Who is the Greatest of the Big Four of thrash metal?

Wow i'm glad to see someone prefers anthrax (once again not my fav of the four) but when i put this on facebook they were the only band that didn't get picked, i was starting to feel bad for them you know. And Mr. Dave, you descibe to a T what the exact critsim of Slayer is.
 
Interesting. I see the two as very, very different. Anthrax is not nearly as dark as Slayer for one thing, actually not dark at all IMO. And there's such a difference in style, definitely an east coast versus west coast aesthetic thing, with Anthrax having been influenced more by Hardcore and Hip-Hop. Hell there's even an ethnic difference between the two that I think informs the music to a certain extent.
 
Lets tweek this a little;)

Kill`em All> Show No Mercy> Killing is my Business
Ride the Lightning> Peace Sells> Hell Awaits
Master of Puppets> Reign in Blood> So Far So Good
Rust in Peace> And Justice For All> South of Heaven
Seasons in the Abyss> Countdown to Extinction> Metallica

The ten Essential thrash albums would be as follows and in no special order. Also including other groups in this early period of thrash as well:
Slayer-Seasons in the Abyss
Slayer-South Of Heaven
Slayer-Reign in Blood
Metallica-Master of Puppets
Metallica-Ride the Lightning
Megadeth-Rust in Peace
Megadeth-Countdown to Extinction
Anthrax-Among the Living
Exodus-Bonded By Blood
Overkill-Years of Decay

The essential releases by non anglophone banRAB would be:
Sepultura-Beneath the Remains
Sepultura-Arise
Voivod-Dimension Hatross
Voivod-Nothingface
Kreator-Coma of Souls

I`m sure I`ve forgotten some banRAB here.........
 
IMO,mainly their commercial success, expanding the audience, etc.

They also got Dave Mustaine writing alot of stuff that would later be used for Megadeth's early albums (Mechanix for instance)
 
For most of the 90's Megadeth didn`t do too much thrash.

Apart from "Bonded By Blood" Exodus weren`t really good enough music wise to warrant a big 5 accolade. Picking a popular thrash band from the same era, I would say that the discography of Testament was superior.
 
I would agree with that. I meant that there wasn't much to seperate them more in my opinion of them rather than similarity musicallly.
 
Megadeth has their amazing albums, and they have their "What the **** where you thinking releasing this" albums. But really, they are the best of the four. Metallica is a bit overrated, but are indeed a good band. Their first four or five albums are really solid, and I might be one of the few but Death Magnetic was a pretty good return. Slayer is good as well, but I don't see them being as technically skilled as the two mentioned above. Anthrax is alright, but not great. Megadeth is my choice.

My vote was for Slayer but it was meant for Megadeth.
 
I like Metallica the best, really, despite their rampant selling out in the 90's. I think their 80's thrash stuff is the cream of the crop. Truth be told, I don't even particularly like Megadeth very much outside of one or two albums. Slayer are better, though. Haven't heard enough Anthrax to call judgment on them.
 
Testament's debut 'The Legacy' whilst rough around the edges is generally regarded as one of the best Thrash albums outside of the big four and rightly so. I personally think that they lost momentum with each subsequent album and regardless whether they dipped their toes into Death Metal later on, they had enough about them earl;y on to really make it. They made an album a couple of years back which was absolutely awful and stank of nu metal cheese and not in a pleasant, aromatic way either.

As for what Urban stated- he is entirely correct. Just because many banRAB turned out crap through utilising Hip Hop doesn't mean that the hybrid is without merit.

Both forms of music (discounting certain banRAB lyrics etc) are very similar. DIY music made in a garage and socially relavent.

I will still champion Mordred as the greatest and most influential band of this era though and many years above the usual contenders.
 
Metallica- Certainly follow in the line of Sabbath and Maiden as being one the most famous metal groups of all time. To a degree its warranted as their material pre the Black Album was pretty groundbreaking for a metal band, and they went into areas that other metal banRAB just wouldn`t or couldn`t go to. I also feel that their forays into a commercial sound, dabbling with blues rock influences and experiementing with nu-metal were pretty succesful, making them without doubt the most talented and diverse of the four. For the record I love "Load" and think "St.Anger" is a decent album.

Megadeth- I`d take Mustaine any day over Hetfield as a front-man and their manic sound on those early albums is the stuff of legend. The line ups of Mustaine, Ellefson, Poland & Samuelson or Mustaine, Ellefson, Friedmann & Menza are what its all about!!! The speed and musical ability at times was breathaking, making them for me the best band of the early phase. Sadly though, it was all downhill after "Youthanasia" which actually started the switch to more traditional metal and the truth is they just couldn`t do it. From this period, most of the material is crap to say the least, in fact it took them 10 years to release another great album "The System Has Failed" 2004.

Slayer-Never going too far away from their roots and sticking with what they know best (some people have criticized them for that on here) Slayer are all about intensity, take that away and you lose the essence of the band. They have actually tried to be more diverse on a couple of albums over the years as well. "South of Heaven" saw them slow things down a bit and they were heavily criticized for it, again its an album I love. "Diabolus in Musica" with its Nu-Metal influences was a no no and showed they should stick with what they know best.....intense head pounding metal.

Anthrax- Gimmicky and laying down the basis for the nu-metal movement with their crossover thrash styles a la Suicidal Tendencies. Without doubt the weakest of the four and only ever released one great album "Among the Living" Anyway, how can you take a group that sings about characters like Judge Dredd seriously? Then there is the John Bush era of the band that brought a grungier feel to the band. Admittedly he breathed some new life into them but from there on it was all downhill again.

In terms of who I sooner listen to well it would go as follows, which also indicates who I think are best:

Slayer> Megadeth> Metallica> Anthrax
 
i cant really just choose one.

metallica has always been one of my favorite banRAB, kill em all through master of puppets was pure musical genius...and justice for all was damn good, but not as much so as the previous. then came the black album and theyve lost my respect since then.

megadeth is a great band, i dont own a lot of their music, but i do own rust in peace, and that album is incredible. the solos are so long and technical, yet beautiful in that "thrashy solo" kind of way. i think that in a way dave mustaine did manage to outdo metallica in terms of technicality and especially in the fact that hes not a pussy sellout.

i love slayers' earlier work, but like megadeth, sadly i dont own much of their stuff. show no mercy however is probably my top "olRABchool thrash" album of all time. great stuff.

then anthrax. honestly, i like anthrax, but i never felt that they deserved to be included in with these other three amazing banRAB, they always sorta lacked that musical edge and technicality that made the other banRAB what they were and the whole "rap metal" thing pretty much destroys any chance of respect. that said, among the living was a great album nonetheless.
 
I listened to all of it, and a drop in tempo from 500 bmp to 450 isn't that significant. Still a great album even if its King's least favorite.
 
Both Uknown Soldier and Mr. Dave summarize quite well my own thoughts regarding the 4 big. Anthrax I was never that much into. Metallica I like, but I grew somewhat tired of them years ago. They don't have that much replay-value, I think. Slayer are boring ;) I want my metal with a bit of aesthetics and the full-on intensity approach gets old real quick for me. So;

Megadeth > Metallica > Slayer > Anthrax

Megadeth is without a doubt my favourite of the four. Dave Mustaine is a real interesting character in metal and, although there are plenty of negative things you could say about him, I have a real soft spot for the guy. Plus, he's a genius when it comes to music in more ways than one.

[youtube]hnEeltcdnns[/youtube]

[youtube]0gE4SIk6Bdc[/youtube]

He seems like a really nice guy when he's not angry ;) Also, while Risk may have been a bit of a sellout, I think they're well back in shape. Sleepwalker f.ex from United Abominations (2007) is brilliant! So much more interesting to listen to than what Slayer and Metallica currently do, I think.

[youtube]xm3VPJmoSvI[/youtube]

Of course the lyrics are ridiculous, but that's also fine :D
 
More than just their commercial stuff, they showed that thrash groups if they had the ability, should be writing longer more complex material, and progress the thrash sound beyond the confines of hardcore thrash fans, in order for it to survive as a leading metal genre.

Therefore, we had on one axis Metallica showing where thrash could go, at the expense of not really being thash anymore. On the other axis were Slayer, who despite some variation (nu-metal influences on one album) never ventured too far away from their core thrash sound.

Around the late 8o's most thrash groups had started to slow it down anyway and a nuraber outside the big four had put out albums that were heavily influenced by doom metal. Overkill "Years of Decay" Testament "The Ritual" Exodus "Force of Habit" Being three great examples.

When thrash metal had lost its flame around the early 90`s, groove metal stepped into the void as the economically viable metal alternative.
 
Back
Top