Megadeth
Rust In Peace

THE REVIEW

Hello everyone. For my first review, I will be reviewing a Megadeth album: "Rust In Peace".

I want to say upfront that this is my all-time favorite album, but I will try to be as objective as possible. Let's start by summarizing the situation during Megadeth's time. The last album, So Far... So Good... So What?, was a bit underwhelming, with only a couple of standout tracks. The leader, Mustaine, decided to refresh the band's lineup by "firing" Jeff Young and Chuck Behler, on lead guitar and drums respectively, and began searching for replacements. Thus, Marty Friedman, a guitarist with a background in smaller projects, and Nick Menza, a highly versatile drummer with Jazz training, joined the band. With David Ellefson on bass (Mustaine's historic right-hand man), the recording of the album began.

The album consists of 9 tracks, all of which fit together perfectly. Holy Wars, the first track, is a protest against the Gulf War instigated by George W. Bush, considered an unnecessary bloodshed. Massive and abrasive riffs culminate in a final solo by Mustaine. It continues with Hangar 18, where the guitars (especially Marty Friedman) truly shine. After a brief sung introduction, the track progresses with highly technical solos: a sort of "dialogue" between the two guitarists. The album continues with Take No Prisoners and Five Magic. The former talks about warfare, while the latter is about occultism and esotericism. The theme of Poison Was The Cure is drug addiction, and here too, a crazy riff (on which Mustaine manages to sing effortlessly) introduces Marty Friedman's final solo. I believe Marty is indeed the winning element of this album: his astounding solos in the subsequent Lucretia and Tornado of Souls are a testament to his flawless compositional technique and his versatility. Dawn Patrol and the last track, Rust in Peace... Polaris, share the same theme. The danger of a nuclear war, the damage it could cause, and its consequences.

What can I say, a masterpiece. The technical skills in this album, the complex rhythmic parts, its perfect solos, melodic yet aggressive at the same time, and its socially engaged lyrics make this album a pillar of Thrash. Even Mustaine's voice, criticized by some, seems very well-suited to the genre. Perfection doesn't exist, but I am tempted to attribute it to this album, also because we will greatly miss it when listening to Mustaine's quartet's new works in the future.