Megadeth‘s Dave Mustaine has revealed the bands who he thinks would make the modern ‘Big Four’ of thrash metal.
The original ‘Big Four” refers to the four main bands who pushed thrash metal into the mainstream back in the ‘80s – Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax.
All four of them fianlly played together for the first time back in 2010, playing a total of six shows at that year’s Sonisphere festival series, before coming together the following year for a ‘Big Four’ concert at the Yankee Stadium in New York.
Since then, they have only played together a handful of times, including a slot at Australia’s Soundwave festival in 2013, and at Canada’s Heavy MTL festival in 2014.
Now, in a recent interview with Czech Republic outlet Óčko, Mustaine has spoken about the four bands he would select if he had to “put together a new generation” of the ‘Big Four’.
“Well, it wouldn’t be a young generation, but I do believe that there are ways to do a new ‘Big Four’,” he said (via Blabbermouth).
“I think Testament, I think Overkill, I think Exodus, and maybe Trivium,” he continued, before debating whether Trivium would work with them leaning more towards metalcore. “I don’t know. Trivium’s not really a thrash metal band, so I’d have to think about that. But I think those other three guys would be really great.”
“Overkill is really important on the East Coast metal scene,” Mustaine added. “Exodus, of course, I love Exodus. And I’ve been friends with Gary [Holt, guitarist] longest of all people that I’ve been friends with in the music industry.
“And Testament. Eric [Peterson, guitarist], Alex [Skolnick, guitarist]… those guys are really great guitar players. And I love when we get a chance to play with the band.”
Mustaine has shared his appreciation for Exodus in the past too, and shared back in 2013 that he thinks that the California thrash giants would be the band he’d want to see included if the ‘Big Four’ got expanded to the ‘Big Five’.
“There was nobody else at the time that had that kind of pull or that kind of importance in the metal community,” he told Radio.com at the time (as per Blabbermouth). “Granted, it was with [late frontman Paul] Baloff, and he had a voice that you had to have an acquired taste for… but I liked him.”
In 2022, the thrash icon also spoke about the idea of one more show between the original ‘Big Four’, where they could “pass the torch” to a “new ‘Big Four’”.
“I think it would be really cool symbolically if we did something at the LA Coliseum, even if it’s one show and that’s it,” he said, before adding that the plan would require Slayer to “come out of retirement” following their 2019 farewell tour.
“I personally have been hoping for this for a while, and I keep asking and asking and asking,” Mustaine added, revealing he had been in contact with the three bands. “They’re just not into it. But that’s up to them.”
While the ‘Big Four’ helped bring thrash into the mainstream, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford has revealed that he has toyed with the idea of making a UK equivalent of the ‘Big Four’, but comprised of acts who pioneered heavy metal: Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Motörhead and Iron Maiden.
“My dream had always been to have like ‘The Big Four of the UK’, without turning this into a kind of depressing way,” he said, before acknowledging that the death of Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister and the retirement of Black Sabbath would make it difficult to accomplish: “Sadly, two-fourths of that has gone, but the music lives forever. That’s the main thing.”
Speaking to NME earlier this year, Mustaine looked back at the explosion of thrash metal in the ’80s, and shared whether or not he thinks a similar movement could be possible now.
“Sure I do,” he said. “In fact, I said to the band that I think there’s going to be a renaissance when this [Megadeth self-titled] record comes out because it’s going to smack a lot of people upside of their earholes. I think people are going to say ‘I forgot what I loved about this kind of music’, and then we’re gonna see a lot of people coming back with [a fresh take].”