Megadeth were my favourite band between the ages of 16 and 18
and I must have owned about 10 of their t-shirts in the early 90s.
I
played Rust in Peace to death on LP and cassette and
later on CD after I'd worn out the first two. One of few CDs I still
actually own is the live anniversary performance of this classic.
When I first listened to this it was one of the heaviest things I'd
ever heard. This is no longer true, but it still contains some of the
most impressive guitar work I've ever heard.
Rust in Peace represents the best part of the career of
a band which spans over 30 years. Everything they did before it built
up to this moment and everything after has been, well, shit.
Every time I listen to this album it takes me back to my youth.
Suddenly I'm drinking Mayfield Best Bitter in North Park and wearing
my denim jacket with Megadeth Mary Jane
backpatch..
When I was at Sixth Form College I was able to get away with playing
Holy Wars...The Punishment Due in a class where we
discussed music. Nobody else in the group cared much for it. Fools.
They weren't impressed by the colossal riff-fest, the tempo changes
or the Middle Eastern guitar solo. Unbelievable.
Hangar 18 contains some of the greatest solos ever, due in part to
the fact that Marty Friedman was an amazing guitarist and was
allowed to at least share some of the limelight with motormouth
nutjob, Dave Mustaine. I used to own a picture disc version of
this which would have been the one thing I would have saved if my
house was on fire when I was 16.
Take No Prisoners was
involved in a drunken Skol-fuelled singalong at my mate Neil's house
one Saturday night, much to the dismay of all the non-metallers among
our group (almost everyone). I was probably impressed at the time by
the fact that the word “shit” is used about 20 times towards the
end of the song.
Five Magics
has unusual timing which was new to me at that age. Everything had to
be in 4/4 or 6/8 if it was to be a success. Megadeth
were happy to rip up the formbook and chuck it straight out of the
window though.
Poison Was the Cure
is a fast, hardcore-like Mustaine
rant and is probably the album's most un-Megadeth
track.
It's an absolute belter though.
Lucretia
is for me Rust in Peace's
weakest moment. That's not to say it wouldn't be the best track if it
had been on a later album. The less said about their later albums the
better though.
Tornado of Souls
was the reason I ruined my cassette of this album. While doing my
paper round I rewound and replayed the solos on this over and over
until the tape became so tight it eventually snapped. It's impossible
not to air guitar along with it 25 years later.
Dawn Patrol
shows off David
Ellefson's
bass talents and produced a bassline more legendary than the one on
Peace Sells.
Then
we get to see what drummer Nick
Menza
is made of on Rust in Peace...Polaris.
It's a hell of a percussion intro from the sadly now deceased son of
the bloke who played saxophone on the Pink Panther theme. It's a
pretty heavy number and is the perfect way to sign off the greatest
40 minutes of Megadeth's
career.
Rust in Peace
is pretty close to a perfect thrash metal record. It was released at
a time when the genre was in danger of imploding, a danger Metallica
sidestepped by completely selling out and going mainstream with The
Black Album.
There are bands who were and still are way better than Megadeth,
but none of these bands can boast an album as good as Rust in
Peace.
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