SLAYER’s KERRY KING: My 10 Favorite Metal Albums Of All Time

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.”