'Rust in Peace' is my favorite metal album, and in my flawed opinion, it is the greatest album ever composed. But the strange thing about 'Rust in Peace' is that it's not exactly what its hyped up to be. The intros of 'Five Magics' and 'Poison Was the Cure' are too long and drawn out, and the same goes for the guitar solo duel in the much praised 'Hangar 18'. The title track itself is like a micro song being repeated several times. As for Mustaine's vocals, its mainly a hit and miss affair. I can imagine that you (the reader) will be scratching your head wondering how any sane person can give an album a perfect score when there are so many flaws in it. Well, a perfect score doesn't necessarily mean that the album is flawless and is perfect whichever way you look at it. A perfect album is an album which sucks you into its domain and stops you from leaving - not that you'd want to leave, anyway.

'Rust in Peace', is a drug. The ultimate drug, in fact. It gets better each time you listen to it, but the first time out it isn't too good. I myself wasn't too impressed with the album the first time I listened to it and thought to myself "What the fuck!? This album is bullshit!!" But I was drawn into the album and I forced myself to listen to it again. And again. And Again...

And again.

While most drugs drain a person of their physical and mental strength, 'Rust in Peace' only enhances it. This is the type of album one should listen to on the day he/she's been expelled from school and is *gasp* depressed. This is the type of album one should listen to when taking a walk at night and he/she is getting tired.

As I said before, the album gets better each time you listen to it. Mustaine's vocals start to seem perfectly suited for the album. The monotony of the album only starts to draw you in more, rather than having the opposite effect. All the pieces start to come together and you finally realize why this album is hailed as a classic. Not only that, you start to become emotionally attached to the album, and it becomes more than an addiction. But what is the secret to the album's addictiveness? After much deliberation, I have discovered what the magic ingredient is.

Focus.

Focus, indeed. Every riff, every drum beat, and every bass line blend in perfectly and never sound out of place. Every tempo change, every transition from verse to chorus is put together in an artistic and beautiful manner - a stark contrast from the first three Megadeth albums where everything seemed rushed and composed in a haphazard manner. I have never heard any tempo changes done so perfectly like Megadeth have done in 'Rust in Peace'. The transition from the fast part to the slow part is done without a glitch and takes you by surprise, even though you are already anticipating something strange when Mustaine shouts "Don't look now to Israel!" 'Five Magics' is another great example. After the atmospheric intro, the song suddenly kicks off and literally throws you off your seat... and yet it seems perfectly natural. And mind you, this album was made BEFORE Pro Tools corrupted the world, which makes the album even more amazing from a musical perspective.

Another great thing about the album is variety. Whereas Megadeth's first three efforts were a little short on variety, with the first two sticking out like a sore thumb, 'Rust in Peace' wasn't. You had epic "empowered thrash" tracks in the form of 'Holy Wars... The Punishment Due', 'Hangar 18' and 'Tornado of Souls' (and the three of them were poles apart too!), you had the vicious onslaughts of 'Take no Prisoners' and 'Poison Was the Cure' and then you had three strange tracks in 'Five Magics', 'Lucretia' and 'Rust in Peace... Polaris.' To me, variety is what makes a 99% album turn into a 100% album, and the hard work Mustaine and his crew did with the album sure as hell paid off.

I haven't talked about the production so far, so here it goes. I'd like to describe the production in one word. Savage. The mixing is done extremely well, and because of that the drums blend in with the guitars perfectly, creating a brutal and savage sound. Just listen to 'Holy Wars' when the drums kick in, that's the best example of the album's savage sound. The great thing about the album is that it manages to sound polished and raw at the same time, unlike the stuff that Dark Angel and Heathen released in this time period.

To summarize, the album's greatest strength lies in the fact that it can turn its greatest weakness into an advantage and the fact that its already obvious plus points become stronger each time you hear it. This is not just the best thrash metal releases ever, this is not just the best metal album of all time, this album is something much more than that. Its one of the best albums ever released, regardless of genre. Perhaps I'm being biased, because this album is like a companion to me, but I wouldn't have liked the album so much if it was utter shit. Enough said, I recommend this album to everyone who enjoys metal.

Stand-out tracks (all the tracks kick ass, but these are the best):
'Holy Wars... The Punishment Due'
'Hangar 18'
'Take no Prisoners'
'Five Magics'
'Tornado of Souls'
'Rust in Peace... Polaris'

Reviewed by MegaHassan
12/06/2008 22:50

Probably my favorite Megadeth release to date. It's just melodic as all hell! That's what drove me to like this album! Dave Mustaine sounds great, too! Especially on 'Holy Wars...' and 'Hangar 18'. Megadeth has been such a huge influence in the metal community since they came about after Megadeth's great Dave Mustaine was fired from Metallica. They've been more consistent than that legendary band staying within the thrash/heavy metal roots. They never sold out, they always came back to write more great music but on 'Rust in Peace', the riffs were top notch, ABSOLUTELY!

Both Dave and Marty Friedman rip on the lead department! And the riffs are God-like. 'Holy Wars...' probably my favorite song from the entire album. It's just so original and fresh. The intro to 'Hangar 18' is killer too. But the whole album displays areas of amazing creativity by Dave mostly. I can't believe that Dave considers himself as a "failure" because of getting fired from Metallica. He's way better than he gives himself credit for especially for albums such as this and 'Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?' (1986). Amongst the countless other classics that Megadeth has contributed to the metal community!

The production was decent though it could've been a little better. But still, the album is ingenious! They deserve all the press that they get for this one and many others. Megadeth always came up with fresh riffs and on this one you'll hear what I'm talking about. These guys rip it up Nick Menza and David Ellefson sounded great as well. Nick's passing at 51 was just way too young! And David now is out of the band permanently. His time with Megadeth was grand. New material is going to be out now too, but to reflect on this, Megadeth was at their primordial best and most creative. Other bands have duplicated riffs from them.

I had the cassette of this that's how old it is! But it's still a countless classic! They stayed great in the 80's and 90's but I kind of took a break from them in the later 90's and more recent albums. I kind of lost interest and wanted to focus only on the classics. Definitely a band that will never be able to duplicate. Only emulate. A lot of bands cover Megadeth songs and for a good reason: they're AWESOME! I'm sure newbies to the metal scene need to get introduced to this album and other Megadeth albums that I mentioned. They're priceless! 'Rust in Peace' will go down as my favorite release of theirs ever!

Rating: 10 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Death8699
08/17/2021 19:54