Megadeth

Dave Mustaine is perhaps the most charismatic figure of "speed metal," a genre founded by Metallica and Megadeth—perhaps also because Mustaine is the only one to have been part of both bands. In 1983 he left Metallica and formed Megadeth, a quartet with a second guitar and a rhythm section.

The firepower of the first album, Killing Is My Business (Combat, 1985), has little to envy compared to the masterpieces of their twin band. The genre’s anthems are the frenzied guitar gallops of Loved to Death and Rattlesnake; but at the same time, tracks like The Skull Beneath the Skin show how speed metal can be ennobled with progressions that certainly owe something to Led Zeppelin and The Who. Despite the exaggerated sensationalism of the title track, the album highlights the most positive aspects of the genre. The kinship with Metallica is evident in a piece like Mechanix, which is practically identical to Metallica’s Four Horsemen.

Mustaine is not much of a singer or composer, yet nevertheless Peace Sells (Capitol, 1986) presents itself as a strongly dramatic and cohesive concept work (the forms of evil). Wake Up Dead, Black Friday (a chilling chronicle of a serial killer’s acts), and the title track (with its nods to Cream) build on the lessons of the previous record, expanding their structure excessively and projecting far more than simple aggression. Epileptic in My Last Words, tempestuous and satanic in Conjuring, feverishly intense in Devil’s Island (the record’s technical peaks, with the third being the quintessence of thrash), without ever yielding anything to melody, Megadeth’s music stands as a monument to the anguish of modern society.

So Far So Good (Capitol, 1988) is a disappointment when compared to the previous record. The instrumental Into the Lungs of Hell and the armored charge of Set the World Afire keep the adrenaline level high, but the two power ballads, Mary Jane and In My Darkest Hour (the more dramatic of the two), herald a much more moderate band.

Mustaine had to resolve his drug problems before the band could record a new album. The result was their most compact and organic work, Rust In Peace (Capitol, 1990), perhaps also thanks to the arrival of drummer Nick Menza (with a jazz background) and of pyrotechnic guitarist Marty Friedman, who had played in 1983 on Vixen's mini-album Made In Hawaii (Azra), in 1987 on Cacophony's Speed Metal Symphony and in 1988 on an entirely instrumental solo album, Dragon Kiss (Shrapnel). It is Friedman who delivers the spine-chilling solo in Lucretia. Drawing on the talent of the new lineup, Mustaine capitalizes on his ace in the hole: emotional tension. Holy Wars and Rust in Peace (the two titanic tracks that serve as introduction and epilogue) and Hangar 18 (the most radio-friendly and also the heaviest song) are all dominated by the terrifying hyper-realism reminiscent of Peace Sells. Mustaine remains a mediocre singer, but the energy released by these songs takes on a life of its own. The sign that times were changing lies in the fact that the best songs are almost all at the borders of thrash: the melodramatic Five Magics (another chapter in their occult saga), the catchy (by their standards) Poison Was the Cure, the power ballad Tornado of Souls (with a celebrated solo by Marty Friedman), and the funereal Dawn Patrol. Indeed, Rust in Peace would remain not only the swan song of Megadeth but of the entire thrash movement. The album displays a technical perfection that only Metallica could match.

Even more apocalyptic, Countdown To Extinction (Capitol, 1992) dwells too much on the grandiose themes that are their usual fare Symphony Of Destruction, The Architecture Of Aggression, the title-track) to the point of becoming simply boring. Sweating Bullets is a staged performance halfway between music hall and the Stray Cats. Overall, the band’s impetus has somewhat softened, in favor of greater technical deliberation.

Better is Friedman’s new solo work, Scenes (Shrapnel, 1992), far removed from speed metal and fully in the new-age vein (with contributions from Kitaro).

Youthanasia (Capitol, 1994), on the other hand, represents a halfway compromise for this group of hardened rebels. Train of Consequences (very Guns N' Roses-like) and Elysian Fields flirt with the charts. A Tout Le Monde is a power ballad that, with a bit of keyboard, would be a perfect Rush-style sound.

Cryptic Writings (Capitol, 1997), continues along the commercial slope set by Youthanasia (1994). The album’s center of gravity remains melodic (Trust, I'll Get Even With You and especially the boogie with Merseybeat echoes Almost Honest), and two mediocre thrash appendages plus a bit of Led Zeppelin–style hard rock with slightly more grit (Have Cool Will Travel) are not enough to redeem Megadeth from the mediocrity of chart-pop. The power ballad Use the Man is arranged with orchestral instruments. Drummer Nick Menza shines in the intros of Trust and Sin, Dave Ellefson’s bass drives Mastermind, and guitarist Marty Friedman delivers a couple of textbook solos.

The conversion to charts-friendly melodic hard rock is perhaps a desperate attempt to save a career that never really took off. Mustaine has cleaned himself up, started a family, and simply wants to “break through.”

Risk (Capitol, 1999) does not change course that much, if Crush 'Em is a danceable road boogie (late Clash crossed with Bad Company and even Bon Jovi) and Breadline even flirts with power-pop. Insomnia toys with electronica and sounds Nine Inch Nails at times, but it's too little too late to rescue Mustaine's career.

Capitol Punishment (Capitol, 2000) is an anthology of the years from 1986 till 1999, that opens with two unreleased tracks, and two of their best: the melodic Kill The King and the Alice Cooper boogie Dread & The Fugitive Mind.

With the addition of Al Pitrelli on guitar (a veteran of Savatage and Asia) The World Needs A Hero (Sanctuary, 2001) marks a return to Megadeth's roots. Mustaine struggles to reshape the anthemic (Burning Bridges, The World Needs A Hero) and the melodic (Return to the Hanger, Recipe For Hate) that made him a cult item. Occasionally, he slips into excessive melodrama (Promises, 1000 Times Goodbye, Dread And The Fugitive Mind), but overall Megadeth is back where it started.

United Abominations (Roadrunner, 2007) is a concept album that, by focusing on the theme instead of the music, fails on both counts (standing up to the band's past or moving towards a more accessible sound).

Megadeth's guitarist Chris Poland formed Ohm that released albums of progressive-rock such as Circus of Sound (Tone Center, 2008).

Endgame (2009) was perhaps their best album since Countdown thanks to Dialetic Chaos, This Day We Fight and The Right to Go Insane.

Megadeth's Th1rt3en (2011) was so predictable that any of their fans could have made it although the catchy Death, Fast Lane and Black Swan did echo their classics.

Nick Menza died in 2016.