Slayer's Kerry King Prefers Metallica Over Megadeth
In the grand, often tribal coliseum of heavy metal, where allegiances are sworn with the fervor of religious devotion and genre pioneers are treated as deities, the simple question of preference between Metallica and Megadeth is less a casual inquiry and more a philosophical litmus test. It’s a query that has fueled countless late-night bar debates and forum flame wars since the very dawn of thrash, a schism born from the legendary fallout between Metallica’s James Hetfield and the ousted, fiercely ambitious Dave Mustaine.So, when Slayer’s own riff-slinging icon, Kerry King—a man whose menacing presence and razor-sharp pentatonic runs helped define the genre’s aggressive underbelly—was recently posed this very choice during an interview with Reigning TV, the metal world leaned in. Alongside his solo band’s lead singer, Mark Osegueda, King didn’t hesitate, delivering a verdict that was as unequivocal as one of his own machine-gun down-picked rhythms: Metallica.For a figure so intrinsically linked to metal’s most uncompromising quadrant, a man whose band, Slayer, represented the antithesis of mainstream acceptance for decades, his reasoning cuts to the very heart of what makes a band not just successful, but culturally monolithic. King’s preference isn’t rooted in technical proficiency or a purist’s view of thrash; he openly acknowledges Mustaine’s incredible guitar prowess and the blistering complexity of early Megadeth classics like ‘Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?’.Instead, his allegiance swings based on the monumental, stadium-shaking anthems Metallica crafted—the timeless, instantly recognizable hooks of ‘Enter Sandman,’ the epic tragedy of ‘One,’ the relentless drive of ‘Master of Puppets. ’ These are the songs that transcended the mosh pit and became part of the global rock lexicon, the kind of tracks that, as King implies, you can’t simply imagine Megadeth having written.It’s a choice that speaks to the power of songcraft over sheer virtuosity, a recognition that while Megadeth may have often operated at a higher level of musical difficulty, Metallica achieved something else entirely—they authored the score to a generation. This isn’t merely a matter of taste; it’s a commentary on legacy.Metallica’s journey from the raw fury of ‘Kill ‘Em All’ to the polished, yet still potent, force of the ‘Black Album’ represents a scaling of a commercial and artistic peak that few artists in any genre ever attain. Megadeth, for all their critical acclaim and dedicated fanbase, have always occupied a different space—the brilliant, spiky, and sometimes inconsistent challenger to the throne.King’s ‘Sorry Dave!’ isn’t just a throwaway quip; it’s a succinct summary of a decades-long narrative. It underscores a fundamental truth in the heavy metal ecosystem: for all the arguments about speed, technique, and underground credibility, the crown often goes to the band that writes the songs everyone, from the die-hard thrasher to the casual radio listener, ends up humming for a lifetime. In the end, Kerry King, the high priest of extremity, has cast his vote not for the most technically gifted, but for the most anthemic, solidifying that in the great heavy metal debate, the power of the hook remains the ultimate decider.
#Kerry King
#Slayer
#Metallica
#Megadeth
#interview
#music preference
#featured
