Photo by Mikko Pylkkö / courtesy of Ranger

Speed metal is a small, frequently misunderstood genre that occupies weird fringes within the metal world, despite the fact that there numerous bands across the world who swear by it. Often categorized by fans and journalists as thrash or New Wave Of British Heavy Metal revivalists, bands that play this style often worship obscure 80s acts like Iron Angel, Gotham City, Messiah Force, Deaf Dealer, and Scanner, and utilize an blazing pace alongside duelling guitars and a sung, decipherable vocal style that is generally gruff and rife with maniacal cackles. Lyrical content is frequently laden with metal in-jokes, references to battles with demons and Satan, and odes to oblivion. Their attitude reads like a modern-day Manowar’s—wimps and posers can leave the hall!

Though some argue that speed metal hardly needs differentiation from thrash, there are pronounced differences between the two. Speed metal maniacs cleaner tones than their more extreme brethren, along with dueling guitar melodies and virtuoso soloing. It’s a technically precise genre that has continued since its double-time origins in Motörhead (think Overkill, and Philthy Taylor’s drums, and that explosive instrumental interplay) and late-‘0s era Judas Priest. Soon, Diamond Head, Iron Maiden, and Accept (circa “Fast as a Shark,” naturally) were furthering the cause, and the sound was truly crystallized by Canada’s Exciter.

Not only did the Ottawa trio dub themselves after a song that appears on Priest’s 1978 classic Stained Class, their whole style was culled from the track. “Exciter” is incessant and ferocious, propelled by Rob Halford’s shrieks, Les Binks machine gun double kicks, and Glenn Tipton’s squealing solo. Exciter took this style and ran with it, releasing three full-lengths in a row that personified velocity, attitude, ferocity, and technical proficiency.

Today, bands worldwide proudly play speed metal while flying the “speed metal swirl” made famous by the legendary Canadian 80s heavy metal label Banzai Records. Some mix in elements of black metal and death metal, and given the tenuous similarities, most also qualify their genre with thrash and traditional metal. To find out what that sounds like, here are ten of our favorite new speed metal bands from across the globe.

Armory – Gothenburg, Sweden

Photo courtesy of Armory

Invisible Invaders

Ranger – Helsinki, Finland

Photo courtesy of Ranger

Ranger is one of the few bands on this list that’s attracted (relatively) major label interest, and it’s because A. they have aptly merged an unhinged intensity with blistering proficiency, and B. labels are starting to notice that speed metal is a thing (just look at where most of the below bands have ended up, along with Enforcer being picked up by Nuclear Blast). After forming in Helsinki in 2009, Ranger has gone on to release numerous singles and demos, finally culminating in the March 2015 full length Where Evil Dwells. The tin-can snare and those demonic banshee cackles makes this an essential fist-pumping, pre-85-worshipping, skull-splitting assault on the senses.

Demona – Chile/ Quebec, Canada

Photo by Danielle Griscti / courtesy of Demona

It’s easy to see why Noisey has aready shown plenty of love for Chilean expat Demona; guitarist, vocalist and band mastermind Tanza Speed lives, breathes, and bleeds the band that she’s anchored since she was a teenager in Valparaíso. Only recently has the rest of world caught on, granting her a deal with Hells Headbangers, who released her EP 2015 on August 7th. Back in 2011, she was still DIY: her wicked three-way split Speed Metal Kills (featuring Calgary, Canada speed metal denizens Gatekrashör and now-defunct Vancouver thrash act Excavator) practically leapt out of the cassette holder. Financed and released by Albert “Nun Fucker” Power, the guitarist and vocalist for Excavator, the three-way split is fuzzy and wanton, chock full of speed, sex, and violence. Adorned with a couple on a motorcycle wielding a blood spraying chainsaw, the six tracks within have shrieking solos, shrill cries, and metal worship aplenty.

Baphomet’s Blood – San Benedetto del Tronto (Ascoli Piceno), Marche, Italy

Photo courtesy of Baphomet’s Blood

Chainbreaker – Toronto, Ontario

Photo by Nic Pouliot / courtesy of Chainbreaker

Their commanding performance at 2014’s Wings of Metal Festival made it abundantly clear that Chainbreaker love three bands over all: Motörhead, Venom, and Exciter. A bit dirtier and more punk’n’roll than many of the bands on this list, the Toronto act still utilizes the customary squealing solos and speed metal gallop, particularly on their eponymous song “Chainbreaker.” Their Constant Graving tape is still available, get on it!

Infiltrator – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Photo by Jessica McKay / courtesy of Infiltrator

Evil Invaders – Leopoldsburg, Limburg, Belgium

Photo courtesy of Evil Invaders must Pulses of Pleasure

Encyrcle – Odense, Denmark

Photo courtesy of Unspeakable Axe

Diabolic Night – North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Photo courtesy of Diabolic Night

Although this list is hardly organized, the heavier stuff was certainly saved for last. Diabolic Night definitely falls in that category, a blackened speed metal band with only a demo and EP to their name. Their music has been released via the newly minted Mortal Rite Records; it’s got Tom G. Warrior-approved “OUGHS” alongside the raging ferocity that speed metal demands. Their upcoming seven-inch single dubbed “Infernal Power” is out soon, and aptly demonstrates that Diabolic Night is part of Satan’s force.

Trench Hell – New South Wales, Australia

Photo courtesy of Trench Hell

Things have been awfully quiet on the Trench Hell front for quite some time, but the Australian menace is evidently at work on their full-length debut. Active since 2004, the slow-burning duo released their essential Southern Cross Ripper EP back in 2008 via Hells Headbangers, but further progress has perhaps been impeded by guitarist, bassist, and vocalist Hexx’s penchant for joining other bands live or in the studio (see: Gospel of the Horns, Nocturnal Graves, Carbon, Toxic Holocaust). Despite their slim discography, everything they release is raw and hideous, merging the benchmarks of black metal with speed and thrash. This means subterranean production to compliment their serpentine riffs and vicious percussion, alongside vocals that come straight from the Venom and Hellhammer camp. Trench Hell is truly speed metal from Hades.

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