TESTAMENT, ANTHRAX, DIAMOND HEAD, MERCYFUL FATE Members Pay Tribute To METALLICA

Greg Prato of UGO.com has just published a "Metallica Spotlight" piece featuring tributes from 17 renowned metal musicians (including a section titled "How I Almost Died," which is Oderus Urungus from GWAR recounting a funny METALLICA-related memory). Also included are reviews of all of METALLICA's albums, as well as their "Top 11 Videos."

The musicians paying "tribute" to METALLICA are as follows:

Brian Tatler (DIAMOND HEAD)
King Diamond (MERCYFUL FATE)
Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX)
Alex Skolnick (TESTAMENT)
Mille Petrozza (KREATOR)
Mitts (MADBALL)
Matt Baumbach (VISION OF DISORDER)
Thomas Youngblood (KAMELOT)
Jonas Ekdahl (EVERGREY)
Michale Graves (MISFITS)
Rob Arnold (CHIMAIRA)
Brock Lindow (36 CRAZYFISTS)
Trevor Strnad (THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER)
Jonny Davy (JOB FOR A COWBOY)
Ivan Moody (FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH)
Darrell Roberts (FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH)
Harley Flanagan (CRO-MAGS)
Michel "Away" Langevin (VOIVOD)
Oderus Urungus (GWAR)

Below are a couple of excerpts.

Brian Tatler (DIAMOND HEAD):

"As some of you will already know, my band DIAMOND HEAD influenced METALLICA. In 1981, Lars came to England to see and hang out with DIAMOND HEAD, and not long after returning from that trip, he formed METALLICA. Since then, I have watched METALLICA's rise with astonishment. It is one of the hardest things in the world to achieve — going from a garage band to stadium monsters, without ever really losing credibility or deliberately making hit singles. And what is even more difficult is sustaining it. You can hear DIAMOND HEAD's influence in a couple of early songs, but we all take inspiration from somewhere. I have seen METALLICA many times, and they always give 100% — they don't hold anything back for the next show. Such a great band to watch live. I can hear their influence in thousands of bands, who want their phenomenal success. It's down to writing great songs, working very hard at it for 25 years, building an incredible following all over the world, and Lars' business brain. My favorite METALLICA song is 'One'. It has great dynamics and has to be one of the best double kick drum/guitar parts ever recorded."

King Diamond (MERCYFUL FATE):

"One of the great memories of METALLICA is when we met while I was with MERCYFUL FATE in '84. We were playing in San Francisco and they came to the show. I heard they had a Danish drummer and that I might know his dad, the famous Danish tennis player, Torben Ulrich. METALLICA came in, said hi, and later, came out on stage and headbanged during one of our encores. Later, they were recording 'Ride the Lightning' at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen. We had a rehearsal room in the same building and METALLICA happened to need a rehearsal room. So we offered them our room while we were not rehearsing. I remember hearing some riffs and saying, 'Wow,' it was some of the heaviest stuff I had ever heard at the time. 'Creeping Death' is still one of my favorites. This year, I had the honor of performing onstage with METALLICA at Ozzfest. Singing the entire MERCYFUL FATE medley was an incredible experience. We had only practiced two hours the night before, and they had not played the song since '99. It just shows how pro they are and that there is a reason they are the biggest metal band in the world!"

Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX):

"Ummm, I don't think they had an influence on me — I think we were influenced by the same bands. We liked the same style of music — MAIDEN, NWOBHM, MISFITS, etc. I think it came across in our music and attitude. I think for me, the 'Puppets' record was their finest moment. I think Cliff [Burton] had a lot to do with that sound — it was so fat and precise. I love the song 'Orion' — it still is one of my favorite musical pieces by them. I do think it's all so different now — the media back then didn't really cater to them like they do now...it doesn't really matter anymore, it all seems to be considered great anyway."

Read the entire article at UGO.com.