10 Best Thrash Metal Albums Of The 21st Century

Thanks to new, burgeoning names like TesseracT, Ne Obliviscaris, Leprous, Haken, Caligula’s Horse, Animals as Leaders and Skyharbor, progressive metal was on the cusp of entering its greatest era yet at the start of the 2010s. Inspired by heavy experimentalists including Mastodon, Death and Gojira, the British quartet Sylosis brought this techy renaissance to the underground thrash scene in 2011 with their sophomore album Edge of the Earth.

Comprised of equal parts speed metal, melodic death metal and eclectic prog, the disc packs well over an hour of monstrously heavy riffage and alien harmonies. The lead guitars from Alex Bailey and frontman Josh Middleton are heavenly, uniting with Edge of the Earth’s plethora of impressive solos to totally steal the show.

Sylosis’s experimentation with pace is another aspect of the many that make this album a masterpiece. For every thrashing rhythm, there comes a moment like those found on the single “Empyreal”, which provides middling grooves with pounding drumming and guttural guitar chords. Songs like “From the Edge of the Earth” even dare to inject some measure of sing-along into the fray.

And yet, despite all its individual parts, Edge of the Earth works as a tight-knit concept record, exciting and intelligent in equal measure.