Rust In Peace [12" VINYL]

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And of course… Hangar 18. This is very reminiscent of Iron Maiden in the verses and such, but then the time signature changes, and then changes some more. Can you say “Dueling solos”? Solo after solo after solo after solo after solo after solo. After solo after solo after solo. On the flipside of the coin is the catchier stuff which is all a mix of power, speed and straight-up heavy metal. Lucretia has a heavy emphasis on the lead work and features YET ANOTHER awesome solo. These just keep on coming! And of course, the song’s about the ghost that lives in Dave’s attic.

If you thought the first 3 songs were technical, then you will be totally unprepared for “Five Magics”. The song starts out with a frantic riff, then goes into a very off the wall but cool sounding bass line, with Menza playing an almost jazz sounding little beat under it. Friedman and Mustaine play a haunting harmony over it twice…before the song goes into it’s “thrash section”. The lyrics seem to deal with the occult, Mustaine speaks of being the “master of five magics”. The riff sounds very oddly timed and put together, but it works really well, with Friedman throwing in his excellent leads between verses as usual. Then all the sudden after 4 verses, a very weird metered riff comes in, with Friedman coming in for another excellent neoclassical solo. Mustaine even sings over it, which is even more impressive, as weird meter riffs like this are hard to coordinate instrumentally even, especially with vocals. Then the song brakes down into a simpler riff, with the whole call and response vocal thing going on again (“give me-ALCHEMY”/give me-SORCERY”, etc.). Then during the “chorus line” comes in another weird time riff, and you have to think “how did they get it this tight”, it is no wonder the band rarely plays this song live, God…then there is a really word call and response thing going on between Mustaine and I believe Ellefson over the songs first thrash riff. Then it goes into a Mustaine solo and ends. This song is just indescribable, all that technicality and rhythmic complexity, yet the song is also CATCHY…this is a the ultimate testament to Mustaine’s songwriting skills. Though many may disagree with me on this, the weakest link of Megadeth is definitely bassist David Ellefson. First of all, the bass line on “Dawn Patrol” is not hard AT ALL, I am a guitar player and I can play it perfectly. However that he is the weakest link is saying a lot. Ellefson is still a fine musician. His bass lines on here are pretty intricate and don’t just follow the guitars all the time, they are actually audible too. His off the wall bass lines in songs like “Hangar 18” and “Five Magics” are excellent, I honestly don’t understand why he downplayed himself so much on Dawn Patrol. This is, as many people seem to note, Megadeth's finest hour. The guitar combination of Mustaine and Friedman are together for the first time, and each puts out probably the finest performance of their respective careers. There are absolutely no weak spots on this album (except one song), and it combines riffs and lead guitar in a way that few albums do. The main reason why RIP feels forced may have something to do with the audience they geared their music towards. This is the attitude that led to over ambition and subsequent disappointment. They tried to hard to impress any normal bloke that may come across this. Every riff of every song clearly exhibits an attempt to impress even the most casual listener. This attitude is really what restrains this album down; preventing it from becoming a masterpiece. It’s a result of wanting to make a batch of songs for metal heads of all tastes. With an attitude like that, it makes a bit difficult to take this thing seriously.Despite the overall catchiness and practiced technical restraint, there is a substantial amount of quality left to be desired. Dave and crew simply tried too hard at striking a balance between the technical and the memorable, as opposed to letting it occur naturally. As a result of this, certain songs come across as forced. At times, they even become painfully sterile, and truly test the listener’s patience. Holy Wars is particularly bad at this. So is Lecretia, Five Magics, Tornado of Souls and the over-praised Hangar 18, whose solo-after-solo towards the end becomes nerve grating. In these particular songs, the ‘Deth crew abuses the power metal-style of melody, and creates riffs that come across as overly consonant. There is just no real distinguishable contrast between each riff to make them truly interesting beyond the initial impression of “that’s catchy”. Just like the USSR, that evil commie's nest, thrash metal still managed to make it alive past the 80s into the new decade, though we know that wouldn't last much for either of them. But contrasting with the then decaying Soviet Union, many of the infamous riff-centered metal genre's greatest glories arrived precisely in 1990. Without a doubt in my mind, Megadeth's monumental Rust in Peace easily sits atop that stellar list, ahead of other colossal works like Kreator's Coma of Souls, Morbid Saint's Spectrum of Death, Annihilator's Never, Neverland, Slayer's Seasons in the Abyss and Anthrax's Persistence of Time, among others. In fact, this is probably the best year for the so-called Big Four's output in overall quality, even without 'tallica's participation, though there was never a year in which the four managed to deliver top-shelf albums at the same time, '86 being second close, and 1988 third since all four released material, but fell short due to Megadeth's own massive letdown, So Far, So Good… So What?. Rarely have I seen such a display of such great rhythm and lead guitarwork as with Rust in Peace. From the massive speed riffing of Holy Wars to the insane guitar solo's of Hangar 18 this album is full of excellent music. Megadeth's ability to create songs that sound very different musically is another strong point. Each song is unique and different that is next to never repetitive. I could drag on about how 95% of their riffs are excellent but its an album that needs to be heard to appreciate. With the exception for the short bass passage which is still great each of the songs are outstanding. Its a shame Megadeth was never able to recapture this genius on later albums. I am still grateful that they released Rust In Peace. An undisputed thrash metal classic which I would recommend to anyone interested in Megadeth or metal in general. A must own metal album if I've ever seen one. Another great plus of this CD is the overall quality of each song. As you might probably guess from the perfect 100 score, there are no fillers on this album. Each song is a success, and that’s a rare thing indeed. All the way from the legendary ‘Holy Wars… The Punishment Due’ to ‘Rust In Peace… Polaris,’ each song is a trash masterpiece, and I never find myself wanting to press the skip button. Listening to this whole album, beginning to end, is definitely not a problem.

Also, with the addition of more skilled instrumentalists, Megadeth could write and execute more complex, challenging compositions, clearly evident on “Rust in Peace”. Also, with this new found ability to write and execute more complex music, the focus shifts away the lyrics or vocals, which have never been a strong spot for Megadeth. But that said, the lyrics are fairly good, maybe due to the fact that they don’t have to be the main focus and become more fluent and natural and less forced.There is usually only one album of each genre that deserves a score of a perfect 100. For example, in the power metal genre, that honor belongs to Helloween’s Second Keeper. In traditional metal, that’s Dio’s ‘Holy Diver.’ In thrash… we have Rust In Peace. This album is thrash perfection, and let me start of by complimenting the songwriting.

Rust in Peace is Megadeth's 4th album and one of their most well acclaimed with many referring to it as their greatest album. It definitely is a solid album and a worthy listen for any thrasher.

On The Go

Another thing this album shows, as do a lot of the more extreme metal classics, is how pointless and frankly shit of a genre progressive metal is, seeing as this achieves being progressive without pointless noodling and wankery, or inferior songwriting. The Europe 1990 pressing - which goes for half the price of this one - is cut at a similarly high volume, but remains in my opinion a much better option, with a powerful and cleaner sound. Unlike the US 1990, the cymbals on the EU 1990 don't sound like they crash to ruin the sound.

Both Dave and Marty rip on the lead department! And the riffs are God-like. "Holy Wars..." probably my favorite song from the entire album. It's just so original and fresh. The intro to "Hanger 18" is killer too. But the whole album displays areas of amazing creativity by Dave mostly. I can't believe that Dave considers himself as a "failure" because of getting fired from Metallica. He's way better than he gives himself credit for especially for albums such as this and 'Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?' Amongst the countless other classics that Megadeth has contributed to the metal community! Yes, Megadeth’s ‘Rust In Peace’ has it all. This is the album that first got me into thrash, and forever will remain amongst not only my favorite thrash albums, but my favorite albums of all time. It’s a shame no one writes stuff like this anymore, and it’s another shame Megadeth never again came close to writing such a work of art. What a disappointing pressing of this album [for this price]. Pressed by Specialty Records Pressing, you would think this release would shine, just like they often do with Specialty/Allied companies pressings: Iron Maiden's Somewhere In Time first US pressing was made by SRC and it sounds like the best vinyl pressing of the album to me, Metallica's Ride The Lightning SRC/ARC pressings are often considered to be the best variants of the album, etc. Music Direct reserves the right to select the carrier and ship method within the terms of this offer. Just to preface, thrash metal is my favorite sub-genre of the greater metal sphere, and perhaps my favorite genre of music as a whole. I've spent countless hours listening to Metallica, Slayer, Artillery, Flotsam & Jetsam, Demolition Hammer, Voivod, Razor...the list goes on and on. However, of all the thrash albums I've listened to in my life, there are none that have captured (and held onto) my attention so completely as Megadeth's Rust in Peace.

I’m not normally into thrash metal (though I’ve certainly given it a fair chance) but this has got to be one of the most accessible and melodic of all the famous thrash albums. And for me, melody is very important. My first complaint is that Dave Mustaine is not much of a singer. However, to give him credit, he seems to be aware of what his voice can and cannot do well, and so despite this limitation he sings to his strengths. The best vocals are when he sings or speaks in a deep voice inflected with evil. It also helps that the vocals have been mixed in such a way that they don’t stand out too much without being lost in the mix. Overall a good job making the most out of a weakness.