10 Best Thrash Metal Albums Of The 21st Century

In the early 2000s, the Big Four of thrash metal were in dire straits. While Slayer were riding high off the comeback God Hates Us All, Anthrax were in the midst of a studio album dry spell, Metallica were imploding after losing bassist Jason Newsted and Megadeth – after two consecutively disappointing albums – were on the cusp of breaking up entirely.

For Dave Mustaine and co. to eventually pump out the Big Four’s best album of the 21st century, then, came as a brilliant surprise.

Endgame, the Deth’s twelfth studio record, is a riotous album of controversial opinions, dystopian projections and epic myths. The unbridled whiplash caused by such thrashing cuts as “This Day We Fight!” and “Head Crusher” is undone only by the ominous sing-alongs of “44 Minutes”, “The Hardest Part of Letting Go…” and “The Right to Go Insane”. From slow ballads to mid-paced bruisers to all-out speeders, Endgame fuses the undiluted extreme metal of Megadeth’s earlier albums with the more calculated and patient harmonics of their mid-‘90s hot streak.

Uniting its band’s two most lauded eras, is it really any surprise why people can’t get enough of this awesome album?