Headlining the bill for Hanson Concert Day #1 is Megadeth. Since Cryptic Writings was taken, I'll focus on the band's 1990 release Rust In Peace.
This album hit me right as I was desperate for an alternative to
the 80s metal. It was the first Megadeth album I heard and, for
that reason, probably my favorite. It impressed me from song one to
the end.
There's an aura that comes from my speakers when I spin this disc. Sure, Nick Menza and David Ellefson are holding down the rhythm section. But it was the guitars (and I'm a retired drummer) that make me see this as the band's finest hour. Disc opener "Holy Wars . . . The Punishment Due" is a dizzying display of ability. Remember, I was just discovering the genre. After 1:30 of impressive chops, Mustaine comes in.
And what lyrics! "Brother will kill brother." That's the lyrical content I had heard about: "Megadeth is about death" I was told by my friends. While no song here is a dud, I point to "Poison Was The Cure," "Lucretia" and "Tornado Of Souls" as this disc's highest points. "Poison" is an upbeat thrasher, almost punk-style aggression. Nick Menza is killer on his snare drum intro solo fill.
"Lucretia" gets a big nod for its structure. The song builds to its verse groove with fluidity and heaviness.
"Tornado Of Souls" strikes me as being one of several blueprints for the thrash metal genre. A simple (well, simple for Megadeth) riff collapses into shouts of rejection: "Who's to say what's for me to say." And then, Mustaine brings the song to a chilling conclusion when he sings:
My poison fills your head
As I tuck you into bed
You feel my fingertips
You won't forget my lips
You'll feel my cold breath
It's the kiss of death.
All in all, this disc has not lost its relativity to heavy metal in the 1990s. I'm hoping when I see them in concert tonight, they'll pull a couple of songs from this album like "Lucretia" and "Tornado Of Souls."
And if they play a cover of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" (recorded for a Black Sabbath tribute disc), I'll definitely be giving the concert the same grade as this album.