apart from the cover of "anarchy in the uk", that is. "into the lungs of hell" is a really cool opener, even "502", a song about speeding, is a good tune. some rippin' guitar playing on this album, which is actually kind of amazing taking into account how fucked up mustaine was at this time. i saw them on this tour with sanctuary and warlock opening and megadeth were great. i'm not saying it's better than "rust" or "peace", just overlooked. i mean, i'm not a meth-addicted crackhead.

Duh.

you need to get mustaine to book a session at mad oak, show him what's what.

My favorite Megadeth. The only one I really like actually.

It's frustratingly balanced between great songs and annoying ones, but still is overall solid.

Maybe Warren can hook it up. He has a great story about when he was guitar teching for Mustaine when Megadeth was out with Slayer. Have you heard that one?

I always liked it, but it's especially good in hindsight knowing the quality nosedive the band took after 'Rust in Peace'. I'd still rank it fourth out of the first four albums though. It's the only one of those albums I never picked up on CD. I probably need to remedy that.

How dare you slander Cryptic Writings!

Still my fave Megadeth album.

Right before Mustaine started singing like Popeye.

Vocals will always be a weak point for the band. His confidence didn't start getting out of hand until 'Countdown to Extinction', most notably that song "Sweating Bullets". Just awful. The vocals were much better on the earlier albums where they were limited/in the back seat to the shredding.

The funny thing is, his singing style can't be an easy thing to pull off and it is sort of operatic in it's own way. I saw him open twice for Sabbath a few years back for the reunion with Dio and he totally fucking nailed it live. So it's hard to call him a totally shitty vocalist. He is awesome in a totally annoying form.

benny, i haven't heard that story.

mustaine's vocals aren't bad on "peace sells", they're actually pretty cool. on "rust in peace" he starts to get really whiney and nasally (well, moreso than usual). there are much worse vocalists than mustaine out there, i think his vocals fit the music fine. first four albums are it, then drops off considerably. new album is actually pretty good, i almost bought it.

In My Darkest Hour is my favorite Megadeth song. My introduction to the band came courtesy of Decline of Western Civilization 2 and the live clip of them playing that song totally destroyed my 15 year old mind.

His vocals are one of the things that set 'So far' apart from the others. It's the raspiest & nastiest sounding singing he's ever done, which is what his voice is good for. Thrash vocals are best delivered by a good ol', no-frills, heavy metal belter. The minute a thrash singer starts trying to actually sing is the very moment he starts waterskiing toward the proverbial shark. I wish someone would've informed James Hetfield of this about 20 years ago.

Right. I reckon his vocals on 'Peace Sells' were his high water mark. More of a growl/snarl than actually trying to carry a tune. Everything on stuff like "Wake Up Dead", "The Conjuring" and "Black Friday" is as fucking perfect as anything EVER done in thrash. It's kind of mindboggling to think that this album, 'Master of Puppets' and 'Reign in Blood' all came out the same year and all of those bands were just totally doing their own thing.

dude, i heard some of the new metallica live album, "live at grimey's". it's mostly old songs performed recently, and the vocals just ruin it. hetfield is singing all the old stuff melodically, not just shouting it or whatever, and it sounds like total ass. just awful.

Sweeeet. I'll lay it on ya next time I see ya.

does that really surprise anybody..??

I dig this album.

While I lost interest in trash-metal years ago I still dig "Peace" and "So Far Good" a lot. Mustaines spitted sneering instead of proper singing was always a plus.