Deliverance, first three albums: Softer thrash or extreme thrash?

Would you file their first three albums under soft thrash (Metallica, Megadeth) or extreme thrash (Slayer, Believer)?

I'm going with both, as most of the debut (like The Call and No Love) I'd call softer, and several songs on Weapons like Solitude, or 23 which is basically a ballad. However, Greetings of Death I'd call extreme thrash, as well as pretty much the entirety of What a Joke. I'd also call Flesh and Blood and This Present Darkness extreme, and Weapons softer. And then many songs like Temporary Insanity and Victory border between the two sides and I don't know what to file them as.

They’re on the softer end, even at their most intense.

I would say both. I disagree with Metallica and Megadeth being soft thrash though.

Overall it does seem like the Christian big four is more extreme than the secular big four

Metallica is pretty soft for thrash. Early Megadeth is less so, but still nowhere near the most extreme. Slayer was always the most extreme of the Big 4.

Christian Thrash Rules wrote:I would say both. I disagree with Metallica and Megadeth being soft thrash though.

I'm not saying they're soft music, but when it comes to thrash metal they're on the softer side. Nothing wrong with that, softer thrash is my favorite genre because it's still aggressive and fast, and still has great riffs, but there's more melody. Even at their most extreme (Dyer's Eve, Damage Inc) Metallica is a good deal softer than Slayer or Believer. Megadeth also.

For the Christian realm, Sacrament is another earlier thrash band that sports a more extreme sound.

Medium

Every thrash band is soft compared to Sadus.

Temple of Blood wrote:Every thrash band is soft compared to Sadus.

100%

Whoever voted “extreme” must think of Sarah McLachlan as “soft thrash.”

Sadus was nuts, bordered on death at times.

Pethead wrote:Whoever voted “extreme” must think of Sarah McLachlan as “soft thrash.”

You gotta admit that What a Joke at the very least leans into extreme thrash territory...

It’s heavier for them but I don’t think it’s near extreme thrash generally.

Have you listened to Devastation, Sadus or the German thrash bands? That's extreme thrash.

Yep, go crank up Devastation’s Idolatry and report back .

Deliverance never got to extreme imo. Even with TSK which has their most extreme vocals (and best imo). If Metallica is soft thrash, Deliverance is nowhere near extreme.

I’m genuinely concerned for the person who voted “extreme,” unless it was tongue-in-cheek…

Not soft or extreme… 

They were “just right” thrash!

- Goldilocks

Deliverance has a few songs that are just as fast as Slayer (but have a heavier guitar sound). 

For example: Greetings of Death, Prophet of Idiocy, Pseudo-Intellectual, J.I.G. (and maybe Entomed).

TZ75 wrote:Deliverance has a few songs that are just as fast as Slayer (but have a heavier guitar sound). 

For example: Greetings of Death, Prophet of Idiocy, Pseudo-Intellectual, J.I.G. (and maybe Entomed).

The level of distortion doesn't have a whole lot to do with the extremeness imo(coming from a guitarist) and neither does the speed. They contribute but they're far from the most important. Slayer is more extreme than Deliverance ever was, and I don't think of slayer as extreme thrash. They're heavier than the other big four and a decent amount of thrash bands but I don't think they're full on extreme.

Christian Thrash Rules wrote:

TZ75 wrote:Deliverance has a few songs that are just as fast as Slayer (but have a heavier guitar sound). 

For example: Greetings of Death, Prophet of Idiocy, Pseudo-Intellectual, J.I.G. (and maybe Entomed).

The level of distortion doesn't have a whole lot to do with the extremeness imo(coming from a guitarist) and neither does the speed. They contribute but they're far from the most important. Slayer is more extreme than Deliverance ever was, and I don't think of slayer as extreme thrash. They're heavier than the other big four and a decent amount of thrash bands but I don't think they're full on extreme.

So if it’s not the heaviness or the speed… what’s left? Slayer was evil and Deliverance wasn’t? 

I agree that Slayer was more consistently heavy and never wrote a ballad. 

What exactly is your definition of heavy? 

I would put Crowbar as heavier than almost any thrash band.

My definition of extreme thrash is Devastation and Demolition Hammer. 

Especially Demolition Hammer!

I’ll also throw in Beneath the Remains by Sepultura. Max’s vocals were almost like death metal. 

All the bands I just mentioned are heavier and more extreme than the German bands!

It's not soft. But it's not extreme either. It's thrash.

StevenCressler wrote:Overall it does seem like the Christian big four is more extreme than the secular big four

Back then there was an unspoken contest between bands, to see who could push the envelope and who could be the most extreme, heaviest or fastest (the reason death metal came to be). That, and Christian bands had more to prove than secular bands by default. That's why I think when Vengeance came out they were off the charts (back in that time period). I remember showing my "secular" friends at school who liked Megadeth, Metallica etc, Vengeance rising, and it freaked them out. They also didn't believe em when I said they were Christian.