How much all of this was taken into account when it came to writing and recording Megadeth’s fourth studio album is unknown, but you could make a couple of good guesses. It was the coming together of a new quartet that helped to change the narrative slightly, and was perhaps the final piece of the puzzle in bringing out the very best that Megadeth the band could produce. By 1990 there came two wonderful ingredients that made their influence felt from the get-go. Mustaine had already fired guitarist Jeff Young and drummer Chuck Behler while on tour promoting the previous album, which caused that tour to cease immediately. Mustaine had promoted yet another drum tech into the position of number one stick twirler in Nick Menza. Previous drummers had done a good job and performed well but various problems always meant that the revolving door in the band kept swinging. In Nick Menza the band now had a drummer that understood the pace, precision and intensity that the drums needed to be in order to dominate and drive the songs that were being written. Initially Mustaine had asked Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott to join the band, though Dimebag’s one requirement – that his brother Vinnie Paul be allowed to join the band as drummer – was something that could not be acceded after the hiring of Menza, and so the Abbott brothers remained in their band, about to make their own breakthrough. Jeff Waters from Annihilator, whose debut album “Alice in Hell” had caught the attention in 1989 was another who was considered, and former guitarist Chris Poland actually returned and provided some guide tracks on demos for the album. Years later in an interview on the Blabbermouth website, Poland said: “Dave kept asking me to join Megadeth again. I actually was 99 percent going to join Megadeth, and then Janie Hoffman, who was managing me, for two days, she told me, 'If you join that band, you're going to die.' I'm totally sober at that point, and I'm not 100 percent sure that they are. She said, 'If they're not sober, and you join the band, you're not going to make it.'”. Instead, a guitarist late in the piece sent Mustaine a copy of an album he had played on called “Dragon’s Kiss”. After he had listened to it, Mustaine brought the guitarist in to audition, and soon offered him the guitarist slot in the band. In Marty Friedman they had a technically brilliant guitarist who not only added expertise to the band but drove Mustaine himself to greater heights in order to ensure he wasn’t being ‘shown up’ and to keep everything on the same brilliant level. With the players now in place, alongside Mustaine and his long time bass player Dave Ellefson, the stars aligned in what became the glittering jewel in the band’s catalogue with the release of the album “Rust in Peace”.
Here again we can best judge a great album on not only the strength of the best known songs and their influence on the fans and other bands around the world, but on the songs that fill the other slots on the album. Because this album has some of the best songs in the entire Megadeth catalogue, and yet in many ways it is the songs that were not publicised as heavily, the songs that if you don’t listen to albums and only listen to singles and best of compilations you wouldn’t know at all, that make this such a fabulous album.
“Take No Prisoners” is a ripping track, crashing in after the opening assault of the opening two songs, with spitting lyrics and with great byplay vocals that trade off against each other in the right places, all complemented by a furious soundtrack throughout with those great solo’s from Mustaine and Friedman that make it a classic. There is a stinging anger coming through in Mustaine’s lyrics here again, bringing the wrath of war and its consequences, and sewing it all together into a brilliant thrash metal classic.
This is followed by “Five Magics” with more of the same. Dave is back with his black magic craft and obsession – at least until his rediscovery of God – and he brings out all the stops here lyrically. The lyrics are actually a lot of fun if you are happy to take them that way, speaking of witchcraft, of sorcery and alchemy and wizardry. And my goodness, the music of this track, so amazingly crafted in itself. The quick pace opening of drums and guitars falls back into the slower pace of Ellefson’s bass guitar rumbling along with the guitars less intensely over the top, before the crash into the song proper at the halfway mark, with speed and hard core riffing and thrashing as Mustaine commands centre stage vocally and Friedman solos with abandon. This is one of the heights of the maturing thrash the band brings to this album. It is outrageously good, covering every facet of the genre and utilising ideas that most bands would be hesitant to consider in case it should turn away the fan base. Megadeth just turn it up further and punch harder. Outstanding.
“Poison Was the Cure” is one of the most underrated songs in the Megadeth catalogue, flaying along at an amazing speed, highlighted by the precision timing of Menza’s drums and the picking of the three guitarists who don’t have time to take a break throughout the whole song. Once again Ellefson is given the chance to lead the opening of the track which proves to be a real focal point. I’ve often wondered, given the well documented fact of there being inaudible bass guitar on Metallica’s album released prior to this, whether Mustaine thought “well, how about we HIGHLIGHT the bass guitar on this album, just to prove a point?” If he did, then kudos Dave, that is a genius move. The speed of the track once it kicks into gear once again is just amazing, and all four are incredible, but that guitaring from Mustaine and Friedman... far out, it is truly amazing. And then we have the cackling to start off “Lucretia”, which culls the outrageous speed back to slightly over the regular speed limit and sets off a song with a brilliant groove throughout, and offset by the solos towards the end. It is just another awesome track, and everything about this album is cooking.
After the fire and turbulence of “Tornado of Souls”, “Dawn Patrol” sets itself perfectly in place, giving everyone a chance to catch their breath before delving further. Based completely around Ellefson’s bass guitar and Menza’s drums, this is beautifully composed and performed, the dire warning of nuclear holocaust that acts as the segue into the closing track, a short foreboding that identifies as a song itself but as the lead into the finale, wonderfully vocalised by Mustaine again. That following final track then is “Rust in Peace… Polaris” which ends in the same fury and fire that the album began with. The drumming here is a leading light. Nick Menza is quite amazing throughout this album, but it is the little things on this song that really stand out, the cymbal and hi-hat triplets and tom rolls and snare crashing that stands out on this song. As a closer, it acts as the perfect bookend to what has come before it, the increase in speed and aggression to the very end is perfect.
Those songs as described here are why this album is so magnificent, because if it was just them, this album would still be legendary and still be spoken of in the highest terms. But outside of these wonderful songs, there are three others that we haven’t covered yet.
It’s an easy task to categorise the heavy hitters on the album, with the opening hostile attack of “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due” smashing the album off on the right foot. It is difficult to express just how amazing this song was when you first bought the album back in 1990, and first heard this coming out of the speakers at you. In essence, it is the same experience as hearing “Painkiller” for the first time. This crushes out of the speakers at you immediately, the first time hearing both Nick Menza on drums and Marty Friedman on guitar – wondering just what their contribution to Megadeth would be like. And then you hear “Holy Wars” for the first time, and stare at your stereo with gaping mouth. The guitars and drums to start with, and then Dave’s lyrics – and then the breakdown that leads into “The Punishment Due”. I mean... who writes a song like this?! The cut back to the groove of the middle of the song, the wailing and methodical guitar solo pieces, the unmitigated anger and aggression of the lyrics, until the break back to the obscenely fast conclusion that just piles on the speed and brilliance of the guitars, and Dave doubling down vocally to complete one of their greatest compilations. And then just for fun it is followed by the brilliance of “Hangar 18”. The mainstay of “Hangar 18” is not the fun filled lyrics of space aliens being contained in secret hangars, but of the fantastic trading solos that make up the entire second half of the song. As Ellefson and Menza hold everything together in the background, Mustaine and Friedman tear it apart, reaching a crescendo at the end of the song where the rhythm is also cranked up to reach a brilliant conclusion. It seems such a simple song in structure and lyrics, but those duelling guitars are absolutely magnificent. The third of the triumvirate is the thrash central core of “Tornado of Souls”. Crashing out of the blocks once again, Menza’s drumming is superb, leading the song out and creating the flair that brings this song all together. The duel solo section of the middle of the track is again superb, but it the build to the conclusion of the song that really brings it all together, with lyrics that spit ire as the music reaches its crescendo: “And now I fill your brain, I spin you 'round again, My poison fills your head, As I tuck you into bed, You'll feel my fingertips, You won't forget my lips, You'll feel my cold breath, It's the kiss of death”. Just superb. And this is not to categorise these three songs as the only ‘great’ songs on the album, it’s just the ones most metalheads know well. As I believe I have made perfectly clear, I rate every track on this album as a great song, and the album as a whole is so magnificent because the lesser known songs to those that aren’t out-and-out Megadeth fans, are absolutely enthralling.
Spring 1990 in the southern hemisphere. I am already drowning in new release albums from my favourite bands, and the majority of those albums are the equal if not better than any album they have previously released. It's a plethora, a smorgasbord of music, and it truly is a great time to be alive. I already adore Anthrax’s “Persistence of Time”, I am enthralled with Judas Priest’s “Painkiller”. And there are still albums to come that I will put alongside those two albums – when this album is released. The album cover was enough to create excitement for all of us awaiting its release. It just looked... cool. And inviting. The album was released on a Monday, which is surely the most inconvenient day to ever release albums, though for a time this was the norm.
So I buy the album. And I take it home. And I put it on, in my downstairs bedroom on my own stereo. And for the next 40 minutes, my mind gets blown in a way that has rarely happened before or since. My first reaction when I get together with my friend group to discuss matters is “where the hell did this come from?!” Because this was not on the same pathway that the band’s three previous albums had taken. Indeed, this album appears to be a culmination, a morphing and merging of the best parts of each of the first three albums, throw into a blender, processed by the solid two members of the group and the incoming two new members with fresh ideas and thoughts from the outside – and then turned it into one of the greatest thrash metal albums of all time.
How did this occur? Is it just the maturing of the writing and playing aspects of the band? There is certainly some of that here. Mustaine has moved from angry man at being kicked out of his previous band to angry man at people in his own band, to angry man at the world around him and the global events occurring at that time. That brought a different focus to his lyrics and his music. There is no doubt that, despite him not really being around for the writing process, that Marty Friedman was a defining influence on the music on the album. His incredible guitaring skills allowed Mustaine to push harder than he could have with his earlier bandmates. And this is also true of Nick Menza on drums. His technical prowess here is a step up as well. So their entry to the band has had a significant impact here.
All I can vouch for here is that this album had a major and significant impact on my life at this time. In recent episodes, and in coming episodes as well, I have and will talk about the albums released in this period which can be classed as top shelf. “Rust in Peace” is more than that. “Rust in Peace” is a singularly brilliant album on every level. And it dominated my music listening for months after its release, leading up to the FUCKING FINALLY first tour of Australia by the band in February 1991, where I saw them on both of their sold out nights at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre, playing much of this album and just blowing the audience away.
You probably won’t be surprised to hear that I have had this album out on my stereo again for the last two weeks. It might even be longer than that. At last count it was 22 times I’ve listened to this album again on this round to prepare myself for this podcast episode. And know even as I speak that I will not have done this album justice. It is one of those landmark albums in my life, one that defies explaining how much I love it and what it has meant to me over the 35 years since its release.
True thrash metal was reaching its use by date once 1991 rolled around, and this album is one of the last great hurrahs of the 1980’s exposition of the genre. But it is a different form, because the musicianship here is astounding and outstanding. Listen to those guitars of Mustaine and Friedman. They are simply outstanding. The bass work from Dave Ellefson is also just brilliant, and so essential to the sound of the album, and not buried in the mix such that occurred on another famous band’s album that was released just before this album. And on top of this Nick Menza’s drumming is superb. What makes this album so good and so listenable even all these years later is that each member is given their moment to shine, to make a part of a song their own, and it is so much more enjoyable because of this. And it is metal of the highest order, something that made it almost impossible to replicate down the track.
Put this album up against any other metal album ever recorded, and it holds its own against it. It is furious and unrelenting, it is heavy yet accessible, and it is as brilliant and fantastic today as it was on the day it was released, which was the day when I first bought it and listened to it. In a year of amazing metal album releases, this one towered over the lot. Indeed, it towers over almost every other album ever recorded.
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