Best Big Four Thrash Album

Peace Sells. It's the most complete thrash album of them all, and since they're called The Big 4 of Thrash, I would choose the thrashiest one.

Reign in Blood is a masterwork by any standards, and yeah it's total thrash, but I put it on the more extreme end, and serves as more of a crossover (to extreme and death metal genres) than strictly thrash. Definitely the most influential of the 4 albums though.

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Rust in Peace
Sound of White Noise

I'd go with those.

I personally think Testament and Overkill rival anything the big four have put out (well, except for Metallica, I'm a fanboy) - In terms of influence, I guess they can't really replace Anthrax and Slayer, but in terms of quality music and my personal preference, they can definitley fill out those spots better than the latter.

mc666 wrote:

Reign in Blood, hands down. it's the only one imo that still sounds as extreme as it did when it was released.

As much as I enjoy the others, I have to agree with mc666.

I like Master of Puppets. But if you just want to break your neck... Slayer is the clear winner.

Reign in Blood. While perhaps not my favorite Slayer (that would probably be Hell Awaits or Show No Mercy depending on my mood), like mc666 said it still sounds pretty extreme and fresh to my ears years later.

Peace Sells would be a close second. Some of the best lead guitar on any Megadeth album IMO. I can't quite decide between that one or Rust in Peace for my favorite.

I prefer Ride the Lightning over Master of Puppets and Persistence of Time over Among the Living, by quite a large margin each.

My choices:
1) Kill 'Em All
2) Spreading the Disease
3) Rust in Peace
4) Show No Mercy

arachnoplasma wrote:

Peace Sells would be a close second. Some of the best lead guitar on any Megadeth album IMO. I can't quite decide between that one or Rust in Peace for my favorite.

Rust In Peace is a great record, but I prefer the Peace Sells band. I'd take Poland and Samuelson any day of the week.

My favorite out of the selected albums would have to be Peace Sells...

My personal choices for them would be:

1. South of Heaven / Seasons in the Abyss [Tied]
2. Rust in Peace
3. Kill 'em All
4. Spreading the Disease (Anthrax is my least favorite of the big 4, although I still like them)

Out of those I'd choose Among the Living, but my top albums from each band are different:

Megadeth - So Far, So Good
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Slayer - Hell Awaits
Anthrax - Spreading the Disease

Here's my real list:

Kill 'em All
Spreading the Disease
Seasons in the Abyss
Peace Sells

Reign in Blood is one of the albums i couldn't get into very easily.

Not a big fan of salyer anyway.

From the list, I'd go with Master of Puppets. However, Ride the Lightning is my favourite Metallica album (though on another day I could go with Peace Sells ...).



If I was to choose one album from each band and rank them, the result would be:

1 - Ride the Lightning.
2- Peace Sells ...
3- Persistence of Time
4 - Seasons in the Abyss.

Definitely reign in blood for me from that list closely followed by peace sells. If they had selected rust in peace I would have chosen that.

I'm seeing slayer tonight in London uk and their playing the whole reign in blood album. So that's Half an hour accounted for lol

Reign in Blood.

I also thought Spreading the Disease and Rust in Peace would have been nominated. I agree on the Slayer and Metallica nominations though.

...of those Big 4 albums, it would be in order: Master of Puppets (narrowly over); Peace Sells: But Who's Buying, and then Reign in Blood & Among the Living.

Had Megadeth not recorded "I Ain't Superstitious" and gone with another song from their own arsenal, then maybe that record tops "Master of Puppets". I will agree with the couple of other posters, who stated that "Reign In Blood" sounds just as brutal as it did all those years ago.

My personal favorite from the Big 4:

1. Ride The Lightning (and first overall)
2. Peace Sells, But Who's Buying
3. Seasons in the Abyss
4. Spreading the Disease

My worst from the Big 4:

1. Some Kind of Monster: landslide winner...

2. Stomp 442: This is almost as bad as Some Kind of Monster, based on the simple fact that it comes off a juggernaut of an album in that of the "Sound of White Noise".

3. Risk: Even though Nick Menza was already out of the band, it seems to me that Mustaine did everything he could to keep Marty in the band, and due to this, I think "Risk" was the end result. I think the prosperity that the band experienced for a better part of the 90's was gone in an instant with this release. This album set the band back years. Even though I don't loathe the album "The World Needs A Hero" like some do on here, it was obvious that guys like Petreli and Jimmy DeGrasso never really felt like band members. They more or less became the second edition of Jeff Young and Chuck Behler. It's amazing how ONE really bad record can create a landslide of bad things to come.

4. Divine Intervention: I don't dislike this album, like that of the other aforementioned albums, but I rarely go back to this album. This album probably suffers like that of "Stomp 442", in that it comes off the heels of a tremendous record in that of "Seasons in the Abyss", and sadly it's the first Slayer record without Dave Lombardo.

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Stomp 442: This is almost as bad as Some Kind of Monster, based on the simple fact that it comes off a juggernaut of an album in that of the "Sound of White Noise".

I was dumbfounded when I fist heard this. After White Noise, 442 feels like they phoned it in. Maybe they were tired of the drama at this point.

I quite like Stomp 442. I don't really understand all the hate for it.

I'm also surprised to see so many people saying they prefer Persistence over Among (Spreading, I can understand. That's a killer album). I like Persistence, but I feel it's a bit bloated and drags in places. Plus I'm not a fan of Got The Time. That song sticks out like a sore thumb on that album.

If TESTAMENT came into the scene earlier than Anthrax, had they been one of the Big 4?

Anthrax is good but they are inconsistent...I mean 'Deth, 'Tallica and Slayer all had their share of lousy efforts but at least they were listeneable (yes, I can endure listening to Risk and St Anger without skipping a track)

Wurthless wrote:

My favorite out of the selected albums would have to be Peace Sells...

My personal choices for them would be:

1. South of Heaven / Seasons in the Abyss [Tied]
2. Rust in Peace
3. Kill 'em All
4. Spreading the Disease (Anthrax is my least favorite of the big 4, although I still like them)

i agree with wurthless. Those albums just rock!!

From the list, I'd probably pick Reign in Blood with Peace Sells for a close second. Spreading the Disease is my favorite Big 4 album, though.

My list would be:

Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Anthrax - Spreading the Disease
Slayer - Reign in Blood



But to answer the question, it would be Peace Sells by a smidgen over Master of Puppets

I'm sorry, but Among The Living is not weak at all, it is my favorite of the Joey albums (STD and Persistence are great but they don't quite hold a candle to AtL IMO). However, I love Master Of Puppets the most out of those.

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From the list, I'd probably pick Reign in Blood with Peace Sells for a close second

Me too. Even though I personally prefer Peace Sells it is hard to get around the lasting impact of Reign In Blood.

I know it is not a popular choice but to this day my favorite Anthrax is, and will always be, State Of Euphoria. Loved that record from the day it came out.

mglaffas81 wrote:

I personally think Testament and Overkill rival anything the big four have put out (well, except for Metallica, I'm a fanboy)

Reeeealllly? We hadn't noticed.