Now, quite understandably, Mustaine was quite pissed off when he put MEGADETH together and went into the studio to record this album. He was angry at Lars and James for kicking him out of Metallica without giving him a chance, and he was super angry with them for recording their first album with his songs. Well, that’s how he saw it anyway. The trouble with addiction and addicts is that they always blame everyone and everything else for their failings. It’s an absolute miracle that this album was recorded as all of them were out of there minds whilst recording and playing live. It was the same for the first three albums. I guess that’s why I love them so much – as they are on the edge of falling apart. It’s a fact that when Mustaine started to clean up, the music he made changed accordingly. He changed from a thrash innovator, to speed metal creator.
Anyway I digress, this album is the 2018 remaster complete with bonus disc with live tracks and demos. Last Rites/Loved To Death is such a groundbreaking track as no one had put anything like this twisted thrash down on record before. A ground zero track. The title track is another innovative piece with some serious speed double kick drumming and fast chugga chop riffing. I remember Rattlehaed being the fastest track I had ever heard at the time – and it’s still up there! Chosen Ones is just a monster of a riff to loosen up the dandruff. Looking Down The Cross is just pure evil, both lyrically and musically, and is a killer track. Now everyone knows that Mechanix is the Four Horseman, and I assume this is the vision that Mustaine originally had for this track, and as you’d expect, it’s sped up somewhat. A great twisted cover of Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots closes out the album proper.
The bonus disc is worthy of inclusion for the demo versions of Mechanix, Last Rites, and The Skull Beneath My Skin. I always think it’s cool to see how tracks evolved. I don’t particularly care for Mustaine as a human, but you cannot deny his hand in creating a genre or two, and I do love the first three Megadeth albums.
9/10 from The Grooveman.
