2 lesser known Thrash Metal bands James Hetfield said are great

Led by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich over the past four decades, Metallica became the biggest Thrash Metal band of all time and one of the biggest groups in the world. They helped promote that style of music to a wider audience and brought more exposure to other bands that were creating the same kind of music.

Besides them, the other three groups of the “Big Four”, Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer, are the most famous ones, but there are a few others that are also important and that, in Hetfield’s opinion, are great.

2 lesser known Thrash Metal bands James Hetfield said are great

Exodus

“It’s amazing that in the early ’80s, mid-’80s and late ’80s, there was a lot of great metal happening. Not from just us and the other Big Four but lots of other bands that were very inspired by the movement. There were a lot of bands from the Bay Area. Exodus was a great band, we loved watching them, we did quite a few shows with them,” James Hetfield told Newsweek in 2017.

Metallica liked Exodus so much that they “stole” their guitarist Kirk Hammet as Hetfield himself joked a few years ago. “Oh my God, there are so many (Great bands outside the Big Four of Thrash Metal). Well, Exodus for sure. We grew up with them in San Francisco. Oh, and we stole their guitarist, that happened. But yeah, I think they’re great,” he said in an interview with Little Punk People in 2016.

Exodus was created two years before Metallica, in 1979 and that is one of the reasons that many fans and even former members of the band, like Steve Zetro Souza, said that they were the ones who started Thrash Metal music. Kirk is one of the founding members of the group and was part of the band until 1983 when he left to join Metallica.

One of the main differences between other Thrash Metal bands like Exodus and Metallica is that the band fronted by James Hetfield experimented more with other genres and also wrote ballads. Once, when asked about fans who said the band had “sold out” when they wrote “Fade to Black”, James mentioned Exodus as a band that stayed in the same place musically, something Metallica did not want to do.

James Hetfield said:

“That song was a big step for us. It was pretty much our first ballad, so it was challenging and we knew it would freak people out. Bands like Exodus and Slayer don’t do ballads. But they’ve stuck themselves in that position which is something we never wanted to do. Limiting yourself to please your audience is bullshit,” he told Guitar World in 2014.

Curiously, according to Gary Holt, guitarist of Exodus, who was also a member of Slayer during the past decade, James Hetfield once told them they would never open for Metallica again and they were never invited back.

“The last time we played a proper show with Metallica was a New Year’s Eve show (1985) at Bill Graham’s Civic. We stomped them into the dirt. We were getting wasted after the show, and James was laughing and saying, ‘Haha, that’s the last time you guys’ll ever support us.’ And it was the last time we ever supported Metallica.” he told Metal Hammer in 2021. Although Hammett left the band in 1983, he “returned” briefly as a guest on their 2014 album “Blood In, Blood Out”.

Metal Church

(Also) the band in Seattle called Metal Church. But it was really while growing up in L.A., us and Slayer for sure. Who can be heavier, who can be faster? And it was a very great, and healthy, competition,” he told Newsweek in 2017.

Curiously, John Marshall who was the guitar tech for Kirk Hammett for a few years in the 80s, joined Metal Church in 1986. He ended up being who played the rhythm guitar in Metallica in that same year when Hetfield’s wrist was broken. Once again in 1992, he played the guitar when the frontman was recovering from burn injuries. He was part of Metal Church until 1996 and then again from 1998 to 2001. In 2011 he joined Metallica on stage to play “Sad But True” during their four-day 30th anniversary concert.

Metal Church was the opening act for Metallica in the mid-80s, on bills that also featured Exodus and Megadeth. Metal Church guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof is the only member of the band to have been part of all their lineups. He once recalled the experience of playing with Metallica just before they released “Master of Puppets”.

He said:

“We just came down for one show. That was New Year’s Eve, Megadeth opened for us, because they were just starting at the time. Playing with Exodus and Metallica… Metallica was just (putting) out ‘Master of Puppets’, it hadn’t been out yet. That was one of the moments where we really knew we were part of something. That kind of vibe doesn’t happen anymore. Because whatever kind of music you’re into is on your computer. There’s no galvanizing scene or galvanizing sound for this generation now.”

“But at that particular time, we knew that we were part of something that was changing the landscape of music. It feels pretty good when you’re part of something like that and the audience was there to back it up. That was cool, a really big moment for us,” he told Capital Chaos TV (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).