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Hey Cody,
Great list. Thrash was the first style of Metal I got into long before I even knew what Death and Power Metal was. I think you've picked a lot of excellent songs and including bands like Demolition Hammer and Shah shows a high degree of knowledge and tastes that are in line with mine (hehe). Anyway, I think you hit it on the mark with the difference between Thrash and Speed. I can't count how many times I've gotten into huge arguements with people who call certain Thrash bands Speed Metal... like Overkill... that is a pet peeve of mine as well.
I think part of the confusion, and some of the people who were into the scene in the 80's can perhaps confirm this (I started listening in 1990), when "Thrash Metal" as we know it today, first came out... magazines, critics, and fans referred to it as Speed Metal. Not sure when the name change occurred or perhaps it was a mainstream mistake, such as Conan O'Brien referring to Slipknot as Speed Metal or something like that a few years ago when they played on his show, I'm not sure.
Point is there is a difference here and Speed Metal typically has more melodic elements and isn't as rhythm heavy (especially from the European bands) and if you listen to almost any early Thrash CD there are punk, hardcore, and even some NWOBHM influences. As time went on the NWOBHM influence practically disappeared by about 1985 or 86 but the other styles that Thrash was based on remained.
As for newer bands that people like to lump into the Thrash Metal camp, such as The Haunted, I too have a problem with this. Over time genres are obviously going to evolve and newer bands are always bound to, perhaps, add something to each style to make it grow. That is the nature of music. If every Thrash CD sounded exactly like Kill 'Em All, things would be quite boring in the Thrash camp. However, these bands that add new things or a new vocal style; or more melody; or more aggression; whatever the case is still retain a LARGE PORTION of what made Thrash, Thrash in the first place. In the case of The Haunted, and many similiar bands, there is just not enough of what made Thrash, Thrash to consider the band Thrash Metal. Sure, there are Thrash elements, but there is way too much of the Gothenburg sound to consider this "just" Thrash. Now, there is arguement for the necessities of such labels, but when trying to define a genre one must take into consideration that bands can, and do evolve from their genres origins to the point where they aren't just Thrash, Power, or Death anymore and the level of deviation is too much to ignore.
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