Rust In Peace marked the daybreak of a brand new period for Megadeth – one that might have reshaped steel as we all know it. Coming off the again of one of many many line-up modifications which have outlined totally different levels of the band’s profession, it noticed the primary look on a Megadeth file of each drummer Nick Menza (who’d been introduced in on the So Far, So Good… So What! touring cycle, changing the departed Chuck Behler) and guitarist Marty Friedman, who took Jeff Younger’s place within the band. With longstanding bassist Dave Ellefson finishing the quartet, the “classic” 1989-98 line-up of the band was in place.
“We’d hang out and come up with major heavy riffs”
Early contenders for Younger’s spot had included Slash, who had loved productive jamming classes with Mustaine and Ellefson earlier than Weapons N’ Roses’ Urge for food For Destruction took off. As Slash described in his autobiography: “We’d hang out… and come up with major heavy metal riffs, just f__king dark and heavy as hell.” Finally, nonetheless, he didn’t have the guts to depart GNR. Pantera’s Dimebag Darrell, too, was supplied the job, however he got here as a package deal cope with his brother, drummer Vinnie Paul, and Mustaine remained loyal to newly recruited Menza. They ultimately discovered Marty Friedman on the advice of their administration firm.
The band bumped into additional difficulties when Mustaine crashed his automobile right into a stationary car that occurred to be occupied by an off-duty cop. He was sentenced to drug rehabilitation when a court docket discovered him responsible of DUI and possession of narcotics. However the incident become a blessing in disguise. With Mustaine sober for the primary time in a decade, the Rust In Peace classes made for a extra harmonious recording expertise. Certainly, producer Mike Clink oversaw manufacturing duties for your entire recording course of, the primary time in Megadeth’s historical past they hadn’t switched producer mid-album.
One of many best thrash steel albums of all time
The ensuing album is as we speak held up as one of many best thrash steel information of all time. It took all the perfect parts of earlier Megadeth albums and pushed them to their limits. Out of the stall, “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due” rampages on a galloping riff, referencing non secular wars, particularly an incident in Eire the place Mustaine and co had been escorted from a venue after the frontman inadvertently triggered a stand-off between Catholic and Protestant followers (“Fools like me who cross the sea and come to foreign lands ask the sheep for their beliefs/Do you kill on God’s command?”). “Hangar 18” – a music about UFO conspiracies – showcases a extra refined type of songwriting whereas shedding none of its heaviness, maybe redolent of the course Megadeth would absorb later years.
Warfare themes proceed on the breakneck “Take No Prisoners,” whereas the band’s aptitude for unconventional music buildings is employed on “Five Magics,” which is constructed on a two-minute instrumental intro. Maybe by way of Mustaine’s newfound sobriety, there’s a precision-sharp readability to the likes of “Lucretia” and “Tornado Of Souls” that eluded earlier work. That the stripped-down “Dawn Patrol” and thundering “Rust In Peace… Polaris” supply Ellefson and Menza a platform to exhibit their expertise, with Friedman’s ripping solos all through, maybe demonstrates why the Rust In Peace incarnation of Megadeth got here to be considered its definitive line-up.
With Rust In Peace, Megadeth cemented themselves as some of the technically proficient and progressively complicated bands in steel. The singles “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due” and “Hangar 18” helped propel the album to No.23 on the Billboard 200 and No.8 within the UK charts on its launch, on September 24, 1990. It earned Megadeth a Grammy nomination in 1991 for Finest Steel Efficiency, with the album ultimately going platinum in December 1994.
Store for Megadeth’s music on vinyl or CD now.
