A newly posted appearance on Reigning TV found Slayer guitarist Kerry King and Death Angel vocalist Mark Osegueda asked for their personal preference between thrash metal legends Metallica or Megadeth. The latter two outfits are considered pillars of the thrash metal scene, alongside Slayer and Anthrax. While Osegueda was quick to voice his vote for Metallica, King offered some succinct nuance to his preference of Metallica. He stated, “I’m gonna be brutally honest. Metallica has a singer. Sorry Dave.”
That same episode also saw King and Osegueda, who themselves both play together in King‘s eponymous band, asked if they prefer Metallica frontman James Hetfield or Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine. Both went with Hetfield, with King offering, “James Hetfield. Sorry Dave, I know played in your band, but, I’m going with James.”
King did briefly join Megadeth in 1984, though things did not work out. While King and Mustaine have been friendly in the years since, more recent years have found King saying less than flattering things about Mustaine in the press.
King‘s above-mentioned barb at his former bandmate arrives with considerable irony, given that Mustaine recently praised James Hetfield for his singing ability. Mustaine shared his admiration for Hetfield‘s chops while discussing Megadeth‘s upcoming cover of “Ride The Lightning“, a Metallica track Mustaine co-wrote while a member of that band. In an interview published last week, Mustaine said of Hetfield:
“No one ever talks to me about that. One day he’s a singer, the next day he’s this fucking powerhouse and I’ve always respected him as a guitar player. So I wanted to do something to close the circle on my career right now, since it started off with Panic and several of the songs that ended up in the Metallica repertoire, I wanted to do something that I felt would be a good song.”