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Megadeth’s ‘Rust In Peace’ | 5 Minute Review
39 Plays1 year ago
Megadeth’s ’Rust In Peace’ is one of the most iconic Thrash albums of all time - boasting progressive song writing and excellent solos and guitar work from Marty Friedman and Dave Mustaine.
Daria and Laz break down the album by picking their 4 favourite songs and identifying what makes them so good.
You can also watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7mfJVCp_TzbPNZNMMemJuw
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Transcript
Evolution of Thrash Metal
00:00:00
Speaker
By the time 1990 came around, Thrash was changing and evolving. We'd already had a fantastic array of Thrash albums from Slayer, Metallica, Exodus, Overkill, Sepultura and many more. But some bands, however, decided to venture beyond the typical Thrash formula and see just how far they could push the boundaries of Thrash. Rust in Peace was one of these albums.
Introduction to 'Rust in Peace'
00:00:29
Speaker
And then welcome back to Minds of Metal. My name is Daria. And I'm Laz. And today we're bringing you a review of a classic album, Madadeth's Rust in Peace. We're going to take four songs that A, we love, and B, represent the best of what the album has to offer.
The Genius of 'Holy Wars'
00:00:45
Speaker
So we're going to kick things off with the album opener, which is Holy Wars, The Punishment Jew. And there is a huge argument for this song being arguably one of the greatest heavy metal songs of all time. That's an argument I'd be in favor of. The incredible solos and fantastic musicianship is what makes this song so good and is a massive indicator of what's to come on the rest of the album. You've got fantastically written songs and even better performances executed.
00:01:08
Speaker
Now the song is absolutely littered with fantastically aggressive and dark thrash riffs really making you want to bang your head but it's also compensated with lots of lovely melodies be this in the vocals or the dual lead guitar work. Now finally it would be the progressive
00:01:23
Speaker
aspects of this track. You've got the first occurrence where the flamenco style classical sounding guitar completely changes the song and this is another indicator of the progressive aspects to come through the album. In this specific case utilizing the instrumentation differently and changing what we'd expect to normally hear.
Exploring 'Hangar 18'
00:01:43
Speaker
There are so many things I love about Hangar 18 and one of them is the intro with a variety of motifs and melodies that just work so well together. There's also beautifully executed solos and dual leads and that actually is made more interesting with key changes which is also another prog feature we see on this album.
00:02:03
Speaker
Lyrically, Hangar 18 is about a potential extraterrestrial involvement and a government conspiracy. And we actually see similar lyrical themes throughout the album, talking about political and social issues too.
The Art of 'Tornado of Souls'
00:02:18
Speaker
Next up is my personal favourite and that's Tornado of Souls. I think it's another contender for one of Thrash's greatest songs. It's just sublime. You've got that wicked intro that utilises that harmonic and really different and unique.
00:02:30
Speaker
and the main slash verse riff is so heavy, and it's got that dark descending epicness about it. But we see it matched with the usual lightness, if you like, of Dave Mustaine's voice, thus bringing a really nice balance to the song. And after the verse, we drop straight into that chorus, which almost has a kind of groovy feel to it, you know? And now it's here, fini gallo, le ton ne do, which again, another progressive aspect. We see Megadeth's talent and vision in pushing these progressive boundaries into Thrash come out.
00:03:00
Speaker
Now I get it, seeing the words Metal's Best Guitar Solo is something that everyone takes with a pinch of soul, but I truly believe that the Tornado of Souls Guitar Solo is a massive contender for that award. A truly excellent solo with everything a metal fan and a guitarist could want to hear, and this sublime duo of Dave Mustaine and Marty Friedland working together for the first time produced epic moments like this.
Progressive Elements in 'Five Magics'
00:03:25
Speaker
Let's talk about the haunting, daunting and dark track called Five Magics. And the thing I absolutely love about it is the bass. And actually David Ellifson did an amazing job throughout the whole album. Bass is very prominent. I mean Don't Patrol, it's just bass and drums.
00:03:42
Speaker
And a bass intro sounds very classically music inspired, as does the song itself. We've got lots of arpeggios and minor scales throughout. When you add classical characteristics to traditional rock and metal, that is considered progressive. And talking about other progressive elements of this song, we've got complex time signatures, song structures that are all over the place, and tempo changes, other features that we see throughout the whole album.
Impact of 'Rust in Peace'
00:04:11
Speaker
As for the impact that Rust in Peace has had on metal, well critically and commercially it elevated the Megadeth to a higher level of elite band and really solidified their position as one of the big four. But the technicality and the intricacy of the music as well as the complex song structures and progressiveness showed that the boundaries of thrash could be pushed and that Megadeth were one of the key bands in doing this.
00:04:34
Speaker
as well as this it actually was very important a big influence on future bands and maybe more importantly guitarists because the impact that Dave Mustaine and Marty Friedman and their new duo had on this album and metal in general was a huge one. Thank you so much for being here with us today now it's your time to share your thoughts on Rust and Peace in the comments below. Make sure you join us and follow us on all our socials you take care and have a metal day. Have a lovely day we'll see you very soon.