So then Morbid Saint is better than Slayer? And Demolition Hammer? And Exhorder? And etc? Plenty of thrash bands faster and heavier than Slayer.

Everything since The Formation of Damnation has been really good actually.

Oooh yeah I forgot about that album. Yeah that's killer. I bought the cd on amazon uploaded it lost the CD and can't find it. Might have to download it.

When was their last album?

Last one was 2012 and I thought it was great too. I still liked Formation better though.

Could never get into Testament like a lot of other people. They just feel like the ultimate second wave thrash band: heavy enough for the old schoolers, not too heavy for the MTV metalheads, and without much in the way of new ideas. I dig some of their later stuff, especially The Gathering, but in general I'm relatively neutral on them, though I do like a fair amount of their material. Just wish Chuck Billy would quit with the goofy, pseudo-death metal voice he's been doing since the 90s.

And Alex Skolnick plays jazz these days. Oh the horror!



(killer jazz)

"The Big Four" is more about popularity and Testament are even more unknown than Exodus.

I'd say Testament and Exodus are pretty even as far as popularity and name recognition. Most people who don't listen to thrash probably don't know any bands not in the Big Four, and for those who do, those two bands are entry level.

i like slayer the most! fave song by them is "verbal abuse/leeches." love the speed and aggression. not a huge fan of anthrax, but i sample them from time to time; they're probably the least... popular?... of the ones mentioned though. metallica doesn't really cut it for me i guess, but i continue trying to like them for the sake of not offending other metalheads lol. megadeth is decent!

Most people who vote for Metallica don't know the history behind them, they wouldn't have made as big of of a scene in metal if it wasn't for Dave Mustaine, Dave Mustaine is like God when it comes to metal, he pretty much created started speed metal and made made every other thrash/metal band that was in the scene before Megadeth have to pick up their pace and step up their game, it was just another ball game once they started, and everyone realized it, he made everyone get off their asses.

I am positive that Metallica would have made it as big as they did even if Dave had never been a member in the first place, Dave was not by any stretch the muscle or brains in that band. Would I argue that he's a great guitar player? No. Dave is a great player. But he is not the reason that Metallica hit it big. Cliff Burton has always been the forefront of talent in Metallica, a brilliant bass player, just too bad he passed away when he did.

I don't know how you came to the conclusion that it was Dave that took Metallica to the heights of fame and success they've achieved, and you couldn't be more wrong about Dave 'creating' speed metal. Dave also didn't make 'everyone' get up off of their ass either, you give the man far, far too much credit.

I probably shouldn't even have taken time out of my day to reply to this, as I doubt you'll even be around again. Point is...

You're wrong.

Weird thing is that Slayer makes them both look like pansies.

Let's get it on Ripley's

Simple to why I come to that conclusion, Mustaine wrote a lot of the songs that came on their early albums, only album that Metallica did that Mustaine didn't have anything to do with that was at all tolerable was Justice, after that album Metallica tanked hardcore. And to this day Mustaine is still doing kick ass work and able to play what he writes. And yes, Megadeth was faster, louder and heavier then a lot of the bands out when they started, and the guitar solos in almost every song on every album starting from their first is why bands had to get off their asses.

look up "what other bands have to say about dave mustaine", its on youtube, watch and learn..

Not a thing I need to educate myself on in regard to Dave Mustaine, Metallica or their ticket to fame. I do think you're riding hard on Dave's cock though, bit much at that. He's written good music, but you talk about the guy like he's the be all end all of f*cking Metal. Furthermore, is the whole issue that you're using a video from YouTube to back your claim, real cute man. Who cares what a few musicians had to say about Dave and what he's accomplished. People say much more of Metallica.

Dave wrote music on the albums he was a part of, but hardly all of it, and at most some, but the amount he did write was nothing close to what you claim. I don't care who wrote heavier music, Metallica or Megadeth, doesn't f*cking matter here. Why don't you put credit where it is due and make mention of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. The list of bands they influenced would go on for days. Metallica influenced plenty as well, Megadeth too. But it shows your ignorance or lack of factual knowledge when you claim that Dave Mustaine was responsible for getting musicians 'up off their ass' when Megadeth came about.

Hilarious dude.

In my opinion it will always be Metallica.

When you consider that Dave basically taught James how to play, then it's arguable that he was pretty influential in thrash, even before Megadeth.

Of course when you hear Dave talk about it, he pretty much claims to have taught all three of the other three Big Four bands everything they knew. (Kerry King was a member of Megadeth sometime before they released their first album, and when Metallica went to New York, Anthrax got influenced by them.) It's hilarious to listen to Dave Mustaine to talk about himself at length.

I don't know what you're talking about.

You post-editing bastard.

The bold part I already knew, as well as how Dave embellishes things he taught or influenced upon others in regard to thrash, I mean...Dave Mustaine, the king of taking credit for pretty much whatever.

My whole point is that this Rattlehead fellow is blowing things out of proportions here. Dave has influence, but it is not polarizing influence.

Went Metallica. Even though I love Megadeth.

And Slayer is good. Need to listen to more Anthrax.

I saw the Big 4 at the Indio Polo Grounds - don't get me wrong, every band was pretty amazing. Fast, heavy, all that. Metallica just has the SONGS, though - you can compare riffs with these bands all day, but Metallica's songs put them over the edge. And no, I'm not talking about "Turn the Page," ha ha...

Well, good, cause that's a Bob Seger song.

And you see my point.

My post from my thread on this topic:

1. Megadeth - I love the other three, but Megadeth rises above them all for one simple reason: their versatility in sound. For thirty years, Mustaine and his crew have tackled all the different angles of their genre with each release, even upsetting many in their fanbase with Cryptic Writings, Risk, and the recent stinker, Super Collider.

But they get credit in my book for at least toying with diversity in their sound and making an effort, especially when they made a comeback in their sound with Endgame and Thirteen.

Also, despite Mustaine's insane ramblings as of late, he's still much more charismatic imo than Hetfield, Araya, or Ian.

2. Metallica - This is the band that started my interest in heavy music ten years ago with One at the age of 12. People rag on them now, and I suppose every metalhead does to an extent once they move on to deeper material, but these guys were the heaviest sounding band to me at the time.

I remember turning on the local Hard Rock station every night just so I could hear their classic hits. Keep in mind that I only had dial up internet at the time, plus it was 2005, so Youtube was in it's infancy, no streaming, etc. I learned to cherish every time one of their tracks came on, as well as other bands from that time period.

I even appreciate much of their 90's material, simply because imo they perfected the hard rock image and sound that they were going for on Load and Reload, and even the Garage Days compilation.

These guys mean a lot to me, even though I've since moved on from them and barely listen to their material anymore, which is partially because they haven't released a studio album in nearly seven years, along with Death Magnetic and St. Anger not catching my attention. They simply don't have the drive and creative ambition they once had, but that's okay, because they once captured a twelve year old me who thought they were the coolest band in the world.

3. Slayer - Easily the heaviest of the four, but also not really innovative. While they produced some of the best thrash out there from Show No Mercy to Seasons of the Abyss, they never really captured my attention the way the top two did.

Plus, like Metallica, they started becoming lazy during the later portion of their career. Even though I enjoy their nu-metal offerings Diabolus In Musica, God Hates Us All, and Christ Illusion, they've lost their edge, and sound completely bored with every song sounding the same, becoming the AC/DC of thrash in that sense.

I'll be listening to Repentless purely for the hype, but I'm not expecting anything mindblowing, especially with Jeff Hanneman dead and Dave Lombardo being fired as well as Kerry King's ego driving the final nails into the coffin of this band.

4. Anthrax - To be completely honest, I only know the greatest hits by these guys, such as I Am The Law, Indians, Antisocial, and Bring The Noise, among others.

I just could never get into their stuff the way I did for the other three. It also doesn't help that they're the least popular of the four, and don't have the amount of material that the other three have put out over the years.

I'm sure I'll chastised by a few here for not knowing Anthrax's catalog from front to back while still calling myself a metalhead, but oh well. Maybe someone can convince to give them another try.

Have to say Metallica for nostalgic reasons, but I think Megadeth had the best performance on the Big 4 in Sophia concert.

I think you mean Sofia :)

I love Megadeth and would put them as a clear number one for me. The guitar playing, song craft, lyrics (when not too paranoid) just hit so many levels higher than those other three ever managed to. I'd even dare say all their albums are somewhere between 'decent' and 'excellent'. Even Super Collider and Risk.

Metallica has a lot of good songs too, but many of them bore me to tears due to being so overplayed. I'm starting to think I really hate Enter Sandman.
Otherwise they're just a band I feel like I grew out of. I have their albums, but they mostly collect dust.

Anthrax just never really meant anything to me and I haven't heard much of their music. I don't know why, but I keep forgetting that they even exist.

Finally, I'm not a big fan of Slayer. They're practically the ACDC of metal, in that all their albums sound precisely the same down to every single detail. I also strongly dislike their ridiculous excuses for guitar solos. Crooked Cross is badass and reminds me of the Doom soundtrack, so that's cool, but I just can't listen to this band much without falling asleep. Not very musically interesting imo :/

EDIT: I didn't even notice that the original commenter compared Slayer to ACDC as well, but I'm glad other people see it too :D :P

Slayer?

Agreed.

Slayer's new album is pretty thrashy.

-1

Slayer for me.

Seasons In The Abyss is one of my favorite albums of any genre.

I really like Anthrax and i don't know why

I really liked them back in high school up to and including State Of Euphoria, these days I can only listen to Spreading The Disease and about half of Among - StD has some really solid tracks like Lone Justice, Medusa, and A.I.R. and I still dig it today.

I still don't like the tone on STD. It's much too poetic for me, and the band gets a lot simpler and closer to crossover on Among, and Belladonna's vocals are significantly lower to match the shift.

Spreading the Disease is poetic? Lol.





I love that album to death. Their best by a mile, and one of the best of the Big Four. Love the quasi-trad metal sound, and Joey's vocals were reigned in far too much on later albums.

Die.

Get ****ed by a land shark.

Metallica. They are the most melodic. Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax sound to heavy.