The Metallica Riff Kerry King Wishes He’d Written

Slayer is one of the leading four thrash metal bands that helped shape the genre, besides Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Their aggressive riffs, solos, performances, and album arts have been a topic of discussion and given the genre a widely known image. Slayer has no mercy when it comes to their music as it features guitar-shredding riffs that blow away their fans.

The band has shared the success of being a representative of the thrash metal genre with three other bands. Since Metallica is among those bands, it is always interesting to see what one would think about the other’s music. Hence in an interview in 2011, Slayer’s co-founder and vocalist Kerry King talked about Metallica and revealed his favorite Metallica song. He also admitted that it’s a song he would have written.

Kerry King Wished He Had Written ‘Damage, Inc.’

‘Damage, Inc.’ was featured in Metallica’s 1986 album ‘Master of Puppets.’ The album is one of the band’s most acclaimed and loved albums during their entire career. Its cover shows a cemetery field with many crosses aligned with each other and hints at the songs’ deadliness.

Its music and lyrics achieved high critical acclaim, and the fans rewarded the band by getting a copy for their collection. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the record sold 300,000 in its first week and 4,5 million copies between the years 1991 and 2009. It seems like this album inspired other thrash metal bands as well and even hinted jealousy for the album’s genius.

Kerry King stated that ‘Damage, Inc.’ is his favorite song from Metallica and continued to praise the album. He said that the song has a riff that he would have loved to write. He named another song ‘Battery’ and said he loves brutal sounds like those. After praising the band’s frontman James Hetfield, King stressed that ‘there is nothing better’ than the ‘James-style.’

Here is how King described the songs and the album in 2011:

“Without a doubt, my favorite Metallica song would be ‘Damage, Inc.’ It just sounds like something I would’ve written. I remember when that came out and thinking to myself, ‘Man, I wish I would’ve written that riff.’ I love that song. Also, ‘Battery.’ I love anything that’s just brutal like that. I love it when James just comes out and belts out his lyrics, James-style. There’s nothing better. It’s awesome.”

You can listen to ‘Damage, Inc.’ and ‘Battery’ below.