late nineties a new breed of bands began carrying the torch in ways the old guard no longer could. Groups like The Haunted, Darkane, Hatesphere, The Crown, Witchery and Dew‑Scented took the core aggression of thrash and fused it with Gothenburg melo-death and modern production values. The result was a sharper, faster, more violent strain of thrash that felt contemporary rather than nostalgic. These bands weren’t trying to recreate the eighties; they were building something new on top of it.
The Haunted’s debut in 1998 became a blueprint for modern death/thrash, Witchery brought a blackened edge and a sense of theatrical menace, and Dew‑Scented pushed the style into relentless, almost machine‑like territory. Together with bands like The Crown, Darkane, Carnal Forge, Aura Noir and Hatesphere, they created a scene that kept thrash alive during years when the classic bands were either silent or struggling. This modern wave didn’t revive thrash on its own, but it kept the genre relevant and gave younger fans a gateway into the sound. Even if some old school fans weren't fully onboard. I don't think this type of thrash has a name yet. But let's call it post-thrash.
The Haunted’s debut in 1998 became a blueprint for modern death/thrash, Witchery brought a blackened edge and a sense of theatrical menace, and Dew‑Scented pushed the style into relentless, almost machine‑like territory. Together with bands like The Crown, Darkane, Carnal Forge, Aura Noir and Hatesphere, they created a scene that kept thrash alive during years when the classic bands were either silent or struggling. This modern wave didn’t revive thrash on its own, but it kept the genre relevant and gave younger fans a gateway into the sound. Even if some old school fans weren't fully onboard. I don't think this type of thrash has a name yet. But let's call it post-thrash.
The Haunted - Made me Do It (2000)
THE NEW WAVE OF THRASH METAL (1998–2004)
While the 1990s had nearly suffocated thrash, a new generation of bands began clawing their way out of the underground around the turn of the millennium. These weren’t polished Gothenburg hybrids or groove‑metal holdovers. They were young, hungry musicians who rediscovered the speed, attitude and DIY ferocity of '80s thrash metal and dragged it into the new era.
Municipal Waste exploded out of Virginia in 2001 with a barrage of demos and splits, culminating in Waste ’Em All (2003), a record that sounded like D.R.I. and Nuclear Assault had been thrown into a blender. Toxic Holocaust followed a similar path: Joel Grind launched the project in 1999 and unleashed Evil Never Dies in 2003, a filthy, blackened thrash assault that felt like early Kreator resurrected in a basement.
On the West Coast, Dekapitator had already been sharpening their knives, releasing We Will Destroy… You Will Obey! in 1999, one of the first truly convincing "new era" thrash albums, long before the revival became a trend. We also had Sauron's 2004 album Thrash Assault.
Municipal Waste exploded out of Virginia in 2001 with a barrage of demos and splits, culminating in Waste ’Em All (2003), a record that sounded like D.R.I. and Nuclear Assault had been thrown into a blender. Toxic Holocaust followed a similar path: Joel Grind launched the project in 1999 and unleashed Evil Never Dies in 2003, a filthy, blackened thrash assault that felt like early Kreator resurrected in a basement.
On the West Coast, Dekapitator had already been sharpening their knives, releasing We Will Destroy… You Will Obey! in 1999, one of the first truly convincing "new era" thrash albums, long before the revival became a trend. We also had Sauron's 2004 album Thrash Assault.
Dekapitator - We Will Destroy... You Will Obey! (1999)
In Europe, Italy’s Hyades kept the flame burning with demos and finally their debut Abuse Your Illusions in 2004, proving that the revival wasn’t limited to the U.S. Sweden's Hypnosia released Extreme Hatred (2000), an album that was compared to the early works of Kreator. In the north of Sweden there was also Guillotine and black/thrashers Bewitched. Germany's Witchburner had a similar black/thrash style.
Even younger acts like Fueled by Fire, Havok and Gama Bomb were forming and releasing demotapes in this window, laying the groundwork for the explosion that would follow a few years later. A handful of bands, scattered across continents, rediscovering the speed, the riffs, the attitude and the fun that had been missing for a decade. By 2004, thrash metal wasn’t “back” yet, but the fuse had been lit, and these bands were the ones holding the match.
There was also a thrash scene in Brazil with some exciting upcoming bands. Hearing Bywar's Invincible War in 2002 was refreshing. It was like old Sepultura was back in a new shape. Farscape's Demon Massacre (2003) and Violator with their Violent Mosh EP (2004) are also worth mentioning here.
This wasn’t yet a full‑blown movement, it was the first spark that would be known as The New Wave of Thrash Metal that would become a major wave in 2005 and forward.
THE COMEBACKS
In the years surrounding the Thrash of the Titans concerts, the thrash scene experienced its first real surge of life since the early nineties. A wave of classic bands began returning after long periods of silence, breakups or stylistic detours. Some of the genre’s most important names. Destruction, Kreator, Whiplash and Testament abandoned the experiments of the mid‑90s and came back to pure, aggressive thrash metal with renewed purpose. Others re‑formed after being completely inactive for years, including Exciter, Nasty Savage, Hexenhaus, Hades, Artillery, Sadus, Hirax, Agent Steel, Infernäl Mäjesty and Metal Church.
Several Bay Area legends reunited specifically for Thrash of the Titans, such as Exodus, Vio‑lence, Forbidden, Heathen, Death Angel and the early Testament lineup under the Legacy name. Even Anthrax’s classic lineup resurfaced around this time, adding to the sense that something bigger was happening. These comebacks didn’t arrive all at once, but together they marked a turning point: the old guard was waking up, the new generation was gaining momentum, and the groundwork was being laid for the full‑scale thrash revival that would define the early 2000s.
Several Bay Area legends reunited specifically for Thrash of the Titans, such as Exodus, Vio‑lence, Forbidden, Heathen, Death Angel and the early Testament lineup under the Legacy name. Even Anthrax’s classic lineup resurfaced around this time, adding to the sense that something bigger was happening. These comebacks didn’t arrive all at once, but together they marked a turning point: the old guard was waking up, the new generation was gaining momentum, and the groundwork was being laid for the full‑scale thrash revival that would define the early 2000s.
NAPSTER VS. METALLICA
At the turn of the millennium, Metallica found themselves at the center of one of the biggest cultural battles in modern music history. When the file‑sharing service Napster exploded in 1999, millions of fans suddenly had free access to music, including Metallica’s still‑unreleased track I Disappear. The band reacted with fury, launching a high‑profile legal attack aimed at shutting the platform down.
What Metallica saw as a fight for artistic rights, many fans saw as a betrayal of the underground spirit that had built the band in the first place. The backlash was immediate and brutal: Metallica were mocked on TV, booed at award shows, and painted as greedy millionaires out of touch with their own fanbase. The conflict didn’t kill their career, but it damaged their reputation and marked a turning point in how metal fans viewed the band. At the same time, the controversy pushed the entire metal community into the digital age for better or worse, and became one of the defining cultural moments of the era.
METAL MEDIA GOES ONLINE
Metal was no longer something you had to hunt for in magazines or record stores, It was finally accessible to anyone with a computer, a modem, and the desire to dig deeper.
What Metallica saw as a fight for artistic rights, many fans saw as a betrayal of the underground spirit that had built the band in the first place. The backlash was immediate and brutal: Metallica were mocked on TV, booed at award shows, and painted as greedy millionaires out of touch with their own fanbase. The conflict didn’t kill their career, but it damaged their reputation and marked a turning point in how metal fans viewed the band. At the same time, the controversy pushed the entire metal community into the digital age for better or worse, and became one of the defining cultural moments of the era.
The late 1990s and early 2000s marked a turning point in how metal fans discovered music. As print magazines were shrinking and labels were cutting budgets, the first generation of metal websites appeared and quietly reshaped the entire culture. BNR Metal and Metal‑Rules.com were already online by 1995, offering band databases and early reviews at a time when most fans were still on dial‑up. In 1998 Ruuth's Inn became the first thrash metal resource on the internet, with interviews, reviews and articles all about thrash. Ruuth's Inn was of course is a pre-cursor to Ruthless Metal.
By 2000 the landscape expanded rapidly: MetalUnderground.com, The Metal Observer, and Voices From the Darkside all launched that year, each bringing a different angle, news, reviews, interviews, and deep‑cut underground coverage. Rock Detector and Blabbermouth followed in 2001, and in 2002 the scene changed forever with the arrival of Encyclopaedia Metallum, the Metal Archives, which became the definitive global database for metal bands. The Corroseum appeared in 2003, focusing on obscure and forgotten heavy metal, and Metal Injection arrived in 2004, bringing a more modern, multimedia‑driven approach.
Metal was no longer something you had to hunt for in magazines or record stores, It was finally accessible to anyone with a computer, a modem, and the desire to dig deeper.
Before Ruthless Metal there was Ruuth's Inn - Thrash Metal Webzine
REST IN PEACE
Chuck Schuldiner of Death dies in 2001 of pneumonia and the highly influental band Death is permanently disbanded. Chuck might have been a death metal musician but his close ties to the thrash metal scene was undeniable. The Thrash of the Titans concerts were held in benefit for Chuck Billy and Chuck Schuldiner.
In 2004, Quorthon, frontman in Swedish black metal band Bathory passed away. His band was hugely influential on the Swedish extreme metal scene. Add to that, Bathory also released two albums in the mid 90's that were quite thrash influenced. Requiem (1994) and Octagon (1995).
In 2004, Pantera's guitarist Dimebag Darrell was shot to death while on stage with Damageplan, in a vile act of terror.
In 2004, Pantera's guitarist Dimebag Darrell was shot to death while on stage with Damageplan, in a vile act of terror.
Chuck Schuldiner R.I.P.
TESTAMENT - THE GATHERING
When The Gathering landed in 1999, its impact went far beyond Testament’s own discography. The album was powered by a rare all‑star lineup, Chuck Billy, Eric Peterson, James Murphy, Steve DiGiorgio, and Gene Hoglan. A supercharged combination of technical mastery, songwriting precision, and rhythmic brutality. Their collective chemistry pushed Testament into a heavier, more aggressive hybrid of thrash and death metal at a time when most classic bands were softening or drifting. This record became a quiet blueprint for the 2000s thrash revival: tighter musicianship, darker production, and a willingness to evolve without abandoning the genre’s core. In hindsight, The Gathering didn’t just keep Testament relevant. It showed an entire generation what modern thrash could be.
Testament - The Gathering (1999)
THE TEUTONIC REVOLUTION. (2001)
By the dawn of the new millennium, thrash metal was stirring back to life and nowhere was this rebirth more dramatic than in Germany. The Teutonic Big Three: Kreator, Destruction and Sodom had all endured the turbulent 1990s, experimenting with new sounds, losing momentum, or simply falling out of the spotlight. But in 2001, all three returned with albums that reasserted their identity, reclaimed their legacy, and helped ignite the full‑scale thrash revival of the 2000s. Teutonic thrash was alive again!
KREATOR – VIOLENT REVOLUTION (2001)
Kreator had spent much of the 90s exploring industrial, gothic and experimental sounds, drifting far from their thrash roots. Violent Revolution was the moment they snapped back into focus. The album fused their classic aggression with the melodic precision of modern metal, creating a sound that felt both familiar and revitalized.
Kreator - Violent Revolution (2001)
DESTRUCTION – THE ANTICHRIST (2001)
After years of lineup chaos and stylistic misfires, Destruction roared back with The Antichrist, an album that sounded like the band had been storing up rage for a decade. This was pure, unfiltered Teutonic thrash: fast, violent, sharp and unapologetically old‑school. Schmier’s return on vocals and bass restored the band’s identity, and the songwriting leaned heavily into the frantic, chaotic energy that made Destruction legendary in the first place. The Antichrist was a declaration of war, and fans embraced it instantly.
Destruction - The Antichrist (2001)
SODOM – M-16 (2001)
Sodom had remained more consistent than their peers throughout the 90s, but M‑16 elevated them to a new level. A concept album centered on the Vietnam War, it delivered some of the band’s most focused and intense songwriting since the late 80s. The riffs were crushing, the atmosphere grim and militaristic, and Tom Angelripper’s vocals carried a raw, battle‑scarred edge. M‑16 was the best Sodom record in a decade.
The simultaneous resurgence of Kreator, Destruction and Sodom in the same year was perhaps a coincidence but it also became a cultural reset. These albums showed that thrash metal was back.
.jfif)
Sodom - M-16 (2001)
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