KREATOR Mainman Comments On Hypothetical Expansion Of 'Big Four' Of Thrash Metal

Elliot Paisley of EQPTV recently asked KREATOR mainman Mille Petrozza about the possibility of an expansion of the "Big Four" of thrash (METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH, ANTHRAX) that would also include KREATOR. You can watch what Mille has to say below.

In a recent interview with Radio.com, MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine was asked which band should be included if the "Big Four" (METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX) were expanded and considered the "Big Five". Mustaine said: "You know, people will say there's a whole another generation, like the 'Medium Four' [laughs], and I think there's a lot of great bands that fit that bill, too. But I think probably EXODUS, because there was nobody else at the time that had that kind of pull or that kind of importance in the metal community. Granted, it was with [late EXODUS singer Paul] Baloff, and Baloff had a voice that you had to have an acquired taste for, but you know, I liked him."

Speaking with Metal Asylum, EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt was asked if he felt the "Big Four" should have been expanded and considered the "Big Seven", including EXODUS, TESTAMENT and OVERKILL. "Well, I think it should be the 'Big Five' with EXODUS, because we were there at the start of thrash metal with METALLICA in the real early '80s," he said. "Same thing with MEGADETH because [Dave] Mustaine was a part of METALLICA's birth and he also created MEGADETH. And SLAYER are SLAYER. ANTHRAX are also great and old friends, but if you listen to those first few records, they have definitely changed. TESTAMENT has every right to be part of the thrash metal legends, but it just came down to timing because they came later. And OVERKILL have been their since the beginning also. But I don't get hung up on that shit, because I know how it all started and I know where I was when the shit got created. We [EXODUS] certainly deserve to be part of the founding fathers, but you know who often gets excluded are the Germans — KREATOR, DESTRUCTION and SODOM. Everybody looks to America and forgets those guys. KREATOR, DESTRUCTION and SODOM all released records in the early '80s.