SLAYER guitarist Kerry King has told U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine that he has heard through the grapevine that METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich is plotting a tour that would include METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX.

Should this tour materialize, this would be the first time that the so-called "Big Four" of thrash have toured together as part of the same bill. MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX were joined by opening act ALICE IN CHAINS for the U.S. Clash Of The Titans tour in 1991, while METALLICA and MEGADETH last shared a U.K. stage at Milton Keynes Bowl in 1993.

In an interview conducted yesterday (Wednesday, September 2) in London, Metal Hammer asked Kerry if there had been a temptation to bring the co-headline tour that SLAYER are about to embark on with MEGADETH in Australia and Canada to U.K. shores.

"I think it would be cool but I knew we had this planned before all of this MEGADETH stuff started happening," said King. "They're going to Australia with us, they're going to Canada again with us. I think it would be cool for the European fans to bring that over here because, shit, we didn't even consider playing with those guys since 1990."

So could it be possible that we could get a tour that includes the "Big Four?"

"I've heard people referencing Lars," said King. "I don't know Lars that well and I haven't heard it from Lars, but apparently he's talking to somebody about it. Maybe us, METALLICA, MEGADETH (and), I think he even threw in ANTHRAX and I said in this day and age, I know we had that time together, but how do you leave out MACHINE HEAD? There's better options than ANTHRAX and that's nothing against ANTHRAX, but they've just been in pieces for quite some time and that doesn't make as much sense to me."