Dan Lilker Explains the Differences Between Eastern and Western Thrash Bands

Thrash Metal emerged in the 1980s and turned the world of Metal upside down, through extremely fast-paced and aggressive music, which made (and still does) the joy of many metalheads. The main Thrash “nests” were formed on opposite sides of the United States of America.

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From the west side of Uncle Sam’s Land came Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Testament, Exodus, Testament, Forbidden and Vio-lence, among others. On the east coast, names like Anthrax, Overkill, Nuclear Assault and Whiplash emerged.

Dan Lilker, bassist for Nuclear Assault and one of the original members of Anthrax, spoke about the differences between Thrash bands from the east and west of the USA during an interview with Metal Hammer. For Dan, Californian bands paid more attention to technique and melody, while he and his “neighbors” were more focused on the beating.

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“Bay Area bands seemed to focus more on melody and technique than we did in New York. It was like Bay Area musicians had more NWOBHM [New Wave Of British Heavy Metal] in their sound, while many of us on the east coast took more influences from the thriving New York hardcore scene, so our material was more direct and faster. There were exceptions in both scenes. Overkill was more of a fast Power Metal band and Sadus, from the Bay Area, was much more intense”, reported Dan, who also talked about other bands from the east coast of the USA.

“If we’re talking strictly about Metal, there was Whiplash, Carnivore, Bloodfeast, Demolition Hammer, Prime Evil, Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, SOD, Overkill, Gothic Slam. And if you want to include some Hardcore bands that also appealed to Thrash fans, we had Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, Murphy’s Law, Ludichrist, Prong, Crumbsuckers, Adrenalin OD… there was a lot of talent in the New York area at that time.”

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Dan Lilker is replacing Frank Bello on Anthrax’s Latin American tour. The tour will pass through São Paulo on April 28th, the last day of Summer Breeze Brasil.

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