METALLICA shared a video of frontman James Hetfield rocking out and singing along to SLAYER 's classic song "Angel Of Death" while driving in his car and flashing the "devil horns" hand gesture. James wrote in an accompanying message: "SLAYING makes me smile!"

In a 2013 interview with Decibel magazine, Hetfield paid tribute to late SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hannemann , saying: "I'm grateful to have been in the same lifetime as Jeff . We share common ground. One being shy kids that found music to speak for us. Also grateful to have shared the stage at the 'Big Four' celebrations. Ironically, one of the best metal riffs ever, 'Angel Of Death' , has taken him to yet an even better place."

In a 2011 interview with Revolver , METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich praised SLAYER 's original skinsman Dave Lombardo , saying "when it comes to [thrash metal] drums, Dave Lombardo is, by far and away, God. There's no competitive edge [between the 'Big Four' bands], but if there was, Dave would win. Lombardo could kick the rest of our asses with just a whip of his little finger."

The so-called "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal — METALLICA , MEGADETH , SLAYER and ANTHRAX — played together for the first time in history on June 16, 2010 in front of 81,000 fans at the Sonisphere festival at Bemowo Airport in Warsaw, Poland and shared a bill again for six more shows as part of the Sonisphere series that same year. They reunited again for several dates in 2011, including the last "Big Four" concert, which was held on September 14, 2011 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. Since then, METALLICA , SLAYER and ANTHRAX have played a number of shows together, including the 2013 Soundwave festival in Australia. They also performed at the 2014 Heavy MTL festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.