In an interview with Rolling Stone, SLAYER guitarist Kerry King has revealed his 10 favorite heavy metal albums of all time. You can check the list with his comments below.
AC/DC – ‘Highway to Hell’ (1979)
“‘Walk All Over You’ is a pretty dark song. ‘Highway to Hell’ is a very dark song. ‘Night Prowler’ is super dark. Maybe that’s why it appeals to me.”
Black Sabbath – ‘Sabotage’ (1975)
“As I picked these records, I picked the ones I’m compelled to play if I’m working out or driving, and ‘Sabotage’ was my choice for BLACK SABBATH.”
Exodus – ‘Bonded By Blood’ (1985)
“If I had to pick one record from EXODUS to listen to the rest of my life, it’d be ‘Bonded By Blood.’”
Iron Maiden – ‘The Number of the Beast’ (1982)
“I liked Paul Di’Anno, and the music was more punk-infused then, which I like as well, but Bruce was the singer that made them metal royalty.”
Judas Priest – ‘Stained Class’ (1978)
“Rob Halford is my favorite singer of all time, closely followed by Ronnie James Dio, closely followed by Bruce Dickinson.”
Mercyful Fate – ‘Melissa’ (1983)
“There was definitely a MERCYFUL FATE influence on ‘Hell Awaits.’ You can tell by the super long songs with, like, 10,000 riff changes. That was definitely a MERCYFUL FATE influence. You can hear that on ‘Melissa’ on ‘Into the Coven’ and ‘Melissa‘ – every time I hear that, it’s such a sad song, it stays with me for like a day. I’ll just sing it in my head.”
Metallica – ‘Master of Puppets’ (1986)
“I love ‘Battery’ and ‘Master of Puppets.’ It’s a little long for me. You know, SLAYER doesn’t really make epic songs, ’cause I get tired of ’em. But that record, it’s got a billion great songs on it.”
Ozzy Osbourne – ‘Diary of a Madman’ (1981)
“The first Ozzy solo record [1980’s ‘Blizzard of Ozz’] was great – it was your first taste of Randy Rhoads – but ‘Diary’ didn’t seem as keyboard-influenced. It seemed more heavy to me with ‘Over the Mountain’ starting the record. That song is heavy as f*ck.”
Rainbow – ‘Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll’ (1978)
“There are, like, six or seven songs on there, and the only one I really don’t listen to is the last one. So ‘Kill the King,’ ‘Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll,’ ‘The Shed,’ ‘Gates of Babylon’ … Jesus Christ, that’s one of the coolest songs ever.”
Venom – ‘Black Metal’ (1982)
“I picked ‘Black Metal’ because I think VENOM got better as they were going along. They were the best sh*tty band ever. But on ‘Black Metal,’ you could tell they were getting better. There’s great songs.”