{"id":376120,"date":"2026-04-01T08:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T08:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/376120\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T08:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T08:10:16","slug":"gary-holt-says-exodus-now-crushes-their-thrash-rivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/376120\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary Holt says Exodus now \u201ccrushes\u201d their thrash rivals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Master of Puppets may be \u201cthe best metal album ever made\u201d in the eyes of Gary Holt<\/a>, but the band behind it is no longer \u201cthe best\u201d today, according to the Exodus<\/a> guitarist.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Metal Hammer Spain, Holt reflects on the long-running dynamic between Exodus and Metallica<\/a>, tracing it back to the early days of the Bay Area, and the very different paths the two bands took as thrash exploded into the mainstream.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the thrash bands that came after [us] \u2013 \u2018cause, obviously, the first two in the [San Francisco] Bay Area were us and Metallica \u2013 were really chasing what Metallica did,\u201d he says [via Blabbermouth<\/a>]. \u201cThat\u2019s why most of \u2018em started doing ballads and they started following the blueprint a little, whereas Exodus kind of did our own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor better or for worse, we made our own decisions,\u201d Holt adds. \u201cWe tried our hardest not to be like Metallica.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Holt is quick to give James Hetfield<\/a> and co. their due, he argues that the Bay Area pecking order has long shifted, with Exodus now firmly \u2018crushing\u2019 their old peers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody makes their own musical decisions,\u201d he says. \u201cMetallica were the best of all of us. I mean, I don\u2019t think so anymore \u2013 I think Exodus crushes them, but that\u2019s my own humble opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, when it comes to the records themselves, Holt isn\u2019t shy about showering praise on what he considers \u201cthe best\u201d the genre has delivered.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut [Metallica third LP, 1986\u2019s] Master Of Puppets, to me, is the best metal album ever made,\u201d says the guitarist. \u201cI fucking love it. I\u2019m jealous, that album is so good. It makes me jealous. Some people like [Metallica\u2019s second album, 1984\u2019s] Ride The Lightning better. I think Master Of Puppets is a masterpiece.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat album and Stained Class [by] Judas Priest are, to me, the two best metal albums of all time. [Exodus guitarist] Lee Altus likes Ride The Lightning better [than Master Of Puppets]. To me, it\u2019s no choice. It\u2019s, like, no \u2013 it\u2019s fucking Master Of Puppets.\u201d<\/p>\n

In related news, Gary Holt recently joked he\u2019s still waiting on royalties for Metallica\u2019s megahit Creeping Death<\/a>, claiming his lyrics from an early Exodus demo helped shape the track that later appeared on Ride The Lightning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Kirk\u2019s riff, it\u2019s my lyrics,\u201d he told Heavy Stories [via Louder<\/a>]. \u201cI\u2019ve never been credited, so yeah, that\u2019ll tell you how I feel. I should get paid for that shit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Master of Puppets may be \u201cthe best metal album ever made\u201d in the eyes of Gary Holt, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1484,93,61,60,637,278],"class_list":["post-376120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-artist","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-metal","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}