Inspired by the poll concerning the 80s Big Four one, this 90s Big Four poll should spark some vivid discussion. All 4 bands have messed things up, more or less during the 90s, some softened their sound (Metallica and Megadeth) or tried to reinvent themselves, sometimes it worked (Anthrax - Sounds of White Noise), sometimes it didn't (Megadeth - Risk). Some albums were just uninspired/uninteresting (Persistance of Time, Diabolus in Musica IMO and Undisputed Attitude for me).

Releases:

Metallica - selftitled, Load, Reload, Garage Inc, S & M (although it's a live album, it was an experiment, Metallica and symphonic orchestra, worked for some, did not for others, me included).

Megadeth - Rust in Peace, Countdown to Extinction, Youthanasia, Cryptic Writings, Risk.

Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss, Divine Intervention, Undisputed Attitude, Diabolus in musica

Anthrax - Persistance of Time, Sounds of White noise, Stomp 442, Volume 8

I can't choose yet, it's pretty hard, but I'll be back with my choice and explanation as soon as i can.

Can you edit the original poll so that the first paragraph and the releases are listed in hte poll itself, rather than your first post? thanks.

Written by BitterCOld on 13.04.2011 at 21:12

Can you edit the original poll so that the first paragraph and the releases are listed in hte poll itself, rather than your first post? thanks.

I tried, couldn't do it, it didn't work.

the idea was the same as the one about their 80s works, who's got the best body of work, overall, for that period of time (in my poll the 90s).

I like the idea. tell you what, start a new one with the remarks in place and i'll delete this one. sound good? no one has voted yet, so there won't be an issue with starting fresh.

Written by BitterCOld on 13.04.2011 at 21:22

I like the idea. tell you what, start a new one with the remarks in place and i'll delete this one. sound good? no one has voted yet, so there won't be an issue with starting fresh.

I don't have a problem with redoing it; I don't want to list the albums separately, i want their 90s activity to be evaluated overall. All 4 bands have some good stuff and some not so good which makes the voting choice rather difficult.

Writing the albums from a band on one line won't work. I don't see how i can improve the writing of the poll.

Defenetly not Antrax and Slayer they totaly sucks at 90's so even not Metallica well lets say early 90's Metallica, but still its hard choose, because Megadeth was lil better in 90's so hard to choose between those 2

Voted Megadeth. Rust in Peace is probably their best album. Countdown and Youthanasia were solid albums. I even thought Cryptic Writings was a decent album. Risk.....well you know about that shit.
Technically Slayer only had 3 studio albums in the 90s, Undisputed was a cover album. Not as strong as what Megadeth put out in the 90s. Even though i think Divine Intervention is underrated as hell.

I voted Megadeth cause Rust in Peace is the one best albums of all times, I liked Youthanasia and Cryptic Writtings rules!!

This isn't a hard choice. I voted Megadeth. Rust in Peace is for me the best Megadeth album. Countdown to Extinction and Youthanasia were also pretty awesome.

Real question here is not which band was the best in the 90s but which one sucked less.

P.S Keep in mind that I don't take into account "Rust In Peace", "Persistance Of Time" and "Seasons In The Abyss" because they were in fact written in the 80s. I know it can sound weird for some but when it comes to Metal albums, the 90s start in 1991 for me. Also, it's after 1990 that many 80s bands began to change significantly.

I enjoy R.I.P, Countdown, Youthanasia, and Cryptic Writings. Hell, even Risk isn't that bad for what it is. Anthrax's 90's era flat out sucked, Slayer became nu metal trendhors, and Metallica's radio rock was good for what it is, but nowhere near Megadeth's more mainstream albums from the same era.

I think ravenking kinda nailed it. once you remove the last gasp of the 80's releases, the rest of the decade is pretty dire.

i think Slayer is the winner simply because while "Divine Intervention" and Anthrax's "Sound of White Noise" are the only two albums i listen to from the rest of the decade, Slayer didn't fuck up bad enough that i just stopped caring. i'll still buy new releases of theirs, which trumps the other three... not sure i'd even download their albums anymore, as i don't want to sacrifice the hard drive space.

Metallica and Megadeth both sucked me in for an album or two with their sell-outs. (Why megadeth doesn't get as much hate i'll never know. Black Album = Countdown, Load = Youthanasia. Risk is the worst of the lot)... Anthrax quickly turned into a train wreck from which they've never recovered. I own the "Greater of Two Evils" and that is the only Anthrax/Megadeth/Metallica album i've spent money on after 1995.

not that the rest of thrash fared much better, for what it's worth. the rest also punched out a few sub-par records or just disbanded as well.

'90s thrash from the big four?

Metallica: Metallica (radio/MTV hard rock), Load, Reload (nothing positive to say about either).
Megadeth: Countdown To Extinction (watered down), Youthanasia (MORE watered down), Cryptic Writings (average rock), Risk (dead at this point).
Slayer: Divine Intervention (meh), Undisputed Attitude (awful cover album), Diabolus In Musica (banal release altogether).
Anthrax: Sound Of White Noise (bad), Stomp 442 (worse), Volume 8 - The Threat Is Real (EVEN worse).

I don't think I can honestly say one of these bands did a better job in the '90s than the other. Thought Industry is probably your best bet for good '90s thrash, and Defleshed for some good death/thrash, while the big four laid a collective goose egg.

Voted for Metallica. I don't really like Load or their self-titled, but I don't hate them (Re-Load is an insignificant pellet of llama shit on the other hand). From what I've heard from the others' 90s releases, I can't stand them. Elephant shits. All of them. Especially Risk and Youthanasia.

To be fair though, I haven't given the Anthrax albums a fair chance.

Written by wormdrink414 on 22.04.2011 at 08:34

To be fair though, I haven't given the Anthrax albums a fair chance.

Don't bother. Consider your sanity spared.

Written by BitterCOld on 22.04.2011 at 07:33

not that the rest of thrash fared much better, for what it's worth. the rest also punched out a few sub-par records or just disbanded as well.

Thrash bands plain sucked in the 90s. Even my all-time favorite band (Kreator) were godawful at that time.
There was some good Thrash/Death, though (Massacra, Merciless).

I voted for Slayer. Their best album IMO was released in the 90s (Seasons in the Abyss). It was actually a toss-up between all of them except Metallica, but I figured I'd pick Slayer.

Personally I find it hard to chose between Megadeth And Slayer... Rust In Peace and Season In The Abyss are pretty solid works, but I guess ima go for slayer
And for metallica and anthrax I believe that the 90s were the beginning of crap releases for both bands.

Written by Guest on 22.04.2011 at 02:49

I enjoy R.I.P, Countdown, Youthanasia, and Cryptic Writings. Hell, even Risk isn't that bad for what it is. Anthrax's 90's era flat out sucked, Slayer became nu metal trendhors, and Metallica's radio rock was good for what it is, but nowhere near Megadeth's more mainstream albums from the same era.

Diabolus in Musica is NOT nu-metal no matter what any of you people say. Nu-metal is Korn, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, etc.....That album sounded nothing like those bands. Yeah Slayer changed their style a little bit, so what if they weren't going 1,000 miles an hour. It doesn't make them nu-metal. I'd say they were experimenting more with groove metal, not nu-metal. They would have gotten boring really quick if they kept putting out the same album....(*cough* Christ Illusion....*cough* World Painted Blood).
And Divine Intervention was far from nu-metal. Nu-metal wasn't even established at that point.

Slayer by far. Divine Intervention is one of my favorite albums by them. And cant forget about Seasons in the Abyss, its a righteous album. I love Undisputed Attitude, kick ass covers on that album and Diabolus in Musica is good as well. All of those albums are still thrash. Classic Slayer, Divine Intervention being the most thrash though. Megadeth, would come second, then Anthrax and Metalllica. Dont get me wrong though. The other three band's stuff is good, I like it, but Its definitely not as thrash as their 80s material. Slayer is the best band in the big four in my opinion, one reason being them staying thrash their entire career.

I don't count the albums released in 1990, for the same reasons that Ravenking mentioned earlier. Besides, all 3 of those albums are pretty much equally awesome, so they just cancel each other out! From the early 90's albums, Countdown is definitely the weakest. I've always preffered the Black Album over it, and I don't care what anyone else says, as commercial as it is, it is a heavier album overall. Sound Of White Noise is actually a pretty great album, and is easily the best album Anthrax made with John Bush. Divine Intervention... was just Slayer. There's not much you can say about it, unlike the aforementioned 3 albums, Slayer didn't change their style at all.

I find Load to be a great album, although Reload is definitely inferior, with lots of filler on it. Youth and Cryptic have lots of great songs on them if you don't mind the more commercial sound. And Risk isn't too bad, although I have no idea why Megadeth largely escape the level of criticism that Metallica get for "selling out", when Risk is definitely the most commercial and poppy album released by any of the big 4, including Metallica.

I've also never understood the people who call Diabolus In Musica "nu metal". God Hates Us All does have nu metal elements (although even calling that album as a whole nu metal is a bit of a stretch) on it, but Diabolus doesn't. It is a more experimental album, and does incoproate some "groove" elements, but it's definitely not a nu metal album.

Stomp 442 and Volume 8 are both weak albums, the former in particular being dire for the most part.

Slayer only released two new studio albums in this period (I dont count Undisputed Attitude as it is a covers album with one new Slayer song on it), though I'd have gone for them even if God Hates Us All was also included. Sound Of White Noise is better than any 90's Metallica album, though I'd take Load over Stomp 442 or Volume 8 any day of the week.

Anyways, my choice is Slayer.

Why did you choose exactly those?
had you added Testament there"d have been something worth voting for
Low, Demonic, Gathering
arguably their best decade

Written by theFIST on 23.12.2012 at 17:58

Why did you choose exactly those?

simple, since those are the Big Four of Thrash

Quote:

had you added Testament there"d have been something worth voting for
Low, Demonic, Gathering
arguably their best decade

Tastament's only worhtwhile releases were their first 1.5 albums for me and loads of other people. So their 0-s output is crap just like that of the Big Four

Written by theFIST on 23.12.2012 at 17:58

Why did you choose exactly those?

It's a thread specifically about the big 4, as stated in the opening post.

I'd go with Megadeth. Rust In Peace, Youthanasia, and Countdown are easily their best albums (excluding Peace sells).

Metallica had the black album, which I thought was pretty solid, regardless of what other people say. They lost it when releasing Load and re-load though.

I couldn't really get into anything Anthrax released in the 90's.

As for Slayer... I've never been a fan. They could be the best? I don't know, I don't care.

I don't really care much for any of their 90s releases, however I liked Metallica's S&M album, and their 90s studio albums, while patchy, have some decent songs on them.

Rust in Peace alone is better than all the albums done by the other big 4.

I listened to a lot of techno in the 90s because of these four bands.

Nobody voted for Anthrax