Megadeth
Rust in Peace

Megadeth – Rust In Peace demos (1990)

Rust In Peace, a pivotal album in the global metal movement in 1990, is one of those works whose importance is difficult to fully describe, at least in any language spoken by humans. To avoid yet another declaration of love (which I would do without holding back) and not to bore the fans who, like me, want something different once in a hundred times, I will talk about only 3 songs, and specifically about their demos.

In 1988, after firing the talented Chuck Behler and Jeff Young, Dave Mustaine, singer/guitarist as well as leader and main composer of Megadeth, falls apart. Years of excesses, hardships, and feuds with his first band (Mustaine was the original lead guitarist for Metallica) force the invincible redhead to retire to a clinic to detox from alcohol and drugs. Bassist David Ellefson, Mustaine’s loyal partner in adventure and co-leader, does the same shortly before him. The band is at a standstill, but when the two Daves get back in shape, they quickly recruit the supersonic drummer Nick Menza, son of Don, a saxophonist best remembered for playing the Pink Panther theme. The three are in sync, and there’s talk of an album that will revolutionize the history of metal and rock in general, something that will surpass any hard metal album previously produced by any band. For a great plan, great minds are needed, and Megadeth starts searching for a new lead guitarist. Mustaine contacts a young Canadian, Jeff Waters, leader of Annihilator, but nothing comes of it. At this point, he turns his eyes south, towards scorching Texas, and when he is about to recruit the legendary Dimebag Darrell, guitarist of Pantera, he has to back out. The Texan guitarist indeed doesn’t agree to join Megadeth unless his brother, Vinnie Paul, accompanies him. The band has already bonded with drummer Menza and the deal falls through. Mustaine is exhausted. He searches and searches, but in his heart, he knows there’s only one lead guitarist for Megadeth, and he knows where to find him.

Somewhere, Chris Poland is playing bass with the punkers Cyrcle Jerks and isn’t doing too bad. Two albums recorded with Megadeth between '84 and '87 and now this new collaboration, he’s a musician finally beginning to see the fruits of his hard work. The news hits him like a bolt from the blue: “Dave wants you back in the band.” After being fired by Mustaine two years earlier for continuous clashes with the leader, Dave presses to bring him back into the band. Days pass, the phone calls increase. “Are you joining us again or not?” “Will you come to the meeting?” “Do you want to record some demos?” Chris joins Megadeth in the studio and records solos for 3 songs, still in the demotape state. “Rust In Peace… Polaris” is a song about war, a deadly bomb capable of extinguishing the planet forever. “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due” also narrates war, and “Take No Prisoners” does the same. On the three songs, Chris records stunning solos that make the rest of the band shine. Poland is in top form, unfolding scales and unpredictable phrasings with a unique flair, once again proposing himself as the successor to Allan Holdsworth (king of fusion guitar) in metal. Everything seems to be going the right way. The demos are ready, you can tell the songs have something special, the band is almost ready to set out, but a voice breaks in and disrupts the idyllic silence of euphoria. Chris Poland's manager, perhaps scared of losing her place in favor of Megadeth's more professional management, persuades the guitarist not to reunite with his old band. “You'll die, you're clean and they’re not,” “after 3 weeks you'll start using again,” “you’ll croak.” Chris is torn. He knows that, like his friend Gar (Samuelson, the first official drummer of Megadeth and a member alongside Poland), he's at risk. But is it really that dangerous to reunite with the band? Probably we will never know. Just when the play is almost concluded, Chris announces he doesn't want to reunite with the group. Mustaine and Ellefson are shocked. They immediately fall back on Marty Friedman, guitarist of Cacophony, already for a while the ideal second choice in case the reunion with Poland didn’t work out, and the rest is Rust In Peace.

Those demos, those legendary recordings with Chris on guitar, are available on the remastered edition of R.I.P. from 2004.

Megadeth continued their climb to megasuccess. Poland released his first solo album, the excellent “Return To Metalopolis,” in the same period as R.I.P. If you're curious to hear what Rust In Peace sounds like with Megadeth's first guitarist, rediscover those demos.