1050. Megadeth / Rust in Peace. 1990. 5/5

Dave Mustaine always felt he was in a competition with Metallica, and despite three excellent albums of his own under the Megadeth banner he seemed to think he was always living in their shadow. How much all of this was taken into account when it came to writing and recording this album I don’t know, but as good as those early albums are, the stars aligned in what became the glittering jewel in the band’s catalogue with the release of Rust in Peace.

The coming together of this quartet was the final piece of the puzzle in bringing out the very best that Megadeth the band could produce. Previous drummers and guitarists had done a good job and performed well but various problems always meant that the revolving door in the band kept swinging. By 1990 there came two wonderful ingredients that made their influence felt from the get-go. In Nick Menza they 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. 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.
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. 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 before being 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. The third of the triumvirate is the thrash central core of “Tornado of Souls”. And that is not to categorise as these three songs as the only ‘great’ songs on the album, it’s just the ones most metalheads know well. To be honest I rate every track on this album as a great song, but the other songs here, the lesser known ones to those that aren’t out-and-out Megadeth fans, are absolutely enthralling.
“Take No Prisoners” is a ripping track, spitting lyrics and with great reply vocals in the right places and a furious soundtrack throughout with more great solo’s from Mustaine and Friedman that make it a classic. This is followed by “Five Magics” with more of the same. “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. The cackling to start of “Lucretia” sets off a song with a brilliant groove throughout and offset by the solos towards the end, it is just another awesome track. “Dawn Patrol” sets itself perfectly in place after the fire and turbulence of “Tornado of Souls”, giving everyone a chance to catch their breath before delving into the closing track “Rust in Peace… Polaris” which ends in the same fury and fire that the album began with.
True thrash metal was probably reaching its use by date once 1990 rolled around, but this is one of the 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 giving 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.

Rating: “I miss the warm embrace I felt, first time you touched me”.   5/5