Slayer guitarist Kerry King is not one to sugarcoat his opinion, and he recently spoke frankly when he was asked if he preferred Metallica or Megadeth.
In an interview with Reigning TV, King and Mark Osegueda — the lead singer in King’s solo band — were asked to choose between Metallica and Megadeth. Both chose the former, with King then going on to explain why he picked the Four Horsemen.
“Metallica has a singer,” King said, taking a friendly jab at Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine. “Sorry, Dave!”
Later, King and Osegueda were asked to choose between Mustaine and Metallica’s James Hetfield for their favorite frontman, with both saying Hetfield has their vote.
“James Hetfield, King replied, “Sorry, Dave!” He then added, “I know I played in your band, but I’m going with James,” seemingly referring to when King played a few live shows with Megadeth four decades ago.
Interestingly, King’s interview comes after it was revealed that Megadeth is including a cover of Metallica’s “Ride The Lightning” on their final album. In a statement on why he chose to include the song on the album, Mustaine said, “As I come full circle on the career of a lifetime, the decision to include ‘Ride The Lightning,’ a song I co-wrote with James, Lars, and Cliff, was to pay my respects to where my career first started.”
Mustaine was a member of Metallica in the early days of the band, and even performed guitar on the No Life Til Leather demo with them, before he was kicked out in 1983.
Earlier this year, Mustaine was a guest on the Shawn Ryan Show to talk about his life and career. At one point, he spoke about his time in Metallica and being fired, saying that, “at the time,” he “was really mad and I didn’t wanna forgive them for what they did,” and adding that he remembered telling “them when I left, ‘Do not use my music. And of course they used it.”
It’s time to complete the circle. “Ride the Lightning” will be released with the album on January 23rd. pic.twitter.com/Ge7VTPTEZA
— Megadeth (@Megadeth) October 30, 2025
Mustaine then listed some songs he wrote and some he alleges he wrote, including “Ride The Lightning, ” “The Call Of Ktulu,” “Phantom Lord,” “Metal Militia,” “Jump In The Fire,” “The Four Horsemen,” and portions of “Leper Messiah” from Master Of Puppets.
“They didn’t give me credit on that,” Mustiane said. “You listen to the riffs, you know they’re my riffs. It’s, like, you think I’m gonna all of a sudden hear my riff and say, ‘That’s not me.’”
He then added, “So, yeah, I wrote a lot of their music that made them, and all the solos on that first record were mine — the best Kirk [Hammett, Metallica guitarist] could do was try and copy them.”
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