The Big 4: top 4 albums....

[Kurt Cocaine]

Inspired mainly by the discussion of the best Slayer album on the Slayer thread....

What's your favourite top four albums by the so called 'Big 4' thrash bands?
The albums that you have played and cherished the most over the years?

For me it's.......

METALLICA

1: Ride the Lightning (1984)
2: Master of Puppets (1986)
3: Kill 'em All (1983)
4: ...And Justice for All (1988)

MEGADETH

1: Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? (1986)
2: Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! (1985}
3: So Far, So Good... So What! (1988)
4: Countdown to Extinction (1992)

SLAYER

1: Reign in Blood (1986)
2: South of Heaven (1988)
3: Seasons in the Abyss (1990)
4: Hell Awaits (1985)

ANTHRAX

1: Among the Living (1987)
2: Persistence of Time (1990)
3: State of Euphoria (1988)
4: Sound of White Noise (1993)

I have chosen 4 albums from each band because I genuinely don't reach for any other Metallica album bar the four I've listed above nowadays but feel free to add more from each band if you wish to....

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

How can you rank Killing Is My Business and Countdown but not RIP? You trippin' boy. I was expecting a total of 4 best from the big 4. There'd be no Anthrax even in a top 10 of my favourite albums from the big 4.

[Cernunnos]

METALLICA

and Justice for all
Kill em all
Master of Puppets
Ride the Lightening

MEGADETH

Rust in Peace
Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?
So Far, So Good... So What!
Countdown to Extinction

SLAYER

Divine Intervention (yes i know controversial but was my first album i got from them)
Reign in Blood
Hell Awaits
Seasons


ANTHRAX

None  an absolute shite band, I say give me "Onslaught - the force" !

[Kurt Cocaine]

How can you rank Killing Is My Business and Countdown but not RIP? You trippin' boy. I was expecting a total of 4 best from the big 4. There'd be no Anthrax even in a top 10 of my favourite albums from the big 4.

Killing is pure nostalgia for me. Its the first proper 'heavy/fast' album I had ever heard in full (I had a couple of badly copied thrash compilation tapes before this). It was my proper gateway to the heavier mid-80s sound....

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Killing is great, I'm not denying that, but it seems odd to rank both its raw style AND the heavily produced style of Countdown, but not RIP which is metal perfection; smooth but frenetic. Takes all sorts!

[Kurt Cocaine]

Killing is great, I'm not denying that, but it seems odd to rank both its raw style AND the heavily produced style of Countdown, but not RIP which is metal perfection; smooth but frenetic. Takes all sorts!

Those listed above are simply the albums I have listened to (and continue to) the most over the years. Musical tastes are subjective my dear man.
If it's any consolation, Rust is my 5th favourite Megadeth album.

[stevie-0]

.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Oh this old thread again...always raises the heartbeat in those who dont know there is no such thing as best album...only favourite album.

I guess it was just Countdown that made it seem a funny four. Like if someone said their top four Metallica albums were Kill 'Em All, Ride the Lightning, AJFA, and The Black Album.

In simple chronological order, my list would be like this:

Metallica: First four.
Megadeth: Peace Sells, SFSGSW, RIP, Youthanasia.
Slayer: Hell Awaits, Reign In Blood, South of Heaven, Seasons In The Abyss (which I'm not particularly keen on, but still prefer to anything later).
Anthrax: I think I may once have listened to an entire Anthrax album.

[ldj]

Metallica: Lightning, Puppets, ANJA, KEA
Megadeth: RIP, Peace Sells, Countdown, KIMB.
Slayer: Hell Awaits, RIB, Seasons, SOH
Anthrax: Among the Living, Spreading the Disease.

Although I'm a fan of the first 6 albums, I've always felt the covers on the first three Megadeth album really bring them down, the production on KIMB and SFSGSW are rubbish too, they did a good job remixing KIMB last year so hopefully SFSGSW gets a similar treatment. Youthanasia is an underrated record too.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

SFSGSW with Poland and Samuelson plus the same sound as Peace Sells would have been so, so good. And agreed on the covers, I think that's a kinda universal opinion! I guess when it comes to the drugs, ya gotta take a bit of shit with that sugar!

[Ducky]

Metallica
1. ...AJFA, 2.MoP, 3. RiL, 4. Load

Slayer
1. RiB, 2. Divine Intervention, 3. SitA, 4. SoH

Megadeth
1. RiP, 2. PS...BWB, 3. Youthanasia, 4. ...

Anthrax
Ha, nope.

I can maybe interchange my first two Metallica albums, RtL isn't even close to them (Fade to Black, Escape are awful shite) and I'll go for Load any day over the rest, K'eA included as it bores me to tears. Doesn't have the bite necessary to really make me care for it.

I think Slayer are the most consistent of the lot of them, though I don't rate Hell Awaits at all. I'll even give God Hates Us All and World Painted Blood the odd spin.

With Megadeth it's not even close. RiP is in a different league to everything else they've ever done. To be honest it's in a different league to most other records. Peace Sells is a classic record too, but let down by the shite Willie Nelson cover. Youthanasia is the sound of a band going commercial and nailing it. Outside of those three I only listen to the odd song here and there.

Anthrax have always been a bad fucking joke.

[Thorn]

Holy fuck, Ride ,Kill, Hell, tossed aside like that?  Albums I would term classics.  Damn, it doesnt matter to me much now whether you dig Septagon or not 

This is a nightmare poll though. Head wrecking.
Gonna nail my colours up though and go

1. Metallica - Ride The Lightning
2. Slayer - Reign In Blood
3. Megadeth - Rust In Peace
4. Megadeth -  Peace Sells....But Who's Buying

Now if anyone starts a   "Best Song From The Big Four" thread ,my head will actually explode.

[Blitzer666]

Last 2 Anthrax albums have been much better than the last Metallica, slayer and megadeth albums.

[Thorn]

Agreed.

[Lost-Paradise]

Slayer:
1.Divine Intervention
2. Seasons in the Abyss
3. South of Heaven
4. Reign in Blood

Metallica:
1. Master of Puppets
2. Justice
3. Ride the Lightning
4. Kill 'em All

Anthrax:
1. Sound of White Noise
2. We've Come for you all
3. The Greater of Two Evils ( A lot of the tracks on this album are way better versions than the Belladonna ones)
4.  Persistence of Time (Excluding Got The Time)

Megadeth:
1. Peace Sells
2. Rust In Peace
3. So far so good
4. Killing is my Business