Rust In Peace [12" VINYL]

Product Information

Rust in Peace by Megadeth is an album that should be known by most fans of the Thrash metal genre even if they haven't personally heard it. Megadeth have never been anywhere near as heavy as the heaviest bands in the thrash metal genre but they simply don't need to be. The music in this album is expressed in a unique way that you will never confuse it with any other thrash metal album. It is an album with incredibly technical playing in all instrumental components and is not only Megadeth's magnum opus but it is one of a few magnum opus's in the speed/thrash metal genre. Megadeth’s best? Perhaps. Either way, it’s tied for first place with ‘Peace Sells.’ In my book, these guys are (were?) the masters of thrash. Metallica can’t even compare to them. Metal Church comes close, but no. Dave Mustaine is a genius at songwriting, and this album proves it. 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. And of course with the addition of Marty Friedman, the fret work on this album is the highlight. Both guitarists seem to have a defined role that each is comfortable with, making the tag team effort of each that much better. Both Mustaine and Friedman burn through amazing fret burning solos with ease and impeccable speed due to their collective jaw-dropping skill. The structuring of 'Take No Prisoners' is my main grumble, but moving on from that song I also wonder what made 'Five Magics' take the form it does. I mean, the intro is fairly cool and goes through plenty of changes that generate atmosphere and give each instrumentalist a chance to show themselves, yet when the meat of the song arrives it suddenly seems dispensable, as if it was just something interesting that the band had thought up. The same goes for 'Dawn Patrol', which is clearly inessential yet sort of entertaining in a totally different way to the shredding in 'Hangar 18' or elsewhere. I wouldn't have such a problem with the off-the-cuff structuring and inclusion of ideas if 'Rust in Peace' felt like the kind of album where the musicians were just having fun with ideas; however, it doesn't, since the level of technical ability and forethought (mostly) on show utterly disagrees with the concept that the band were jamming or having fun. I suppose that is probably my biggest criticism of 'Rust in Peace', since there isn't a sense of fun or spontaneity about the songs here, while 'Peace Sells' (the other sacred Megadeth release) does have those things. Maybe it's the mix or the production or the technical concentration that goes into some of the songs, but I can't always just enjoy what's happening here despite the extremely high level of quality.

The fact that Mustaine had an absolutely outstanding set of musicians at his disposal didn't hurt the album one bit. Mustaine himself is a very accomplished rhythm guitarist, as evidenced by tons of very technical riffs on this album, the fact that he wrote them all and put them all together is even more impressive, as he did a marvelous job with this. His lead playing is a bit on the sloppier side, but they aren't that bad and are very memorable and serve the songs well. They sound kind of like “biker” type solos really, somewhat trashy but catchy and well executed shred. Dave's best lead on this album is either the last solo on "Holy Wars" or the last solo on "Lucretia" IMO. His vocals, many other people have complained about, but I find them to be sort of interesting and characteristic; they perfectly fit the words he is singing (he is much better than some utterly horrid thrash vocalists like Tom Araya and Tom Angelripper).

This is a good album. It's got technicality, speed, thrashy riffs, and melodic solos. The bass sounds good, and the drums don't sound as poppy as their previous album. Overall, it's pretty much what thrash metal should be. The most immediate characteristic that will instantly grab anyone’s attention is the very proficient musicianship. Every Megadeth member of this era displays an incredible ability to perform whatever riffs and rhythms the moment may call for. From catchy mid-tempo riffs, to lightning-fast thrash numbers. Every instrument is played with a keen sense of harmony among them; never overly complicated and always with a fine instinct for melody. RIP is probably the most technically adept Megadeth album. Unfortunately, it sure isn’t their best. I don't know what influenced Dave Mustaine and company to create Rust In Peace. Easily one of the most incredible thrash albums I have ever heard but I could go for a slice of it. After the less successful So Far So Good... Megadeth really needed to deliver an outstanding album which they achieved easily. Despite all the hype over this album I still don't consider this album overrated. Its that good. One thing noticable other than the intricate guitarwork is that this isn't the heaviest thrash metal album you will ever hear. This melodic edge to thrash metal might not appease most but they easily make up for this with the amazing guitarwork. Dave Mustaine's vocals are also weak(although I enjoy them immensely) from a metal standpoint but he writes some incredible lyrics and music to make up for this. Which brings us to the other critical aspect to the albums success. The lead guitar of arguably one of the best lead guitarists on the planet Marty Friedman. One thing that propels Megadeth above the zounds of other thrash acts is the barrage of outstanding solo's Special mention to Dave Ellefson for his excellent basslines which is a privilege to hear in great metal music.

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.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.

Even though Peace Sells and Killing is My Business are my new found favourites, I think that Rust in Peace is probably their most accomplished album. Now, other's may argue differently; some might even say that Countdown to Extinction is the best, based on its commercial success. However, the mid-tempo approach to that album isn't as much fun as this one; this one comes closest to perfection. Friedman’s proper introduction comes in the surprisingly melodic ‘Tornado Of Souls’. There is a minute-long guitar solo with such a strong, almost narrative build-up that it is probably my favorite solo ever recorded. The rest of the song is incredible as well, though it could have been lifted into the stratosphere even more with a better singer than Mustaine, who is pushing the edge of his range here. Those who prefer Megadeth as a full-speed thrash metal band are served by ‘Poison Was The Cure’ and the incredible, annihilating ‘Take No Prisoners’. The deceptively complex ‘Five Magics’ needs some time to grow and ‘Rust In Peace…Polaris’ is nothing special, but a fun closer. In general everything is almost perfect with this album and the only arguable thing is the vocals. Either you will love them or you will hate them. I tend towards the first. Go Dave! The production has been done by Mustaine and Dave Clink and is crystal clear providing the field for the instruments to sound very heavy.

Recommendations

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. 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?.

This album is generally seen as a classic of the thrash metal genre, and a pinnacle of Megadeth's career. While there are undoubtedly some serious high points here, this is an extremely inconsistent record. 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. The lyrics, like the music, is very varied. You have your typical thrash songs about war and politics (i.e. "Holy Wars", "Take No Prisoners", "Dawn Patrol", "Rust In Peace") done in typical Mustaine fashion (that sort of biting, sardonic satirical thing, usually from the antagonistic POV) and great as usual, but then there’s also songs that show complete different sides of Mustaine’s lyrical abilities. In this album you will also find songs about the occult, aliens, drugs, ghosts, and, most surprisingly for a thrash album, relationships. All of the lyrics sound absolutely perfect for the songs, and this is coming out of a guy who almost never even notices lyrics in music. That’s how good they are. This slowing down from and continuing into further escalation before the climax of the song is repeated a few times on the album, on Hangar 18 the song starts in a more mid-paced and melodic manner and sounds more like a heavy metal song before the band reminds you who you're dealing with. A similar thing to Holy Wars happens with Rust In Peace, being split into essentially two parts where the latter is an banging escalation into the conclusion. In addition, the band has a secret weapon in Dave Ellefson, because whether or not he's the most technically adept player out there (I wouldn't know) his sound is lovely. The intro to "Poison Was the Cure" is simple, but I just love that warm, full bass line, unhurried and tight as the guitars solo around him slowly build before introducing a great, fast drum and superbusy riff, pointedly showing you kids how to build a mood. Furthermore, when he's given a chance to do a solo spot he's magic, his little "Take No Prisoners" bass run being a beautiful piece of business.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. In my mind, MegaDave's brand of thrash metal has always been a hit or miss affair; this is proven by the albums they put out in the 80s: "Killing Is My Business" can be considered as a heavier and faster "Kill "Em All" that was messed up by shoddy production, "So Far, So Good, So What" is a remarkable singles album with a lot of noteworthy standalone, catchy and accessible songs. The album "Rust in Peace" in particular, is hailed as a thrash masterpiece by countless metalheads around the world. Dave and Co.'s fourth studio effort is a showcase of technical prowess and virtuoso musicianship; the music is truly difficult to duplicate by musicians of lesser talent and ability, for its complexity and arrangement require a level of skill, physical dexterity and mastery of one's instrument.