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Who is the best out of the big 4 ???


Radio ollerhead

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So of the big 4 I've seen 3 live.  Matalica in 98, slayer and anthrax on there farewell tour. On the live performance side of things they all did great shows.  The slayer show imho was a more meaningful show.  There was a fell to it that I hadn't experienced befor at any other show.  The band seemed to be more in tune to each other.  I feel this is because they new this was the end of touring for them.  At the end of the show when Tom Araya spoke it seemed he was a little choked up and maybe she'd a tear.  There was an energy that cant be explained.  

When I saw matallica it was my first concert and it was awsome but they will never play at this stage again.  At this show got to see James beat the hell out of a guy.  This guy had thrown a bottle out of the pit.  The bottle hit cliff in the face if I remember correctly.  James was spotlighted and explained what bullshit it was.  The crowd separated and threw the guy over the fence then James proceeded to wail away.

Anthrax put a good show on but I never did understand why they made the top 4.  There were other bands at the time that I think should have been considered.  Imo I think that I prefer exodus more.

Now magadeath, I've always been a big fan of.  Even though Dave is an absolute asshole like karry king.  Would like to see them live but they arnt as young as they were.  One thing I dont fell they are washed up like matallica though now that they are drug free and no alcohol matallicas gone soft.  

So of the 4 I'd say fucking slayer, magadeath, matallica then anthrax.

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Anthrax make the big 4 because they are 1 of the four most commercially successful bands along with Megadeth, Metallica, and Slayer. It's a purely commercial tag and in no way reflects how they are regarded by metal fans. These types of discussions are always pretty shallow and don't lend themselves to discussing the genre as a whole, what bands flew under the radar back in the day, current up-and-comers etc.

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I never liked that "fab four" construct. For instance, Slayer shouldn't be in that category at all. Metallica and Megadeth seems related, which they are ... for obvious reasons ... whereas Anthrax seems more like a metallish skatepunk act. In my opinion, Slayer is more "German" in style, more akin to Sodom and Kreator. 

Metallica became a totally different band after they lost Cliff. Generally speaking, there are two different and opposite opinions about that. Some claim that Metallica didn't come into their own until that black album thing, others that only the Cliff years were "real Metallica". Megadeth has been steadily plodding along with their "prog-thrash" style ... but nobody would lump those four together if somebody hadn't already done so. I don't know when and why that first happened. It's stupid. 

My personal favourite of the four is Slayer. I can do without the other three.

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I would agree that sonically speaking the four are quite different. As I've said a great many times now the label is purely commercial. Personally I think that Slayer have the best single album of the four (Hell Awaits) but Megadeth's first four albums are the best collectively largely due to the quality of KIMB and RIP.

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  • 5 months later...

I'm definitely coming around to Slayer a lot more these days, especially the amazing 'God Hates Us All' and the overrated 'Reign in Blood'. 'God Hates Us All' is amazing. So intense, so energetic. Punching fists in the air. But....

Megadeth and Metallica are way better in the long run. 

Metallica: 'Kill', 'Lightning', 'Puppets', 'Justice', 'Black' (fuck, what a run of great albums). 

Megadeth: 'Peace', 'So Far', 'RUST IN PEACE'!, 'Countdown to Extinction', 'YOUTHANASIA!'. 

They all just slay Slayer. Anthrax don't even rate. 

1. Megadeth

2. Metallica

3. Slayer

4. Anthrax

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6 hours ago, Requiem said:

I'm definitely coming around to Slayer a lot more these days, especially the amazing 'God Hates Us All' and the overrated 'Reign in Blood'. 'God Hates Us All' is amazing. So intense, so energetic. Punching fists in the air. But....

Megadeth and Metallica are way better in the long run. 

Metallica: 'Kill', 'Lightning', 'Puppets', 'Justice', 'Black' (fuck, what a run of great albums). 

Megadeth: 'Peace', 'So Far', 'RUST IN PEACE'!, 'Countdown to Extinction', 'YOUTHANASIA!'. 

They all just slay Slayer. Anthrax don't even rate. 

1. Megadeth

2. Metallica

3. Slayer

4. Anthrax

I always wondered why Anthrax was ever even including among the "big four" thrash bands.  So many others (Testament, Destruction, Sodom, etc.) seem to deserve their place on the podium much more.

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I would put Slayer at the top of pretty much any list.

Rust In Peace was one of the first if not the first album I bought with my own money. Was also really into Countdown To Extinction when that came out. Megadeth definitely holds a special place in my heart.

Metallica would be next, then Anthrax.

A lot of bands could contend for that no.4 spot in objective terms, but I believe that Anthrax simply were no.4 (in sales terms) at the time the phrase was invented :)

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Slayer is without a doubt no.1 for me personally. They always had the edge because of their more agressive sound, which i prefer, and the fact they stayed true to their roots most of their career. Even their later albums are still worth listening  to and besides Diabolus in Musica they never really released a bad album, and even that one is tolerable. That being said i glad they are calling it quits before they turn in some kind of parody band with old men screaming about satan and being angry about society, etc.

Second would be Megadeth. As most people i´m not a fan of their late 90´s material. But the early stuff is just excellent and Mustaine´s guitar skills are really second to none. Also everything they did after "The System has Failed" has been mostly up to par with "Dystopia" being the most solid records they did in years, i still listen to that one regularly. I know Mustaine always thinks he lives in Metallica´s shadow but in many way he surpassed them years ago.

Metallica in third position. I can be short about this one, like everyone else i think the first 4 records are absolute killer but after that i couldn´t be bothered. Death Magnetic was an okay attempt at returning to their roots but the horrible production kind of ruins the album and Hardwired would have been cool if it had been one disc instead of a bloated 2 disc album with too much filler. These guys are clearly riding this one out on the strength of their name nowadays. And who can blame them? But i think Metallica just got lucky that they got their foot in the door first before any of the other bands. 

Anthrax comes last for me. Not because they suck but they are just too inconsistent. Too many line up changes, long breaks and at time directionless. Can´t say i´m too big on the John Bush era but all the other stuff with Joey is solid. "Worship Music" was a really cool comeback though and showed that Anthrax still has some juice left.

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6 hours ago, Balor said:

The special edition had 3!

It's impossible to get inside the heads of Lars and James.

They're obviously so far out of the loop of reality that they just don't understand what it was that made them good in the first place, and what a great thrash/metal album happens to need.  However, considering they still play a more or less greatest hits setlist, it's not clear cut. 

As far as I'm concerned, if your last really good album was 1991 (and yes, the Black album was good), and you keep putting out clanger after clanger, then the only conclusion to draw is that you're actually not a very good band. 

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11 hours ago, Requiem said:

It's impossible to get inside the heads of Lars and James.

They're obviously so far out of the loop of reality that they just don't understand what it was that made them good in the first place, and what a great thrash/metal album happens to need.  However, considering they still play a more or less greatest hits setlist, it's not clear cut. 

As far as I'm concerned, if your last really good album was 1991 (and yes, the Black album was good), and you keep putting out clanger after clanger, then the only conclusion to draw is that you're actually not a very good band. 

Interestingly enough, the bonus disc was actually the best material on the album - not because of any new songs, but rather because it contained a recording of a full concert with many of their best songs.

It amazes me that it is possible to go from producing some of the best thrash/rock around to producing music of such diminished quality.  Maybe becoming world famous made them lose their foundation.

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  • 3 months later...

In my opinion Megadeth are too soft, their music is just not as hard as want it to be.

Slayer are too demonic songs like: Jihad, Raining blood and Angel of death are too anti-god and too hail satan. Of course there are songs like dittohead and I like that but they are too dark for me.

Metallica are my favourite the sound the lyrics and the history of the band just won me. I know they are assholes but the music that they make is amazing.

I will be honest and I will admit that I have listened only one song by anthrax and I don't have opinion about them.

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Top for me is Megadeth. They're the most technical of the 4, and the first metal band I got into. 

Slayer is second. Seasons in the Abyss was a staple for me when I was younger.

Metallica third. Early albums were good but after the Black album they just got boring. 

Anthrax fourth. I have listened to a couple of albums and they really don't have the same impact as the other three bands.

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On 11/3/2020 at 9:49 PM, halloween said:

Should TESTAMENT have been in the big 4 in stead of anthrax?  I have always been less than impressed by their music. I think it should have been METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER , and TESTAMENT. It just sounds better.

with all respect testament are not in the "big 4" saying that i mostly prefer there music than anthrax. testament is more thrashy to me

id say 1st slayer for reign in blood alone, one of my favourite  albums, slow to hook me but when it did, that was that,🎣😁 ,2nd mettalica for those three early classic albums,thats 3 more than alot of bands😄 and megadeth equal 2nd nuff said, all those great tracks and amazing guitar playing, 4th anthrax.  there among the living album i loved never was as keen on the others

have you seen any of the "big 4 live"

 

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The Big 4 seemed to mean more to America and the media than it did to us in Australia. The Teutonic 4 got a little more press here after a while but it was still only the media talking about it. Most of the metalheads I knew didn't care about the title.

I've seen all the big 4 live in separate gigs. I've seen Slayer and Megadeth multiple times both on their own bills and as a part of festivals, but I've only seen Anthrax at a festival where they weren't very good and I haven't seen Metallica since AJFA.

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In the late 80's my personal Big 4 was always Metallica, Slayer, Overkill and Exodus. Anthrax would probably be next, haven't really listened to them in decades now but back when the first 3 albums came out and they were playing gigs around NY a lot I'll admit I was pretty heavily into their schtick. At this point in 2021 looking back all these years later I'd say I've listened to Overkill by far the most over the years followed by Slayer. Rarely listen to any of the other 80's thrash bands anymore, I've really lost interest in that genre a long time ago.

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