In late 1990, Big Four thrash metal legend Megadeth reached a pivotal point in its history with the release of its masterpiece album Rust in Peace and the formation of its first stable and iconic line-up consisting of Dave Mustaine on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Dave Ellefson on bass, Marty Friedman on lead guitar, and the late Nick Menza on drums. This was arguably the band's biggest album and it helped skyrocket them even further into the stratosphere in the world of metal. In fact, it would become Megadeth's highest charting album.
Rust in Peace definitely shows where Megadeth got more creative in terms of song writing. There were more complex song structures, unusual rhythms, creative guitar melodies, etc. The band became more than just thrash. With their brand of thrash becoming far less formulaic than it was at their inception, they became a metal power house. The lyrics are very much political and religious themed throughout most of the album, but that was nothing new for Mustaine. However, that made them nonetheless piercing and powerful.
Holy Wars...The Punishment Due is one of the single greatest things Megadeth has ever done. There are so many different parts to it that alter in so many ways that at some points it gets difficult to believe that it is all one cohesive song. The amount of amazing riffs packed into one song is astonishing. The lyrics are based entirely on the Northern Irish conflict that had been going on at the time. Personally, I think the best part of the entire song is the short segment that has Friedman playing a rather mystical sounding Arabian acoustic guitar solo before the plugged in guitars come back in and things speed up near the end.
Tornado of Souls has some of the best guitar work on the entire album on it. For one thing, it has nice use of natural harmonics in its intro riff. The solo by Friedman is also blistering and technical, yet at the same time melodic and enjoyable. Songs like this is where Friedman and Mustaine proved they really could work together well as a guitar duo. In terms of vocals, I can't get enough of Mustaine's cat wailing and the harmonies done in the chorus. It's dark and haunting, yet pleasing nonetheless.
Rust in Peace is hands down one of the greatest things to ever happen to heavy metal as a genre. It's big, loud, technical yet accessible, powerful in subject matter and delivery, and so much more. While it isn't where I would recommend starting with Megadeth, it is definitely an essential album to own if you want to get into them or hear where so many modern metal bands got a great deal of their influence from. I would say that Rust in Peace is the closest thing to perfection that Megadeth has ever and probably will ever do.
Rust in Peace, by Megadeth receives 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Track List:
1. Holy Wars...The Punishment Due
2. Hangar 18
3. Take No Prisoners
4. Five Magics
5. Poison Was the Cure
6. Lucretia
7. Tornado of Souls
8. Dawn Patrol
9. Rust in Peace...Polaris
Buy the album on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Peace-Megadeth/dp/B0002EXH5O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464339887&sr=8-1&keywords=Rust+in+Peace
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