Let me just say that all three of these bands are astounding. They all have their hits, an influential sound, and have drawn record breaking crowds. I personaly enjoy all of them, but for me, I like Metallica a tad bit more than the other two lol.
For me, it's a tie between Metallica and Pantera. In my opinion, Darrell was a better guitarist than Kirk Hammett, but I prefer Kirk's style of playing over Dimebag's. My vote goes to Metallica because now, I like their music more and their style. I still listen to a lot of Pantera though. Slayer isn't even a band I would consider next to these two. <~ My opinion.
It's between Pantera and Slayer, I absolutely love Kerry King's hard thrash riffs but Dimebag's guitar also has hard riffs which contribute the vocals so Pantera is better in my opinion.
hmmmm.... i would say slayer only because ive heard more of their music over the others ive listened to some Metallica and they were OK and i really havent hear the other band so...