Countdown To Extinction (in context)

Countdown to Extinction might be the perfect album in every respect. That is to say that every aspect of the band, the business, the zeitgeist, everything just synced up and out popped an amazing album.

Everybody wrote a song on this album. Dave never wanted to be a one man show, he just couldn't convince anyone to get professional treatment for their addictions (he tried because that's what he wished James and Lars would have done). Now he had a stable lineup! They practiced, they tweaked and reworked songs to fit everybody's different playing styles, they played basketball in between takes (the whole thing was complicated by the 6pm curfew during the Rodney King riots, but that didn't hamper the inspiration too much). Their chosen producer actually participated in the process this time, contributing ideas on how to make it even better. Whaaaa?

In many ways it's the obvious Megadeth response to the Black Album. Oh you're going for mass appeal by doing an awesome job? Hold my beer. Emotions? I've got a few.

On the surface it looks like more random stuff: comic books, shadow governments, Saddam Hussein, the tragic reality of farming being too expensive, skydiving, trophy hunting, psychosis. But what do you get when you add it all up? You get a stained glass portrait of humanity's adrenaline junkie death wish. Kill kill kill for fun and profit. How's that taste? Like ashes in your mouth.

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