Rust In Peace

Finally, we get to the classic albums with the classic lineup. That's not to disparage the before and after, it's just to say that for most people, this is Megadeth. May all your nuclear weapons rust in peace. This album came from a bumper sticker quote.

Is it better than Peace Sells...? I don't know. Peace Sells is an underground/fringe album, Rust in Peace is a mainstream metal album. Thematically, i think they are the same. Every Megadeth album is the same, the songwriting just gets better (up to a very specific point when it's very definitely over).

Dave Mustaine is an Eddie Van Halen type riff guy. He just wanted to write songs and play lead guitar, but he couldn't find a frontman so he became his own. Every incarnation of the band picks cool riffs and songs from his hours of tape recordings and they make an album. It's not rocket science, they play stuff they thought was cool and Dave's lyrics range from standard escapist magic/sorcery stuff, to coherent political social topics, to examinations of specific psychological perspectives. One thing is consistent though. He doesn't like war. He believes that governments start wars, not the people they represent.

Imagine his surprise at misunderstanding the half-assed explanation of the IRA and The Troubles of Ireland he was given, the riot that ensued when he dedicated Anarchy in the UK to "The Cause," and the bulletproof vehicles they got to ride in for the rest of that tour. That's Holy Wars...The Punishment Due. Nick Menza thought a song about Hangar 18 would be cool. Lucretia is about a ghost in Dave's attic. Nuclear war, human made environmental pollution, you get the idea.

The cool thing is that he doesn't make any commentary about any of this stuff. Rather, he takes on the persona of "this is what i see when i walk out into the world. We just take all this weird horrible stuff at face value. I'm just describing all of you."

Oh yeah, the music is amazing and their producer was making Use Your Illusions I and II at the same time in the same studio, so he didn't actually do much with this album at all. Dave and the engineer did most everything themselves.

Like i said, it's kind of a coin toss between this and Peace Sells, but if i had to choose one it would be Rust In Peace. Thankfully, i don't. I get to keep all 7.

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